For a long time, many parents and teachers have argued over whether or not same sex schools are a distraction for students, but no ultimate answer has been decided upon. Many believe it just depends on the preferences of students and their parents. However, over the past few years, there has been a change of heart.

Single sex schools provide a better education than their coed counterparts. These schools eliminate distractions and create a comfortable setting for students to fully focus on their studies.

In the U.S., single-sex education is much less widespread than their coed counterparts. However, in the last 20 years, an explosion of interest has seen the number of single-sex public schools increase from just one to more than 500, but that still represents a tiny fraction of the total. In addition, more than 445 public coed high schools now offer single-sex classrooms.

Single-sex schools get rid of the social pressures that can come from putting boys and girls together at a time of burgeoning hormones. After all, high school is meant to be a place where students can fully focus on their studies without having to worry about the opposite sex judging their every move.

According to South Coast Today, Principal Zachary Clayton, who organized a research study to fully recognize the pros and cons of single sex schools, wrote, “It allows them to just take one of those pressures that a lot of middle school boys are going through out of their heads, and lets them focus on their academics and their athletics.”

At David Young Community Academy in the northern city of Leeds, the principal, who believed that the girls of the school were more interested in impressing the boys than in studying, decided to move away from coed and saw surprising results: “Achievement overall had risen, among girls it had rocketed.”

In addition, single sex schools can help the different genders according to their needs. Even with the remarkable advances for women’s rights and gender equality, we can all agree that there are characteristics that make women and men different, and we can use them to our advantage. For example, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, says “This mindset appears to contribute to substantial gender gaps in math scores that emerge during and after middle school.” Single sex school can provide gender-based, grade-level appropriate neuroscience lessons to fully reach the potential of every student, regardless of their gender.

In another research study, researchers at Bristol University suggested boys might do better in English if they were taught in single-sex classes, but math and science were best taught in co-ed classes. This study proves that single sex classes can be more effective in certain courses of study.

Other countries have also studied more about this topic. Research in South Korea, for example, points to higher test scores and a higher rate of college attendance among single-sex school students. There is also a claim that the secret behind why so many Asian students succeed is single sex schools. Chinese students came out on top in an international standardized test covering mathematics, reading, and science, far outscoring their U.S. counterparts who achieved below average marks on the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures the literacy of 15 year old students in the three areas. The Shanghai school system topped the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD) worldwide assessment tests of 15-year-olds in 2009 ahead of Korea, Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Shanghai school system contains all male or all female classes.

Does the secret of Asian diminution of Western education ranking lie beneath single sex schooling?