This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ewing, E. T. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Repudiation of Single-Sex Education: Boys’ Schools in the Soviet Union, 1943–1954

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

This article examines the 11-year Soviet experiment with boys’ schools as a way to cast new light on scholarly research and public debates about single-sex education. Drawing on archival and published materials by educators who described school conditions, identified problems, suggested reforms, and evaluated remedies, the author argues that separating boys from girls exacerbated the problems of coeducational schools while generating additional difficulties and dilemmas specific to sex-segregated schools. With the restoration of coeducation in 1954, single-sex schooling, and boys’ schools in particular, had been decisively repudiated. For educators, policymakers, and parents engaged in the current debate on sex-separated schooling, this case study involving more than a million male pupils can serve as a cautionary tale about the possible difficulties and potential consequences of a large-scale gender segregation policy.

Key Words: boys at school • coeducational schooling • comparative education • history of education • masculinity • modern Russian education • single-sex schooling

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 43, No. 4, 621-650 (2006)
DOI: 10.3102/00028312043004621


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?