UK: Call for single-sex schools

Boys should be taught in single-sex schools with strong male role models to help a 'lost generation' of fatherless young men find their way in life, the Tory leadership contender Liam Fox says today.

Teenagers with no male influence beyond their equally troubled peers could also benefit from an expansion of army cadet-type schemes offering a taste of structured life, and from voluntary group projects aimed at instilling values into their lives, Fox said.
His intervention signals a broadening of the leadership race, with the Fox camp now close to the 20 signatures needed to secure a nomination. It also identifies social breakdown as a key theme for the leadership contest, after David Cameron last week bemoaned the sexualised content of pop videos and called for the boosting of marriage.

Writing in The Observer yesterday, Fox — a noted Thatcherite — argues that her Eighties social changes came at a cost to the life of the extended family, leaving too many young people detached from society and education. “Too often they lack the values associated with a secure upbringing or the guidance of male role models ... ” he writes.
“We face the prospect of a lost generation, failed by family and education and venting their frustrations on society.”
Fox said it was time to consider radical solutions. “Often the only male company [these children] ever see are their contemporaries,” he said.
“I would like to see more church and voluntary groups get involved ... and try to teach them what's expected of them. I would like to see the sort of cadet schemes run by the armed forces try to get a bigger role. And I think we would have to look at the educational system and whether there is a case for single-sex schools.”

Stressing that such solutions would be optional, he said they could provide the good influences missing from many boys' lives. “We have a serious problem,” he said.
Being educated with girls was thought to be a civilising influence on boys. But a study earlier this year showed that while boys in general are outstripped by girls at A-level, those in single-sex schools do as well or better.
Fox's intervention reflects efforts among Tory pretenders to halt the momentum gained by David Davis, until last week the runaway favourite.

Davis, who will make a major speech tomorrow setting out new ideas, is thought to have signed up around 60 Tory MPs, while Cameron is building from a base of around 20. Kenneth Clarke confirmed last week he also had the 20 signatures required to support a leadership nomination.

Gaby Hinsliff and Ned Temko
3 July 2005

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1520164,00.html

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