NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - 5A
Single-sex
education
'gets gov't
approval
WASHINGTON (AP) - Public
schools are about to get broad new
freedom to teach boys and girls sepa-
rately, perhaps the biggest shakeup to
co-ed classrooms in three decades.
The Education Department plans to
change its enforcement of Title IX, the
landmark anti-discrimination law, to
make it easier for districts to create sin-
gle-sex classes and schools. The move
would give local school leaders discre-
tion to expand choices for parents,
whether that means a math class, a
grade level or an entire school
designed for one gender.
U.S. research on single-sex school-
ing is limited, but advocates say it
shows better student achievement and
attendance and fewer discipline prob-
lems. Critics say there is no clear evi-
dence, and that single-sex learning
doesn't get students ready for an inte-
grated world.
At least 91 of 91,000 public schools
offer a form of same-sex education
now, including The Philadelphia High
School for Girls, which sends almost
all of its graduates to college.
"The environment itself, I think it
empowers girls," said Principal Geral-
dine Myles. "There is no ceiling to
stop them from being anything they
want to be, in terms of gender. It just
isn't there, and at their impressionable
age, it probably makes a difference."
While opponents predict the new
federal plan will be a big blow to equal
education.opportunity, department offi-
cials say there will be no easing of pro-
tection against sexual discrimination.
B-School students may get internshis more easily
JOBS
Continued from Page 1A
-rily meant to assist students by educating them in
marketing themselves to employers.
Al Cotrone, director of the Business School's
Career Development, says that none of the
career programs at the University do "place-
ment" or assign students to positions at a com-
pany. "We don't have 500 different internships
and say, 'This Econ major is going to work at
this firm this summer?' "
Instead of placement, both career advisors said
the University not only instructs students in the
skills necessary to find a job, but also tried to con-
nect students with employers interested in hiring
University students through job fairs, on-campus
interviews and online job postings.
Sebille-White said that both career programs
use these resources and methods to make these
connections and have similar contacts with
employers, so neither program has an edge.
Cotrone said the Business School handles stu-
dents in the same way. He added it's a complete
misconception that the Business School secures
future job positions for its students.
"Career services offices very rarely will be
involved in placing or matching students and
companies. Accordingly, I don't think I
would portray what we do here as finding
jobs for students or giving out jobs to stu-
dents. Rather, we actively prepare students to
capitalize on the resources available as they
conduct their job searches, just the same as
the Career Center."
Sebille-White said although the University
career programs have many resources, getting a
job requires student participation. She added that
students can't expect a quick and easy way to find
a job. For most students, the job search will take
six to nine months, Sebille-White said.
Misconceptions about the Business School's
career development programs may arise partially
because Business School students begin their job
search earlier than LSA students, Cotrone said.
"The timing of the process has moved earlier in
Andreas Penna, who also acquired his job in a
month and a half, said he felt students in LSA were
at a disadvantage in terms of job-searching skills
when compared to Business School students. "All
my friends in LSA don't know what the hell is
going on with job searching."
"And you know, it's because I think in the Busi-
ness School they force it, they teach it to you. But I
think if you are in LSA, you really have to take ini-
tiative," Penna said. He added that LSA students
will probably have to seek out counselors in the
Career Center in order to learn those skills.
Even though a bias may exist, students should
not avoid the Career Center. Tom Halasz, a former
Career Center advisor now working at Dartmouth
College, urged students to use the center's services.
"Students have bought in to the media's belief that
they can't have jobs. That's something career cen-
ters have to deal with, but students can get jobs.
The students we don't find successful are the ones
that don't use the career centers," he said.
LSA senior Ruben Duran said the Career Center
has been valuable to his job search, as it has recent-
ly helped get him an interview and also reviewed
his resumes. Duran added that the Career Center
has done its best to assist his job search and has
helped him locate potential job offers he would
have never been aware of.
He added that any disappointment with the
Career Center would be unfounded because the
center has to serve a large population of students,
all studying different majors. "(The Career Center)
has a much more weightier task than the Business
School or any other school, because they have stu-
dents that potentially have no marketable skills."
