The Big Question: Should Doon Turn co-ed?

POINT
Philip Burrett

Of all the changes that one might see at Doon over the next decade or so, I do not think going co-ed will be one of them. And I think this has more to do with tradition than with the ability on the part of the school to bring about the necessary adaptations to receive girls.
There may be many reasons why there was so much interest shown when, last year, the media, misquoting the Headmaster, let slip that Doon was thinking of going co-ed but statistics have shown that single sex schools do the best as far as academics is concerned (all-girls’ school better than all-boys’) and development psychologists point out that during the latent stage (7 to 12 years), boys and girls do well to stay apart. This is why some of the conservative public schools in the UK have opened their doors to girls in the sixth form only (Wellington and Rugby have girls, Eton and Harrow do not).
However, having started my teaching career at a co-ed institution, I feel this is the way to go and Doon is one place that can do it. Who would have thought we would one day do the IB? One would have had to have been here at least twenty years to realize how much has changed, while, at the same time, the bedrock of Dosco tradition has remained the same. The same can be said of St. Stephen’s College, an older and even more traditional place than Doon, which opened its doors to girls in the mid-70s.
One strong plus-point for co-ed is that it is the natural way for boys and girls to grow. After all, most students would move to a co-ed college, so why not get used to girls a year before that? Many Doscos have complained that they are ill-at-ease with girls, and cry out for more Socials and more interaction. Boys are more conscious of their turn-out, their language and their academic showing when girls are around. Girls have a knack of getting the boys to give off their best in class and outside. Girls out-score boys in almost all public examinations and often force boys to get serious at what they are good at. I have never seen better standards at soccer and most other sports as I saw in my first school, which dispelled the myth, previously held, that co-ed schools produced sissies and softies. Many parents who have daughters as well as sons would find it convenient to choose one school and we would see more applications for admissions each year. But it is true that co-ed institutions are not without their problems; it simply means that one set of problems is replaced by another. It is true that problems of security, the games calendar, additional staff and the odd misadventure, love affairs and emotional problems will have to be dealt with, but, the sooner we learn to accept and understand women, the better for us all.

COUNTERPOINT
Akaash Pathare

The Doon School has prided itself in being a single-sex educational facility for seventy years. Why is there a need to complicate things? There are many points I can base my argument on. The following are the reasons why I feel the school must not turn co-ed:
Already, everyone in the community must have noticed how the need for space is increasing. By bringing girls into the picture, either Chandbagh will lose its greenery or the number of boys being admitted every year will have to decrease. Turning co-ed also means that the infrastructure of our school will have to be upgraded in certain areas as the needs of a girl as opposed to a boy’s are completely different. Having the girls’ hostels in proximity to the boys’ hostels also means that the security will have to be very vigilant so as to keep ‘intruders’ away.
I am sure that the school would also like to maintain a traditional outlook concerning the relationship between boys and girls, probably something along the lines of Mayo Girls and Mayo Boys. Definitely not something like Kodaikanal International School or Woodstock, Mussoorie.
Realistically speaking, on becoming co-ed, there will be a whole lot of love-sick boys and girls. It will become a norm to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, otherwise you would be considered ‘uncool.’ Instead of competing against each other in studies, sports, co-curricular activities, boys/girls will compete with each other to procure a suitable match. In such cases there is always a chance of taking things too far. Could this be termed as healthy competition? I, personally, would term it as ‘distraction’ and a distraction is definitely something which we can do without.