THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412150084
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CYNTHIA MANZ, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
EVERY YEAR, thousands of college-bound high school juniors and seniors are flung into a panic by the amount of mail they receive from colleges.
We must decide, among other things, the size (10,000 undergraduates or more or less), and the setting (somewhere between rural America and the big city). And somewhere along the way, another decision is made, consciously or not: whether to go to a single-sex or a coed college?
Enrollment at women's colleges is on the rise, according to Christine LeFever, spokeswoman for Hollins College, an all-female liberal arts school in Roanoke. Still, many seniors don't even consider them.
The myths surrounding single-sex colleges are part of the reason that many females don't consider them. One myth that female students worry about is that colleges are male-free.
Not true. Most women's colleges have a link with neighboring colleges and universities. For example, at Hollins, students socialize with guys from Virginia Military Institute and Hampden-Sydney College, two nearby all-male schools, and Washington and Lee University, which only recently went coed. The link between schools offers many chances for students to meet people of the opposite sex.
At Hollins, some graduate classes are even coed because male students from nearby schools sometimes take classes not offered at their own school.
Another plus of coed schools is the absence of gender discrimination. In February 1992, the American Association of University Women released a report titled ``How Schools Shortchange Girls.'' This report said teachers and peers discriminate against women in school, and female self-esteem is lowered and academic goals and accomplishments diminished because of it.
``Students sit in classrooms that, day in, and day out, deliver the message that women's lives count for less than men's,'' said Alice McKee, the association's president.
This was one reason that an all-female college appealed to Jessica Lewis.
``A woman's opinion does not count as much as or equal to a man's in today's society,'' said 17-year-old Jessica, a sophomore at Hollins College. ``I think that Hollins and other women's colleges try to show that women do make a difference and really can be as good or better than a man in today's world.''
The experts tend to agree with Jessica.
``The fact is that young women do better in their intellectual development when they have at least a few years to learn and study with each other than when they are in coed environments,'' said Carol Tavris, author of ``The Mismeasure of Women.''
Anita Garland, director of admissions at Hampden-Sydney College, said the college doesn't emphasize that it's all-male, although the benefits are similar to female schools. They simply pitch it as a ``superb liberal arts college.''
So don't overlook the single-sex schools when you leaf through the brochures in your mailbox. It could be the best thing for you. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Cynthia Manz is a senior at Lake Taylor High.
by CNB