Single-sex education is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes in separate schools. The practice was predominant (突出的) before the midtwentieth century, particularly in secondary education and higher education. Single-sex education is often advocated on the basis of tradition,as well as religious or cultural values. It is practiced in many parts of the world.
    A number of studies starting in the 1990s are showing statistical data that children from single-sex schools are outperforming students from coeducational (男女同校的) schools,although some studies also say that these are non-conclusive. In 2002, because of these studies and bipartisan (两党的) support, the US law of 1972 that made coeducation in public schools mandatory was revoked and funding was given in support of the single-sex option. There are now associations of parents who are advocating for single-sex education.
In some cases, parents are now making the decision to send their child to a single-sex schools for the following reasons.The first one is the teacher-student ratios are typically much higher in the single-sex schools because in most single-sex schools there are smaller class sizes. Secondly, parents and students are often choosing a single-sex learning environment because they think with good reason that their child or themselves will receive a better education. International research has shown that boys and girls perform best when they are taught separately in their teen years.
    Critics of the single-sex education argue that segregated learning facilities are inherently unequal. System bias will reinforce gender stereotypes and perpetuate societal inequalities in opportunities afforded to males and females. Single-sex schools in fact accentuate (使……突出) gender-based educational limitations and discrimination. Boy's schools may not offer home economics classes, while girl's schools may not offer metalwork, woodwork or as wide a variety of sports.
    Some children like larger classrooms. These larger classrooms give them more competition and can even make some students more motivated to work harder. When there are more children in a class people may think children can get lost, but some students think of it as something that pushes them to work harder. Although this statement is the opposite of a single-sex school advantage that was listed above, this is just further proof that it all depends on each child and that each children quires a learning environment best for her/him.