Adrian school district in western Missouri announced that it will stop offering single-sex classes. The school district, located approximately 50 miles from Kansas City, began offering single-sex math and communications classes this fall to students in sixth through eighth grade.
The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) threatened to file a lawsuit against the school district, claiming that the program violates Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all levels of education. The decision is a victory for opponents of gender segregation in schools, who claim that gender segregation policies are detrimental to the academic learning environment and reinforce negative sex stereotyping.
The Feminist Majority Foundation is currently working to rescind the 2006 Bush-era Title IX regulations that make it significantly easier to allow single-sex classrooms in public schools. Research studies indicate that such rigid separation of sexes leads to sex discrimination and sex stereotyping to the detriment of academic learning.
Associated Press 11/22/11; Feminist Daily Newswire 11/11/11
