1960s: mandated shift to coeducation in many Western countries; Reasons: coeducation is a less expensive way of schooling the baby boomers; the thrust towards gender equality
1972: US Law making coeducation in public schools obligatory
1990s-2000s: some studies supporting single-sex education: children of single sex schools are outperforming children in coeducational schools
US: “Together or separate?” (Cornelius Riordan 1990)
Germany: “Was coeducation a historical error?” (Der Spiegel 1998)
Australia: 20-year study of 270,000 students (2000)
England: The National Foundation for Educational Research (2002)
France: “The Pitfalls of Mixed Education” (Fize 2003)
US Law of 2002: revocation of obligatory coeducation in public education; 3 million dollars were allotted to support the single-sex school option
In the US, single sex education receives bipartisan support. Hilary Clinton said in June 2001: “Our long-term goal has to be to make single-sex education available as an option for all children, not just for children of parents wealthy enough to afford private schools.”