Education is a vital key to a world of unlimited breakthrough. This is why giving children a sound and quality education is every parent's responsibility. In the process of getting a child educated, parents should be very careful not to be the architect of such a child's misfortune in the long run.
Education is one of the things I value so much, and I always advocate the importance of education. Education gives one a unique level of reasoning, which places one a far margin away from being illiterate. In the pursuit of education, it is better to make good decisions on where to enroll a child and won't have regrets afterwards.
I went to a mixed school right from my childhood until my secondary level, which is known as high school, and I can say I learned a lot both academically and morally. In a mixed school, which comprises female and male students, there are some rules that govern the activities of the students. These rules guide their behavior towards the opposite sex, making them understand that being in a mixed school isn't an avenue to engage in immorality while adequate punishment is being dished out to offenders, citing as an example whoever wants to be involved in an immoral act.
Some parents believe mixed schools would corrupt their children; that's why they take them to a single-gender school, but yet that doesn't stop a child from doing whatever he or she has in mind. Inculcating moral values in the children is a responsibility both for the parents and the teachers. Teaching them the right things to do is one way to set their feet on the right path in life.
While I was in secondary school (high school), some girls in my school were suspended for bullying another student because she reported them for examination malpractice. They were punished and suspended, giving them a letter to give to their parents containing the reasons behind their suspension.
These girls were five in number, and unfortunately, they didn't give the letter to their parents or tell their parents they were suspended. Every morning, they would dress as if they were going to school from their various homes and meet in a secret hideout, which the school found out because they were being monitored since their parents didn't show up at the school.
The school management got to know that they have a secret hideout where they engage in immoral activities unknown to their parents. The school caught them in their hideout because they are always with their uniforms on; this even annoyed the school more. They were brought to school, severely dealt with, called their parents to school for an emergency meeting, and expelled afterwards.
Since then, other students who wanted to follow in such footsteps have retraced their steps. A warning had been cited, putting every other student on their toes to be on their best behavior, and that was a good one to me because a great message and lesson were passed across to the other students.
I've never been to a single gender school, but I had someone who had been who didn't have a palatable experience. I know and understand that not everyone who goes to a single-sex school ends up the way this person I knew ended up, but the things learned in a single-sex school seem worse than those in a mixed-sex school. In a mixed school, you get to learn about your opposite sex, learn how they reason, and visualize life as a whole, unlike in a single-sex school, where all you see is someone exactly like you every day.
This person I knew did tell me about the things they were involved in while at school—things they watched and listened to that were not so appropriate for students. She told me that many of them, being girls' schools, are involved in lesbianism, which is not acceptable here in Nigeria. Sometimes I see things like sex dolls in her possession, which is not right.
Students in a single-sex school seem worse than those in a mixed-sex school for some reasons. In the long run, this girl I knew got pregnant for an unidentified individual while still in secondary school on one holiday when she came home because her school is a boarding school. A foul tactic would have been what lured her into it; at that point, her life was put on hold. Her parents were disappointed because one reason they put her in a single-sex school was to avoid her becoming pregnant at a tender age, but their worst nightmare became reality.
At anytime, I would still choose a mixed-gender school over a single-sex school because its disadvantages are much greater than its advantages. The coed environment sure prepares one for the real world; it teaches lessons that need to be learned so as not to fall victim to unnecessary circumstances.
Thanks for your time, and your comments will be appreciated.