Co-Education-Good Or Bad

English Essay on "Co-Education-Good Or Bad"

It is generally assumed that co-education was originally introduced for reasons of economy. In small town it was not possible to provide separate schools, for the boys and girls. Sufficiently large numbers of children of one particular gender could not be found to fill up schools. So instead of putting up two separate schools and having to pay teachers for teaching classes with very few pupils, co-education schools were started. As a result of this, on the whole, the management had to pay less and the teachers could be paid more. But with the rapid growth of population in recent years, the system of coeducation cannot be defended purely on grounds of economy. Many other reasons are now given in favour of it, while the objection raised against it are equally numerous. Let us examine some of them.
Experience shows that girls work harder at coeducational institutions than they commonly do at school organized on the lines of gender segregation. It is thought that this is due to the fact that young people do not like to be criticized, much less insulted or put to shame, in the presence of the members of the opposite gender.
If is also true that mixed classes are, on the whole, better disciplined than the classes made up of only one gender. The presence of the members of the other gender puts some restraint on the behavior of even the most wayward pupils.
In modern society, men and women are considered equal after leaving school. The pupils of today will have to meet and women in all professions and from all walks of life. Boys and girls educated in separate schools cannot easily throwaway their shyness and associate with the members of the other gender without some embarrassment. This often leads to dismal social failures. Co-education very effectively deals with this problem. Boys and girls at co-education institutions meet one another as members of a vast family, and they do not find it difficult to meet and work-with members of either gender.
The strongest argument put forward against coeducation is that it affords opportunities for the development of early romances. As they meet freely every day, young people are likely to fall in love. Thus, instead of devoting all their energies to studies and spending their free time on sports, they engage in premature courtships. They sometimes, isolate themselves from' their classmates for fear of any unkind remarks being made by the latter. Thus they miss much of the necessary social and cultural education provided at school.
As most of these early courtships are ill considered and lack wisdom, they seldom meet with the approval of the parents of the parties concerned. This sometimes gives rise to elopements. But, in fairness to the system of co-education, it may be said that perhaps, more elopements take place in the case of the girls who have not attended school or have not studied with boys. Premature courtships can be prevented, and they are not very common these days. It is the duty of every teacher and of every system of teaching gives a sufficient knowledge of gender to the pupils so as to guide them to develop a responsible attitude to gender in life.
Thus it is observed that co-education is good.