Emotional and behavioral impact of co-educational school system on teenagers

MENA Dubai 2003 Abstract

Author Saleh Awad Nasser
Copy The education for the period of adolescence is still in discussion in many countries. Beside these discussions and differences in opinions since the 19th century, the most convenient educational system whether it is mixed or separated is still not determined at the end of the 20th century (Reewarn, 1999). This is due to the fact that the educational system (separated or mixed) is affected by ideological, political, cultural, and religious principles and by social and economical factors.

Few are the studies that highlighted the effect of educational system on the behavioral and emotional development and maturation of the adolescents' personality. One of these researches was the study made by Willis (1986), Deem (1984), and Arnott (1983), in British and Australian high schools and college samples in the USA (ho Jiss 1988, Ted Yul 1982). These studies concluded on the negative effects of the mixing educational system on the cognitive development of girls and their future educational ambitions. Thus the girls that studied in a mixed class showed more lack of confidence and self esteem. According to the results of these researches, the teachers in mixed classes often encourage and support more the educational success of the boys rather than the girls'.

These results change when the girls are in a separated class (only girls). Ted bull (1980) found that these graduate girls have more ambitions and motivation to pursue their studies and to get jobs and reach better and higher social positions.

This paper aims to study the effect of the educational system on the adolescents' behavior from the cognitive, and emotional perspective, in the Republic of Yemen, which used to apply the mixed educational system until 1995, and moved to the separated educational system in 1996.

This paper determines the effects of the mixed and separated educational system on adolescents' behavior form both genders, through a study of 3 decades on the Yemeni experience in shifting from the separated educational system to the mixed, then from the mixed to the separated.

This experience constitutes a fertile ground to study and compare different educational systems, and to show the cultural and educational effects on the system and on the adolescents' behavior, on whom the experience was done, in many schools and cities, and who contributed scientifically in evaluating the mixed educational system in Yemen and its effect on the student's education in general.