Bad for both boys and girls

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2006 | by Emily Martin and Katie Schwartzmann

This summer, after receiving a complaint from parents told they faced a mandatory sex-segregated educational program at a public school in Livingston Parish, La., the ACLU filed a lawsuit and the school board quickly withdrew the plan. This was an exciting victory, but unfortunately, the Livingston school is not unique.

The U.S. Department of Education plans to release new rules that will allow for expanded use of single-sex education in public schools. Across the country, proponents of gender-segregation are touting boys- or girls-only classrooms as a fix-all solution to the woes of many struggling school districts. In addition to being unlawful, the rationale behind these programs is bad for kids.

Advocates of sex-segregated schools offer pseudo-scientific...