THE ROUNDUP
By Juan Carlos Ramirez ’18
All-male school has its pros and cons, but in the end, I believe that an all-male school offers students a better educational atmosphere.
The idea of an all-male school is a topic that is often discussed inside and outside of the Brophy community, with students saying that it either enhances or hinders the high school experience.
Many students are baffled by the idea of attending an all-male school.
Others are discouraged by the fact that they do not have direct interaction with the opposite sex in a class environment.
However, some students are content with the atmosphere of an all-male school because they have an all-female school right next door.
“It would be nice, but at the same time, Xavier is right across the street,” said John Murphy ’18.
We still cannot deny the fact that we do miss that interaction with female students in a class environment.
“Some people are missing out on some social skills on dealing with the opposite sex,” said Mrs. Kristin Venberg.
On the other hand, something unique that Brophy provides that many other schools in the Valley do not have is this sense of brotherhood and community.
This brotherhood is so concrete that some believe it could survive an atmosphere that is coed.
“I think the brotherhood can still remain even if there are girls here because you can still endorse the rudimentary values this school has … if Brophy keeps pushing for guys to stay to their values this school teaches them, it shouldn’t be an issue,” said Noah Pittenger ’17.
Other students acknowledge the difference, but they do not feel one class atmosphere is better than the other.
“Definitely having taken a handful of coed classes over my four years the dynamic is very different: Both sides are much less outgoing and things tend to be much less rowdy. So it definitely is different but I won’t say if it’s either good or bad,” said Walker Adams ’16.
Although attending an all-male school has its definite flaws, many students would not change Brophy’s school environment for anything.
“It definitely should be a same-sex school. There is an aura about Brophy that I think is best
captured by being only boys for a majority of the time,” Adams said.
At an all male-school, our concentration on studying is heightened since we have less distractions such as girls, appearance or social hierarchy.
“I think people pay attention more. They don’t have to worry about what they have to wear to school … It just gives more focus on academics when you’re not worried about impressing the people around you,” Mrs. Venberg said.
It would be neat if Brophy becomes a Coed school, but students believe that their test scores might suffer as a result.
“I think a girl can definitely throw off a guy’s study habits. You start thinking about girls all the time at school and then it just causes issues,” Pittenger said.
Brophy still provides Coed classes that allow students to intermingle with the opposite sex which does comfort some students at Brophy.
Brophy provides an adequate environment where we are able to focus more on our education and the material we are learning about, but Brophy also does a great job giving that social communication with females by organizing events with Xavier.
Overall, our school provides many social events that allow both sexes to interact and socialize.