Other students who have used the center for its
resources have found some of the resources to be
limiting. Kinesiology senior Philip Hoffer, who is
still searching for a job, said, "I'm a sports manage-
ment major and therefore I'm looking for jobs in
sport business-related jobs, and the Career Center
just doesn't have a lot of resources for jobs in the
sport business industry." But even with these diffi-
culties, Hoffer said the Career Center has provided
him with websites and job source books to assist
his job search.
TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily
Career Center librarian Leigh Formicola gives LSA freshman Rick Bastien advice on summer internships.
the cycle here at the Business School, so that the
on-campus portion of the search is largely complet-
ed by December of a student's senior year. To
(LSA) students, where the process may take place a
bit later, this can also appear easier," he said.
The Business School tends to have a close con-
nection to its students, which could create an image
that Business School students are getting more
opportunities, added Cotrone.
Business School senior Ben Bershad agreed with
Cotrone and said the idea that Business School stu-
dents get jobs without any work is presumptuous.
"It's very difficult and competitive to get a job.
There are a lot of qualities companies look for, and
you are going to have to study hard," he said.
Bershad added, "If everyone in the B-school
relied on the recruiters, not everyone would get a
job. There's a lot of people who have family busi-
nesses or connections and so go work for them."
Unlike some other job-searching seniors,
Bershad attained a job back in November, after
a month and a half of searching. He said a bias
toward hiring Business School students does
exist, but not because of the different career
programs.
"To some degree (the Business School is) a trade
school. In LSA you can't find a lot of jobs with just
a political science or psychology major. You need
more requirements. In the (business world) money
changes hands and the B-school prepares us to kind
of negotiate that exchange of money. It prepares
you for those specifaic job functions,"he said.
Still,'Bershad added that some of his classmates
did not find jobs as fast as he did and have also
struggled to find jobs just like many other seniors.
Contrary to Bershad's view, other Business
School students said they feel a bias exists within
the institutions themselves. Business School senior
"We are
not advo-
cating sin-
gle - sex
schools,
and we are
not advo-
cating sin-
gle-s ex'
c class-
rooms,"
said Ken
Marcus,
who over-
sees civil
rights for
the depart-
ment. "We
understand
that co-
education
remains the
norm in
American
public edu-
cation, and
will contin-
"The
environment
itself, I think it
empowers
g..... There
is no ceiling
to stop them
from being
anything they
want to be, in
terms of
gender.'
- Geraldine Myles
Principal, The
Philadelphia High
School for Girls
band: $ (undisclosed amount)
make-up & wardrobe: $7000
I Y
soy cappuccinos: $250
camera crew: $1200 a day
ue to be the norm. We are simply trying
to ensure that educators have flexibility
to provide options."
Since current rules began in 1975,
single-sex classes have been allowed
only in limited cases, such as gym
classes involving contact sports. The
proposed regulations announced yes-
terday will loosen those restrictions
considerably, allowing districts to cre-
ate single-sex classes to provide a
diversity of choices, or to meet the par-
ticular needs of students.
Schools would have to treat boys and
girls equally in determining what
courses to offer. And single-gender
enrollment must be voluntary.
If a school creates a single-sex class
in a subject, it would not be required to
offer the other gender its own similar
class, but it would have to offer a coed
version of it.
The department's plan would also
make it easier to create entire single-
sex schools.
Current rules allow those schools,
but only when a district creates a
comparable single-sex school for
the other gender. That restriction
would disappear. Instead, districts
would have the option of demon-
strating that their coed schools pro-
vide "substantially equal" benefits
to the excluded sex.
Some call that bad policy.
"The notion that you can have
schools that are 'separate but less than
equal' is a new low in the understanding
and protection of anti-discrimination
principles," said Jocelyn Samuels, vice
president of education and employment
at the National Women's Law Center.
But school districts, Marcus said,
must truly show that excluded students
get an education that's substantially the
same as those in same-sex classes. The
department, in responding to com-
plaints or doing its own reviews, will
consider everything from textbooks to
admissions criteria to ensure districts
don't play favorites with one gender.
The changes, which would not be
you are here: priceless
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