Someone has to benefit

The argument

It is impossible to devise a school system that is perfect for everyone. Any system has to make choices — about how material is presented, how progress is measured, how much of the work is collaborative and how much individual — and every one of those choices will suit some pupils better than others. We have to accept that there will always be a group that benefits more from the education system than another group, not because designers are careless, but because a single system cannot simultaneously be optimal for every kind of learner it contains. We can take steps to even the playing field by teaching boys and girls in different ways and assessing them differently, but this simply relocates the problem rather than solving it. What happens to the anomalies? Will a girl who tests better and is worse at group work be forced to complete the female curriculum, knowing full well that she would excel faster in a male one? The moment a system is designed around the average member of a category, it misserves everyone in that category who is not average — and a great many are not. If we let her switch to the male curriculum, where do we stop? The principle that justifies her switch is that instruction should follow the learner's strengths rather than their group, and that principle does not stop at two options. Do we then make individual curriculums for each student based on their preferred learning methods and assessment strengths? That is the logical destination, and it is where the objection collapses under its own weight. Trying to build an education system that caters to everyone is an impossible task unless you want to tailor each student's individual curriculum to suit their strengths, which is just not practical at the scale schools actually operate. Since some group must benefit more than another whatever we do, the question of which group currently does is not the scandal it is presented as.

Context

All students learn differently. Everybody has their own learning methods and preferences. A school system, with its set learning methods, will always disproportionately benefit one demographic. It may as well be girls.

Premises

Counter-arguments

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to do better. Even if one group will always benefit more from the school system, we still have to constantly evaluate its performance and explore ways to close the gap and boost the underperforming demographics. This is the only way to improve the education system and reduce wider inequalities in our society. It also isn’t true that a system always has to favour one demographic. An education system where girls are given more collaborative projects to complete with their peers, while boys do more individual exercises and tests. Setting each gender up for academic success through the teaching and assessment methods is achievable. We do not have to resign ourselves to having an education system that lifts one demographic while simultaneously hindering another.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] It would be well within a system's capabilities to educate boys and girls differently. [Rejecting P3] It might always slightly benefit one group of learners, but it is the system's responsibility to be constantly assessing and adapting to promote gender equality and equitable development.