Students say distractions fewer, concentration easier
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Amy K. Stewart
Standard-Examiner staff
O
GDEN -- St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School teens cite a high comfort level and few distractions as the main benefits of their gender-segregated classes.
The private school has had the split classes for four years. This school year St. Joseph divided its 7th grade pre-algebra class.
The girls say they feel more at ease in the all-female class.
"There's not a lot of embarrassment," said Quincy Dahlberg, 13.
"It helps us concentrate more," said Alexandria Shinaut, 13.
The boys point to fewer distractions as the major benefit of the boys-only classroom.
"I think we learn more," said Stephen Tenreiro, 13.
"We can get more work done," said Jarett Sullivan, 13.
Girls and boys agreed the smaller classes -- a side factor of the segregated classrooms -- are a plus, offering a more personalized atmosphere.
"It's like a family," said St. Joseph math teacher Derek Tate.
Both math classes begin at 8 a.m. and have the same curriculum.
Boys class
In Tate's class, the boys sit dressed in their school uniforms of white shirts and navy pants.
Tate is working an algebra problem on the board. The boys tell him what answers they got.
He slams his fist against a student's fist to congratulate the boy, who got the correct answer.
"I'm proud of you Chris," he says.
Tate draws a baseball diamond on the board and the students launch into a bit of geometry.
"A baseball diamond is a perfect square," Tate says.
The boys call out the answers and raise their hands at different times.
"That's awesome, guys," Tate says.
A small foam basketball sits on his podium. The boys later say Tate throws it at them when they get the answers wrong -- but they like it.
"You obviously didn't do it right," Tate teases one boy, whose answer is drastically off.
Tate draws a "parachute dude" on the board for more geometry problems.
The boys laugh, tease one another and guess at answers.
"An obscene triangle?" one student asks.
"Obtuse!" another one says.
When one boy gets a corrects answer, Tate hollers "Shazam!"
Girls class
Kitty-corner across the hall, the girls are in white shirts and blue-and-green plaid skirts.
The atmosphere is hushed.
Teacher Linda Studdard has the girls working graphing problems at the board. Then they show them to the class for help and critique.
The girls call out the answers or raise their hands.
During class, they are quiet and concentrating -- but very animated after their work is done.
Encouraging them with their homework at the end of the class, Studdard gives the girls directions and has them repeat after her out loud. She ends with, "And you're not going to lose your ..."
"Mind?" the girls say, giggling.
"No, your negative sign," Studdard says.
One girl makes a joke about brains. Studdard tells her she can be a brain surgeon when she grows up.
Another girl says, "I wanna be an actress," as she dances ballet-style back from the teacher's desk after handing in her assignment.
As class ends, the girls ask their teacher if she is going on the school's weekend hike to Mount Timpanogos. Talk leads to bugs. She tells the girls a funny story about when she was on a date in college and a giant stink bug crawled down the front of her dress.
After class the girls say they love hearing stories about Dr. Ron, Studdard's college crush. Another story has to do with Studdard, Dr. Ron and a disaster taking a dinner roast out of the oven.
"We get to talk about things that we normally wouldn't get to talk about when there are boys in the class," said Jamie Pecor, 13.
Coed
In comparison, Tate says his eighth grade coed algebra class is full of distractions. He frequently has to separate the boys and the girls.
"It's a huge difference," he said.
In the coed class, the students sit in mixed groups. Trying to get to work, Tate reprimands an especially noisy group of three girls and one boy.
One male student on the front row says, "A bunch of 'Chatty Cathies.'<2009>"
The boys and girls yell out answers and raise their hands. Both genders appear to be getting the same amount of attention.
Tate said he ves the kids act differently in the mixed-gender classes.
"They worry so much more about the things they are saying," he said "They are trying to act cool for each other."
"The girls sometimes pretend like they don't know stuff when they really do," Tate added.
Pros and cons
In classroom discussions, both boys' and girls' classes were asked to list the pros and cons of their sex-segregated classes.
The boys said they didn't have to worry about how they look.
The down side of no girls? They miss how nice the girls smell.
And the boys said the teacher may not do gross things in class if the girls were there, like when he smashed a bug that was crawling on the board.
The girls cited less pressure and not being embarrassed if they made mistakes. They couldn't think of any positive reasons for having boys in the class.
Both genders said they really enjoyed being able to talk about "girl things" and "boy things" with their female or male teacher.
"You can talk about 'growing up' stuff," said Alec Michael Burton, 13.
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