Aodhán Ó Ríordáin wants to ban single sex schools

Totally the same. Yes everyone is backward because we dont want everything to change constantly.

Dont care either way on this issue but they seem to get up in the morning and think of something to put them in the headlines or try leave their mark. That's all. Whether is for better or worse is a different arguement

Superficial level - tongue in cheek comment in respeonce to the rugby post.

Deeper level - as the Indo articale stats - "social and emotional development tends to move quicker in a more positive way about social values in a mixed setting because you are in a diverse setting from the outset" so a bit more natrual socialising might result in a more balanced view of the opposite sex.

And no - this is NOT me saying "all boys are x" or "women are y" - this is my reiterating the idea that a natural envoironmental atmousphere will result in natural balanced adults who actually lear nthe lifeskills that dont' come up on Leaving Cert exams or get you CAO points.

100% agree with O'Rioradain. It is his stopped clock moment, wrong nearly all the time, but he gets this one right.

I can't find anything that suggests that this is true. While it says here (https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40045100.html) that 'over the past three years, girls in single-sex schools have secured higher Leaving Certificate results than boys in single-sex schools'.

It's funny when I was starting schools there was a big thing to have Girls in Single sex schools, as the results were better, I think this idea also was also there for boys schools. Of 30 students in my 6th class only 10 went to the local co-ed school, the single sex schools were all a bus journey away.

I don't see any problems with single sex schools. It is called choice if parents want to send their children to the educational institution of their choice they should be given that option.

Aodhan will now look to have Drug education in schools, "How to safely snort coke" but lets not take about overdosing or the problems that you may face after taking coke or any illicit drugs.

That analysis by the independent is invalid since virtually all fee-paying schools are single-sex. There is also a heavy skew towards single-sex schools generally in more affluent areas. 

It doesn't prove that single-sex is better. The independent has made a fundamental correlation/causation mistake.

You make a fair point about the analysis by the independent, I wouldn’t rely on a single source to support an argument one way or the other either, and certainly not a newspaper article. But even you recognise the correlation between, well, education and social mobility. It’s hardly chicken and egg stuff as to which came first - better education, or the ability to afford it.

The modern international data on this indicates any "performance boost" in single-sex schooling occurs exclusively in girls, and almost entirely in traditionally male-dominated areas. Other subjects see no improvement.

This indicates that the discrepancy most likely arises due to social biases and little else.

Ohh I dunno ‘bout that though. Modern data could refer to anything, but I’m guessing it refers to data which supports your argument, and modern data isn’t necessary for that, it’s a trend that’s been observed in Irish education for decades, like literally since the 60’s - girls achieve better outcomes in mathematics, it doesn’t mean they actually enjoy the subject, whereas boys enjoy mathematics, doesn’t mean they’re actually high achievers 😂

http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/74816/Influence%20of%20Gender%2C%20Single%20Sex%20and%20Co-Educational%20Schooling%20on%20Students%27%20Enjoyment%20and%20Achievement%20in%20Mathematics.docx?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Most parents aren't sociopaths, they know that the social education in school is of far more value than the academic. I'm not sure "a slight bump in maths grades for girls" justifies maintaining an entire structure of segregation.

I wouldn’t say there’s any correlation between parents being sociopaths, and valuing academic achievement over their children being something of a social butterfly. That suggests observer bias more than anything it suggests about the parents. Bit like a politician with a hobby horse arguing from a minority position that everyone else is doing it wrong and everything would be so much better if society conformed to his expectations (I imagine he didn’t have a whole lot of friends in school 😏).

The biggest resistance to this is from the D4 rugby set who are irked that their alma mater might have to change. Like those gobshites who fought against allowing women join golf clubs. "Things are better the way they are because thats the way I like it".

The D4 rugby set operate well outside of the public education system, they couldn’t give less of a shiny shyte what Aodhán Ó Riordan comes out with next as they’ll never have to have any dealings with him or anyone who thinks anything like him. It doesn’t mean their children are any more or less likely to become sociopaths as you’re inferring their parents are - they simply operate by different standards to your own is all.

If you don't have single sex schools, co-ed schools would be number one :)

Tradition is fine as long as its practical, but tradition just for the sake of tradition is stupid.

I attended a mixed school for 3 years and then changed to a same-sex school for 2 years. The reason for moving was that the standard of teaching in the mixed school had deteriorated badly. I enjoyed both schools and IMO there's not a big a difference between the two as people make out.

I don't think there's anything wrong with single-sex schools but if I were to choose for my kids (everything else being equal), I'd choose a mixed school

I'm a Catholic downtheroad, and my kids / grandkids are Catholic too, as were our parents. And we wish to remain so. And its also a free country, where you are state guaranteed freedom of choice when it comes to religion etc. There are many posters like your self wondering why Communion and Confirmation is still a "Thing", and also why schools are slow to hand over to non-religious,,,,,has it ever occurred to you that there are people out there, that don't want that? And thats maybe the main reason why its still a "thing"?

Eh.... what??

The data is there showing students in mixed school have better social outcomes than those in single-sex school.

I never dismissed the suggestion that academic outcomes were better, I merely pointed out that it isn't an absolute - mixed-sex schools with an appropriate ethos can improve their academic outcomes with social changes. Whereas single-sex schools cannot resolve the issue of social outcomes because it caused entirely by the single-sex ethos.

I would also label academic outcomes as "largely irrelevant", since the difference is relatively small anyway (<= 10% for the highest achievers) and doesn't offset the long term implications of social issues.

In effect, choosing to send children to a single-sex school, knowing the difference, is choosing a short-term gain (academic achievement), for a long-term loss (psychosocial development).

As I already mention, we know that academic achievement has little if any effect on the individual's long-term financial success. Most of that comes from socioeconomic status and social skills.

So what is actually to be gained from single-sex schooling? Better results? For what? What does that achieve?