Many years ago, I taught for the Diocese of Cincinnati.  It was not the route I had planned in education, but after a couple of years of subbing, this was the first real job offer I received, and so I took it, seeing it as a stepping stone to teaching in the public schools.  I ended up loving where I was and I loved teaching the kids that I had.  As my students left to go to one of the many Catholic High Schools in town, most of which were either boys or girls schools, I questioned the wisdom of separating them.  I mean, how archaic, right? And one of the explanations I received made so much sense.  At the all girls school, the girls explained to me that they would get up, throw their hair in a ponytail, not worry about make-up and head to school.  They were not distracted by boys, not trying to impress boys, not trying to suppress their competitiveness because of boys.  These girls become successful because something that might have distracted them was separated from them.

In a world that right now is all about inclusiveness, to argue for separation might seem backwards, but hear me out.  Sometimes in life, we need to be separated from people or things because it makes us healthier.  Before you become concerned about me talking about separation in terms of race, I should tell you that as a child, I attended an all white school in Mississippi for a couple of years.  While unaware of this as a child, I was greatly saddened by it as I came to this realization as an adult.  As a teacher, it is now a joy to see all of my students allowed to be together.  So I’m not talking about something as obvious as race or gender necessarily, but perhaps something a little more individualized.

In a past blog, I wrote about the difference between hummingbirds and jackhammers.  Author Elizabeth Gilbert defines hummingbirds as those people who go from experience to experience taking what they want or need and going to the next thing, where jackhammers have a very intense focus on the one thing they’re passionate about.  What if schools or classes were separated in terms of personalities?  What if the hummingbirds all went to a school where they could learn what they wanted from any number of different subjects while the school for the jackhammers focused on that one goal?  Because you see, we need both in the world.  Why not make them both the best they can be by differentiating their instruction in this way?

Or, how about separating by strengths?  While I know it’s important to also spend time in those areas that are not our strengths, why not have schools where kids are taught how to really utilize those innate strengths throughout their academic careers.  Imagine learning a subject through the eyes of your strengths.  What would that type of school look like?  Would you have to match teachers with the same kinds of strengths as the students to successfully teach that subject?  I would tend to think it would take a teacher whose strength was a “Woo” to handle a classroom full of “Woos” especially!

And of course, as my latest hummingbird interest is learning about introverts, how about separating students based on whether they are introverts or extroverts.  We know the research tells us that most times, extroverts tend to overwhelm introverts, taking over conversations, making the major decisions in a group, etc.  While it would be tough having an entire classroom of either, having a teacher with the same personality trait would be very helpful.  In discussing this with my husband, who is a complete extrovert, he expressed how frustrating it is to be with a classroom full of introverts because you can’t get them to talk, while I get completely overwhelmed with a classroom full of extroverts who won’t stay quiet long enough to listen to others.  Imagine if we had teachers who could take a class of introverts who are very thoughtful people, and encourage them share in their own quiet way.  And imagine a teacher who could corral the energy of a group of extroverts – wow!  And everyone benefits.

Creating this type of school, classroom and curriculum would take a major shift in our thinking, how we currently train and hire teachers and how we group students in classrooms. And of course, permanent separation is not practical, but separation for a student’s formative years might be a way to cement their self-confidence in who they are and how they think and learn.  Part of their instruction would be teaching them how to deal with other personalities, but in a non-threatening way which wouldn’t downplay other people’s strengths.   Teaching them that once we put all of these different strengths and personalities together, where we rely on and respect each other, we can create an amazing society where everyone is confident in who they are.   It could be a great experiment if anyone is willing to tackle it.