The Single-Gender Advantage
The Challenge and Opportunity
March 03, 2008
Central Catholic High School has from its inception been a single-gender, boys school. Most people don't realize that every Catholic high school in San Antonio, except St. Gerard's, began as a single-gender school. There are many reasons for this, one important one being that for many years canon law prohibited the brothers from teaching any young person except boys. One by one, every boys school has "gone coed," generally for economic reasons, until Central Catholic is the only high school for boys in Bexar and surrounding counties. We believe this is an important part of the Central Catholic advantage.
Dr. Leonard Sax, well-known proponent of single-gender education, came to San Antonio two years ago to give a seminar to the faculties of Providence and Central Catholic high schools, and another to the general public. He believes that students are "hard-wired" to learn best with members of their own gender. He recommends that boys' classes be more energetic, that teachers be "in their faces," and even that classrooms should be kept six degrees cooler than girls' classes. CCHS teachers are in-serviced on the differences in gender-specific education.
We believe that much of Central Catholic's success can be attributed to single-gender classes, and invite prospective parents to discuss this with our admissions coordinator, counselors, administrators and teachers.
