In India today, it is taken for granted that schools should be coeducational. Some private boys' schools, and fewer girls' schools, survive from colonial times; but the newer ones are all coeducational. When we read of separate education for girls in Muslim countries, we smirk: what do you expect of these Muslim backwoodsmen? It appears self-evident that if women have to live and work with men through their lives, they should get used to doing so early in their lives. If boys and girls are to be equal, the simplest way of ensuring equality in education would seem to be to give them the same education -- and a taste of life to come. The presence of girls may also be expected to help in the socialisation of boys. And yet, the idea that girls benefit from separate schools is gaining ground in western countries.
Girls do less well than boys in science and mathematics. Is it due to an inherent weakness, or is it a social phenomenon? The education ministry of Baden-W