Friday, March 28, 2008

Georgia County Backs Off Single-Sex Education Plan, For Now

Last month we posted about Greene County, Georgia, and its plans to convert all of its public schools to a single-sex model.

Recently, however, the County changed its mind, and will formally withdraw those plans at an upcoming meeting. According to the AP, the County faced "a groundswell of opposition from parents who were outraged that they weren't consulted ahead of time." This leaves open the possibility that the County might reinstate its plan, or some other version of the plan, after it receives input from parents and teachers.

Of course, the parents might really be outraged, not that they weren't consulted, but that the County is trying to pigeonhole their sons' and daughters' attitudes and behaviors based on gender stereotypes. In that case, their buy-in might be hard to come by.

UPDATE 4/1: The link to the AP story above is no longer working, but other news outlets reported on Greene County's change of heart, see here and here.