BOYS THEMSELVES: A RETURN TO SINGLE-SEX EDUCATION

Though the roots of single-sex schooling extend back to the very origins of education in this country, in this century the institution has been an easy target for criticism—the common perception being that coeducation is obviously better because it's more equal and democratic. By the mid-1980s this logic had become so accepted that most single-sex schools had disappeared, and, in fact, few people cared. For many, that they existed at all at the end of the twentieth century was little more than a quirk, an evolutionary oversight. Yet their dwindling numbers were something of a paradox, since a growing body of research described the clear advantages of all-boy and all-girl schools in both cognitive and social outcomes. Indeed, the evidence grew so strong that many researchers began to ask what were the benefits of coeducation.

To find the truth behind these contradictions and to investigate the form of single-sex education, Michael Ruhiman returned to University School in Cleveland, Ohio, the boys' day school he had graduated from more than a dozen years earlier. Through an academic year spent shadowing its controversial headmaster, lively teachers, and the boys themselves, Ruhiman untangles the issues and constructs an insightful narrative of both the world of single-sex education and the world of one school, which inevitably raises questions regarding school culture and environment, questions of moral judgment, rigor, and the importance of language—issues fundamental to the education of all children.

MICHAEL RUHLMAN, based in Cleveland, Ohio, has written for the New York Times and other publications.