Segregated schools and effects on the kids?

Ok, I went to a private Catholic HS back in the US...was pretty strict but the boys and girls mingled. In classes we were coed, lunch room, chatting in the halls. Here in Korea (in my public schools) so different.

I know the classes are segregated...but it seems that the boys and girls are afraid to talk or interact with each other. From what I have heard they have:
1. No contact in classes
2. No dances, social events for them to mingle
3. Segregated AT LUNCH

And self imposed segregation in halls....they dont even have contact between classes. Its so odd.

I wonder very much if this has a negative effect on relationships/marriages later on.
I teach teenagers....I KNOW the boys like girls, its human nature. Just wondering (and not everyone can be shy) why its like this.

They don't really have time for social lives anyway. Splitting girls and boys in school provides for a better learning environment. The goal is to get kids into good colleges, not teach them how to dance with the opposite sex. From that perspective it makes perfect sense.

The kids at my academy are elementary schoolers, so they're mostly still at the stage where the opposite sex is the enemy. But I see boys and girls together in public all the time.

Sometimes it's human nature for "girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boys"...

Maybe it's because I'm really rural, but all of my classes are co-ed.  If given the choice, the students tend to sit boys with boys and girls with girls.  If I ask them to work together or put them on teams together they usually grumble a bit but go ahead and do it. 

Except for one grade.  I have one grade at my middle school where last year I tried to assign boys and girls to work together on a small 10 minute assignment and you would have thought that I asked them to sign away their organs or something.  EVERY SINGLE KID was up out of their seats wailing about being unfair and that they didn't want to work with girls/boys!  I have been forbidden ever since to pair the genders together in that class, which is a shame because the boys are much higher level than the girls and that makes competitions difficult as the boys would almost always win.  I end up having to do a lot of individual work instead which is not nearly as much fun and far more taxing on the students.

I've had a completely different experience than others - last year I taught at a technical school which the student population was made up of 95% male and 5% female. While some boys were comfortable around the female students most were awkward. However, this wasn't the case at the co-ed high school also where I taught - probably because the numbers were more even.

This year I'm teaching at an all boys' high school and the boys all have asked me to teach them about girls. Most live at school and are only allowed to go home once every two weeks so they rarely see anyone other than their other male students and the teachers (of which most are also male). I doubt that most of them have any female friends at all.

My co-teacher was the product of such schools - an integrated elementary school and then divided middle school and high school and admitted to my predecessor he was worried about working with me when I would transfer there because I'm female - he couldn't take me out drinking like he did the previous male NET (who knows why ... perhaps because it'd be improper? I don't push the issue though he's mentioned it a few times because I don't want to drink with him). One day in class the class got on the topic of things to say to girls and I explained a few things that aren't really done in the US like asking a girl's age, shouting at her that she's beautiful in a random encounter, etc. My co-worker expressed disbelief and asked what exactly men could say to women - it doesn't even cross his mind that you could have a normal conversation with a woman. I guess the only women he interacts with are his wife and mother and I wonder what he talks about with them. He might be an extreme example of segregated education but I can see similar attitudes in many of the younger/youngish male teachers at my school and the students.

I lived in rural Japan for a couple years which, from my experience, has as strict gender dynamics and roles as I've seen in Korea but yet many of the young male and female teachers interacted with one another and were friends and I suspect that's a product of their co-ed education.

How heteronormative.

How heteronormative.

Damn right! :)  Not a thing wrong with it.

Bigoted and proud. Preach!

How heteronormative.

Damn right! :)  Not a thing wrong with it.

Sounds like someone needs to check their privilege. :)

Bigoted and proud. Preach!

You seem to have an agenda with that polarizing remark in the first place. Plus...this is Korea....not San Francisco. The idea of "alternative lifestyles" and such isnt popular here, nor is it popular with most of the world, inclusing the west. Bigoted? No. I just have common sense, values, and respect for normalcy. It is possible to be so open minded that your brains fall out.

Bigoted and proud. Preach!

It is possible to be so open minded that your brains fall out.

Speaking from experience?

If you disagree with tradition, normalcy and values fine...but dont call others who dont endorse your radical pro-gay agenda. And calling people bigots?

I would venture to say your grandmother and grandfather were not backers of this new concept. Were they bigots?????

If you disagree with tradition, normalcy and values fine...but dont call others who dont endorse your radical pro-gay agenda. And calling people bigots?

I would venture to say your grandmother and grandfather were not backers of this new concept. Were they bigots?????

My grandmother and grandfather threatened to disown my aunt because she was dating a colored.

I'll let you be the judge (bad decision).

