6 out of 7 editors voted in favor of this editorial

During our four years at STA, many of us come to believe that STA is a machine of leadership, independent women and self-confidence. We’ve also come to believe that STA creates stronger leaders, more independent and self-confident women and better students than the typical coeducational school.

Studies show that we perhaps aren’t all that different than our coeducational counterparts after all. While studies may show that single-sex education doesn’t have quantifiable benefits, our faith in it is still valid and very important.

According to a study conducted by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies on single-sex education, female graduates of single-sex and coeducational high schools rate themselves almost equally as leaders. Sixty percent of girls in both types of schools rated themselves as above average leaders.

This raises the question: do we actually become better leaders by attending STA, or would we receive the same training at a co-ed school?

It’s important to note that self-rating is not the most accurate science science. Rather than using data to support this research, each student rated her own leadership ability. If we were to accurately quantify leadership ability through a different technique, would STA students have higher ratings than other Kansas City coeducational high school students?

It is hard to believe that students at a coeducational school would receive the leadership opportunities and experience as at STA, where every student raises her hand at least once a day, where girls are challenged to lead in class, in clubs, in sports and on academic teams, where every leadership position within the school is held by a female.

The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools study on single-sex education agrees: 93 percent on girls studied agreed that girls’ schools provide greater leadership opportunities than coed schools and 80 percent of girls surveyed had held leadership positions since graduating from high school.

While single-sex students may be more prepared to lead in high school and beyond, the UCLA study showed that social self-confidence is almost the same between high school students in coeducational schools and single-sex schools.

According to the study, while females in single-sex schools are more confident in their public speaking, academic, mathmatic and computer skills than students in co-ed schools, when it came to rating social self-confidence, girls in co-ed and single-sex schools rated themselves equally.

This lack of confidence may come from the doubt that floats though many students’ minds: after we graduate, are we equipped to handle a co-ed environment? Are we equipped to complete a group project with boys, or take a class with a boy or see boys on a day-to-day basis for 7 hours a day or more? Are we equipped to handle sexist jokes? Are we equipped to handle students or even teachers who underestimate us because of our gender?

While we all may feel this doubt, we must understand that the four years of schooling we receive at STA, the hundreds of times we raise our hands in class each year, the countless debates, speeches, papers, projects, and service opportunities are all to prepare us to step on to a college campus as independent, confident women. But not only that, we are women who know how to lead a group project, who know how to take charge of a situation, who know how to speak up in class without a second thought: all because we have done just that countless times in high school.

While studies may doubt the quantifiable benefits of single-sex education, those doubters should step onto STA’s campus. They should attend an AP American literature fishbowl discussion where every student speaks her mind. They should observe an accelerated algebra I class where girls answer the teacher’s questions, even if she might be a little afraid she has the wrong answer.

We are all testimonies to the successes of single-sex education.