D.C. School Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced in late January her plan to create a college preparatory high school for black and Latino boys in the District. The proposed school, which would cater to boys in Wards 7 and 8, is part of a bigger D.C. Public Schools project, Empowering Males of Color, which plans to spend $20 million on programs to bring a “world-class education” to black and Latino male students. The school focuses on helping these students succeed throughout high school and continue into higher education.
However, as the American Civil Liberties Union and Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh contend, an all-male high school would be a Title IX violation. The proposal denies assistance to young women of color, many of whom are in similarly disadvantaged situations.
Both Henderson and Mayor Muriel Bowser have good intentions. The male students that the proposed school targets tend to score lower on exams and are less likely to even attend school, let alone graduate. According to the Washington Post, only 48 percent of black male students and 57 percent of Latino male students graduate from high school in four years, compared to an overall graduation rate of 66 percent in D.C.’s schools. Nevertheless, the advantages hardly outweigh the costs, legal and otherwise, of a single-sex high school.
The problem is the idea of creating a separate institution to which women have no access. Even though, statistically, men of color have lower graduation rates than women of color, female students still share many of the same struggles as their male counterparts. An all-male school would seem to dismiss these concerns and miss the larger point of addressing the issues affecting minority students.
Besides, grades and graduation rates are not the only elements that matter in one’s education; developing social and interpersonal skills matter too. High school is a formative experience for growing adolescents. An all-male school could simply propagate gender stereotypes and reduce opportunities for boys and girls to interact with each other while offering few academic advantages over a co-ed education.
Female students are just as deserving of quality education as their male peers. The District should remain keen to provide additional mentorship and grants to encourage disadvantaged black and Latino males to finish their education. But creating a single-sex education institution is the wrong solution. The funds for this school should be going to more holistic solutions for systemic issues in the D.C. public school system that will effectively reduce racial and gender disparities in education.
