I recently heard that Ateneo de Manila University is considering turning its high school into a co-educational institution. While I have no idea whether or not this is true, what really threw me off was the sort of reactions that the rumor generated.
“Yari, maraming mabubuntis diyan.” That, or some variation of it, was the most prevalent. Ironically, it was uttered by Ateneo High School graduates who now attend a university in which females compose roughly 50% of the student population.
As someone who spent a decade in a co-ed, non-traditional school before moving to an excusive Catholic girls high school, hearing this sort of response was so bizarre that it amused me. In elementary, boys were just a natural part of the equation. Boisterous and rowdy as they tended to be, they were no less my friends than the girls were. In high school, my classmates’ years-long lack of boys in their classrooms, compounded by the sudden surge of teenage hormones, suddenly made boys a big deal.
I was frequently questioned about what it was like to have boys in such close proximity (Do you start dating earlier? What if, like, you suddenly get your period and there are boys around?), and I had trouble coming up with answers for the simple reason that there wasn’t much to say. It was as if I was being asked what it was like to breathe through my nose.
Studies show that co-education allows both male and female students to learn about each other in a natural and realistic manner. The diversity provides the opportunity to develop genuine respect for the both sexes. It also serves as an excellent training ground for their entrance into the wider community, which is of course made up of both men and women who are often made to work together.
There’s also the matter of breaking down stereotypes. Though I can’t claim real life experience on this—elementary was hardly a time in which I had the chance to properly observe gender roles—studies show that co-ed classrooms better prepare students for a life outside of school. The more time adolescents spend apart, the more gender stereotypes are reinforced. Co-education is a much-needed tool to break down the misconceptions that each sex has about the other.
A weighty concern that individuals who are pro-single-sex education have is that males and females vary in learning styles. However, this only brings us back to the argument that, in the Real World, men and women co-exist and should learn early on how to deal with that reality (I also cringe at the fact that many exclusive high schools still insist on girls taking up cooking and sewing and boys attending automotive and carpentry classes—but that’s a matter for another opinion column entirely).
We recently celebrated 40 years of co-education in this university. At the time that the change was implemented, it was nothing short of revolutionary. Today, in contrast, the thought of girls being disallowed to study in the university is ludicrous. My hope is that in my children’s lifetime people will be saying the same thing of high schools.
