Culture and values in education professor Jing Lin PHOTO: OWEN EGAN

Girl power Shanghai-style

MARIA FRANCESCA LoDICO | Imagine an all-girls school in Beijing or Shanghai akin to Montreal's Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's. Young students in uniforms and short hair clutter the hallways gossiping or sit in the library reading about the Cultural Revolution. Others study mathematics, literature, the martial arts and, very importantly, driving. "In China, driving is highly complex and demanding. Wherever you turn, there is a sea of people," says Professor Jing Lin, laughing. "But driving is usually not taught in co-ed schools." This is just one reason why an increasing number of Chinese parents are choosing to send their daughters to all-girls schools. An estimated 100 public and private institutions have sprung up since 1978 offering a wide choice between traditional academic programs and vocational training. Simply put, "Girls excel in single-sex schools," says Lin. She teaches in the Department of Culture and Values in Education and is conducting a research study on all-girls schools in China with Heidi Ross, a Colgate University education professor. Lin is a longtime observer of China's educational system with several books to her credit, including Education in Post-Mao China (1993) and Social Transformation and Private Education in China (1999). Co-ed school advocates argue that a mixed-sex learning environment is more natural. But discrimination against girls and a lack of female role-models are part and parcel of that environment. The male principal of an elite co-ed school in China told Lin that he believed girls to be naturally inclined towards the humanities and social sciences while boys were inherently better at the sciences. "He said to me, 'In my experience, girls are only good at certain things.'" According to Lin, girls in single-sex institutions achieve higher academic standing. They develop stronger leadership skills through rotational leadership training in which they assume different responsibilities. The girls are also taught in a collaborative manner. "It's wonderful how these girls will work together on difficult mathematical problems. Or they will learn how to take apart a bicycle, to understand its underlying principles. This doesn't happen in co-ed schools which cater to boys who already know these things." The girls also tend to be less self-conscious. "Girls fear that boys will laugh at them when they squat during sports or military training. They don't seem to worry about this at all girls schools." Most Chinese parents have only one child -- the government, fearful of overpopulation, has instituted a powerful combination of incentives and sanctions to steer families in this direction. Parents look to these schools for protection -- they worry about their daughters interacting with boys too much and too soon, about the dangers inherent in falling in love or getting pregnant. "That's their worst nightmare," says Lin. But girls will be girls. The biggest challenge facing all-girls schools is incessant gossip and the distraction caused by fashion concerns. Hence the school uniforms and short hair. All-girls institutions were either converted into co-ed schools or shut down after the 1949 Communist takeover. Lin and Ross are looking at the re-emergence of these schools in the context of the recent social, economic and political transformation of China, the rise of a new middle class, gender, socialization and educational practices. Within China's new economy, the rise of all-girls schools is driven by a clientele with regional, class and religious needs. "It's a big, competitive market and parents are looking for different types of schools," says Lin. Vocational institutions, for instance, offer training for the growing service industry or in a wide range of fields traditionally occupied by women including hairdressing, secretarial work and tourism. Poor rural Muslim girls from northwest China learn skills that enable them to bring home much needed income. Many of the schools, says Lin, enjoy a degree of autonomy. The principle of the Dalian All-Girl International Trade School in northeast China has made her mark with a personal vision and philosophy of education. She eliminated traditional subjects such as gymnastics and introduced the martial arts, computer science and English. Moreover, the school offers a course on famous women and invites established professional women to talk to the girls. The importance of female role models cannot be underestimated, says Lin. One of the best-known schools, the Public All-Girls School in Shanghai, boasts illustrious alumni including Song Quingling, the wife of Sun Yetsun who established the Republic of China, and Xie Binxin, the century's most famous Chinese female writer. When Lin asked parents at a Beijing school about their interest in single-sex education, many mothers said they had attended all-girls institutions and loved the experience. Lin also has a personal investment in this research. She hopes to send her two daughters to all-girls schools here in North America.