What happens when single-sex school students are thrown into a coed environment?
High school minus the prom and plus a less awkward health class, single-sex education has long been a contentious hotspot of the academic world. Many proponents argue that adolescents benefit socially and academically from being able to develop without feeling pressure or judgment from the opposite sex; but others feel that single-sex education creates an unrealistic bubble that inhibits the development of social skills and reinforces gender stereotypes. Harvard, with many of its students hailing from the various single-sex high schools across the country, is the perfect place to test this debate. These students’ experiences at Harvard, while as varied as those of students from coed schools, are nonetheless fundamentally unique and different from their coed counterparts. It is widely recognized that following attendance at a single-sex high school, the transition into the coed world can be frustrating. And yet there seems to be among these students a clear sense of confidence and comfo