If you disagree with tradition, normalcy and values fine...but dont call others who dont endorse your radical pro-gay agenda. And calling people bigots?

I would venture to say your grandmother and grandfather were not backers of this new concept. Were they bigots?????

My grandmother and grandfather threatened to disown my aunt because she was dating a colored.

I'll let you be the judge (bad decision).

Thats different. Dating someone who is colored is not the same thing. Its still M-F.
But th fact remains ths is a fad. Flavor of the month. Its a "right" that was inventd by activists and the media and countless leftists who cant hold down a job or go 1 hour without a hit off a bong. Its a sham. Its political. And the harder they push......the normal people will push equally as hard, and if not harder.

now i wont convince you and you wont convince me....i dont know how the hell this thread got on this. lets end this before someone comes on and picks apart every sentence from thr two of us and throws a fit. Im done.

Korea is heteronormative. That being said, I understand frozencat's point. Even if you pretend we don't exist, queers And gay people and trans people are real. Always have been. Even in Korea.

1. Frozencat, there was no need to start this dialogue. "How heteronormative" was totally unnecessary. Also, "a colored" is most definitely not a politically correct term, which is surprising, coming from you. Had you used quotes, it would have implied that it was a term that your bigoted family members used, and that you were just repeating their words exactly. If that's the case, I'd suggest editing your post for clarity. Also, there's no need to bring up the LGBT issue. Travis was talking about shy kids, for Pete's sake.

2. Travis, being pro-gay isn't that radical (Uruguay just legalized gay marriage, by the way, so it's catching on.) Also, you throw around the term values a lot. Well, there are values other than yours, so try using different wording, because you're implying that people who don't share your belief system have no values.

3. Back on track: It does play a huge part in their adult lives, and it's sad. I've recently heard (from 2 credible sources) that an entire class of now-legal medications will be taken off of the market in the near future because of a slew of date rapes in Hongdae, where they have been used (by Koreans on Koreans) as makeshift "roofies." Socializing teens and letting them learn how to interact (when they're still young enough sex isn't really happening) would probably reduce this at least partially. I'm not saying that there would be no sex crimes, of course. Yes, it is not a huge proportion of Korean men who do this, but it's enough that there is legislation in the works to remove several medications from the legal market.

I agree this topic got off track. However, just the fact that not everyone shares my values....not everyone shares your view of political corectness and wanting us to edit our posts because you personally disagree with the wording. Ever heard of the NAACP? National Association of the Advancement of COLORED People. So, please try not to ask myself or Frozencat to edit our comments simply because they dont live up to your personal standards of what is PC.
That said...Im not going to comment on the gay issue anymore. Most people believe in these traditional values...they are just not as loud as the opposition.

Back on track lol....yes...I would like to see more things such as dances at schools. Mixers, events. Its rather depressing to see the boys simply pass the girls as if they dont exist. Kind of odd too. Hopefully they will introduce some of these ideas....hopefully

You are all aware that he was using the term "colored" ironically, right? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, frozencat.

There's a point when you say things like it's human nature for boys to like girls. I mean, if you missed that part, it might seem like it came out of left field. Lack of knowledge of the last 89 years notwithstanding.

I was using the term ironically (thank you bammer  ) and didn't feel the need to use quotes because it should have been clear that, when asked if my grandparents were bigoted, I responded with bigoted ideals.

Back on track, my teacher felt uncomfortable doing the "Around the World" section of the textbook for lesson 1, which teaches you how people from around the world greet each other. Since "Aloha!" and "Buenos tardes" involved physical contact, he said it was too awkward for boys and girls to do the exercise and that the culture doesn't encourage romantic displays, especially not in the education setting.

That might just be another "it's the cultural way" cop-out but I don't really think anything is wrong. Even if its an entire group of high schoolers that are running on hormones -- in our area, it seems most of them wait to flirt with each other until dinner break at CU.

There's a point when you say things like it's human nature for boys to like girls. I mean, if you missed that part, it might seem like it came out of left field. Lack of knowledge of the last 89 years notwithstanding.

Right. Boys like lamps and girls like VHS tapes. give it a rest! Its human nature for boys to like girls. If it wasnt YOU and I would not be here to comment on this thread. For those that go the other way...thats their lifestyle and thats fine...but its not human nature. I know that will upset you, but its not. So my  comment is right. It is human  nature for boys to like girls. Not to is the extreme exception to the rule. No offense.

And I agree...I did not start this discussion down this road.....but for some reason frozencat you cant leave it alone. And considering I am greatly outnumbered on this thread it is only fair we give me EQUALITY and let a counter view be heard. ;)