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Opinion L.A.

Opinion: Supremely single-sex

By Michael McGough
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Among an avalanche of Elena Kagan factoids, one in particular caught my attention: The Supreme Court nominee attended an all-girls high school (which had begun to admit boys in the lower grades when she graduated). She joins Hillary Rodham Clinton (Wellesley, 1969) in a sorority of high-achieving alumnae of female-only educational institutions.

Two examples do not a thesis make, but advocates of all-female schools and colleges long have argued that the absence of males from the classroom encourages assertiveness and achievement that prove useful in a coed world. Less well-known is that there are advocates for boys-only schools (all-male colleges, not so much) who have different rationales, including the (sexist?) idea that boys have different learning styles. (Full disclosure: I attended an all-boys school.)

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At the least, Kagan’s success is an indication that single-sex schools don’t retard academic and professional advancement.

-- Michael McGough

Opinion L.A.
Michael McGough

Michael McGough is the Los Angeles Times’ former senior editorial writer, based in Washington, D.C. He wrote editorials for The Times from 2006 to 2021. Before that, McGough worked for 30 years for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a reporter, editorial writer, editorial page editor and Washington correspondent. He wrote about law, national security, politics, foreign policy and religion. McGough is a graduate of Allegheny College and also attended the University of Kent at Canterbury in England and Yale Law School, where he received a master of studies in law degree.

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