Lunchroom Gender Debate

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

14 Apr 2011 06:01 AM

It starts so young.

Drama. It's the glue that binds kids around the nation.

Just ask Jennifer Sinclair.

Sinclair is the principal at Truesdell Middle School in Wichita, Kansas, where the high drama between male and female students forced a change in lunchroom dynamics: Boys and girls no longer eat together in select Wichita public schools.

Sinclair says male and female students were spending way too much time socializing, trying to impress each other, and even making out during lunch rather than eating. Consequently, she and a few other principals in the area decided to conduct a social experiment whereby the boys and girls sit on opposite sides of the cafeteria during lunch.

Michael Archibeque, principal at Pleasant Valley Middle School says the lunchroom segregation has been working like a charm.

"Our behavior problems, verbal altercations, fights - everything has dropped dramatically this year," Archibeque told news reporters.

The Pleasant Valley principal also noted that in addition to reducing the drama that swirled around like a tornado during lunch period, far less food is being wasted.

"It seemed like 80 percent of our students were throwing away whole lunches," Archibeque told reporters.

Now that boys and girls eat separately, there's more feeding than flirting.

Personally, I am all for single-sex lunchrooms. Then again, I am a huge advocate of single-sex education in general. I would love to send my daughter to an all-girls school, but the closest one to our home is located more than 100 miles away.

Unfortunately, it appears I am in the minority, at least according to critics of Wichita's single-sex lunchtime. Those who oppose the social experiment complain that lunch offers "the most important period of the day in terms of negotiating relationships and... learning social skills."

Where do you stand on single-sex lunch in schools? Do you really think lunch segregation stunts a kid's ability to socialize with the opposite sex?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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