Webb is often very open with their goal of academic equity amongst their students. Yet each year, Webb decides to renew a dated practice that perpetuates a gender-based division in education. Here at Webb, freshman and sophomore core classes are still split by gender.
It seems outdated as, in the past few decades, schools across America have moved away from single-gender classes and toward coeducational ones, but Webb has stuck by the practice since its integration in the early 1990s. With wisdom from American psychologist Leonard Sax and the Gurian Institute, Webb’s administration made the move toward single-gender classes and has not looked back since.
“The administration at the time talked to some neuroscientists who were very well-versed—for that time—in single-gender learning and, based on their research, thought it would be interesting to have a blend, or a kind of continuum, from single-sex classes to co-ed classes during the course of a student’s time at Webb,” said Taylor Stockdale, Head of Schools. “We had a science-based rationale for why we decided to explore this idea of a single-gender, or single-sex, to coeducational continuum within the educational program.”
Even as a myriad of schools move away from this style of learning, Webb remains hesitant to make the switch. Michael Hoe, Director of Studies, recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the current academic structure.
“Once students learn to have deep and insightful conversations as underclassmen, they can go on to respectfully disagree and engage in dialogue constructively as upperclassmen,” Mr. Hoe said.
According to Mr. Hoe, in single-sex classes, students have an inherent safe space to talk about the biases that people bring to certain types of conversations, such as those based on gender identity. As a teacher, Mr. Hoe has also had firsthand experience interacting with and guiding underclassmen. He mentioned the numerous times he noticed his students in single-sex classes carry out constructive discussions with each other, pointing out how students felt safe enough in single-sex classes to express their own biases and acknowledge those biases because they felt their peers shared their point of view.
Of course, Webb students and teachers alike have undoubtedly considered the disadvantages of a partly single-sex academic program. However, new questions are raised regarding the differences in classroom experience present in Webb’s single-gender underclassman classes. To explore this idea further we decided to conduct an experiment. Sitting in on a VWS and WSC American Idea class, both taught by Dr. Lauren Hartle, humanities department faculty, we recorded our findings. Our observations can be found at the end of this article
First, we must address the uncomfortable, but essential question: is one school at Webb “better”—academically or maturity-wise—than the other? Within our testimonies, one might look more attractive than the other, but that does not necessarily attest to the academic or maturity level of each class.
We pose the question of why Webb is so loyal to this academic structure. Seeking some view into the school’s future, we asked Mr. Stockdale this question.
“Since [the early 1990s], I think we have loosened up quite a bit, and who knows for the future?” Mr. Stockdale said. “The thing is, Webb keeps evolving. It keeps morphing and changing according to what we feel the best practices are in the current day for students, so nothing is set in stone in terms of how we are going to do things in the future.”
It seems that even though Webb is not opposed to changing its unique—and often controversial—core classes system in the future, it is unlikely that this change would occur within the tenure of current Webb students. Nevertheless, Webb will continue trying to keep students’ best interests in mind when organizing their education plans.
According to the student handbook, “Webb believes that a student’s determination of gender identity rests with the student. In keeping with the structure of the two schools, this gender identity will be utilized to assign students to school-based residential and academic programs.” It goes on to say that an administrative team will assist students in designing a personalized “gender support plan”.
Reflecting on both of our experiences in core classes that were not our own, one thing is certain: single-gender classes create very different learning environments for Webb students. Although different, they are similar in the fact that neither learning experience really feels complete. Each missed the additional perspective that comes with a coeducational class. But then again, is a coeducational classroom really complete either? From our shared experiences in coeducational classes at Webb, whether it be in a language, math, or arts class, we can see that there are certainly still gaps in the curriculum.
While Webb does its best to provide a high-quality educational experience for its students, there is always room for improvement in the curriculum and core classes. Webb will continue to work with its administration and outside resources to tweak and build upon the unique education system it has built, in an effort to improve the Webb experience for the entire community.
