The Power of an All-Girls Education

Growing up in Los Angeles, there was a plethora of both private and public elementary schools to choose from. When my sister and I were in preschool, my parents decided to enroll us in a private school that started in kindergarten and finished in 12th grade, with the intent to have us complete our academic careers there before attending college. Being the oldest, I was the first to experience everything this school had to offer, and both my family and I found that we were loving every minute about being a part of the community. However, at some point, my parents became interested in the idea of all-girls education. There were a few schools in the immediate area that intrigued them. When they proposed it to me as a new eighth grader as a possible option for high school, I was extremely stubborn and refused to leave the only place I had known. I visited the all-girls schools they had their eyes on, but I loved my school. When my sister reached the same grade two years later, she wasn’t given the same option. They were sending her to an all-girls school, a decision they did not take lightly due to her daily protests. To say she was upset to leave was an understatement.

Four years later, she credits my parents with making the single decision that shaped her future in the most positive way. She could not be happier that she left our coed school behind and joined an all-girls environment. She was incredibly involved, felt that she had found an environment in which she could succeed, and was surrounded by people who cared about her whole self, not just her academic achievement. She once told me that attending an all-girls school was the best decision for her because the learning environment fosters communities of incredibly supportive women who want to see the best for their peers in every realm.

I had never been to her school until graduation. She had won an award at the end of her senior year for her commitment to community service, and I got to see what it really was that made her love it. Just from sitting in that auditorium for the ceremony for a few hours, it was more than obvious. When she was granted the award everyone cheered her on, just as they had done for everyone else who was awarded that evening. They watched a slideshow of the year they had all had and sang along to every song. They lightheartedly laughed at all the jokes the speakers made. The speakers — young girls who attended the high school — all portrayed the utmost confidence when standing up in front of the student body, the school’s faculty, and the students’ families. They supported each other. The focus wasn’t on who you were dating; the focus wasn’t on what you were wearing; the focus wasn’t on what you looked like; the focus was on education and on becoming educated women. And because of that, they each succeeded. Each with a smile on her face.

The environment at my coed school was much different. Doing well academically was a competitive venture in which you must do better than your peers to have any semblance of success; and social life was many times ranked above academics in importance.

Now I clearly cannot argue that this is how it is for everyone, or that an all-girls education is the best choice for every girl, or that there is any scientific data to support the validity of the claim that there is power in an all-girls environment. I can only speak to one specific experience, and that is the difference between mine and my sisters’.

Sure there are downsides. Life isn’t split up by genders. Girls attending an all-girls school won’t always be in this environment. I think one positive I experienced that my sister did not was that I got to fight through all of the difficulties that came with going to a high school like mine, which made me a stronger person. Then again, that isn’t for everyone either.

But are those really downsides? These girls can have all the interaction with boys that they so choose, just not in the classroom. And in their most formative years, it’s great to give them that boost of confidence that comes with being in that environment. They become interested in subjects that society tells them are typically for boys, because when there are no boys around, they are no longer restricted. They become outspoken, not afraid to be ridiculed for being bossy. My sister says that her school has given her the gift of an invaluable awareness of our role as feminists to challenge and change the way women are often labeled in society and the importance of pushing those boundaries.

I wouldn’t change my experience for the world. I am extremely happy with where I am today and loved the 13 years I spent at that school, but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking if I would be different than I am today if I had listened to my parents that year in eighth grade. But I also believe, that if I have daughters, I would love to send them to an all-girls school, maybe even the one their aunt attended.

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