Southfield Schools

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Southfield School was founded to meet the growing demand for single gender education in a girls’ school. This demand has been fueled in recent years by research that underscores the biological, and consequently developmental, differences between boys and girls. These gender-specific differences impact the classroom, leading families to become increasingly aware of the effect teaching and learning styles have on girls.

The all-girls classroom provides an opportunity to establish an environment in which girls, like boys in single gender settings, can be comfortable and focused without distractions. Those who choose to attend a girls’ school discover a world in which they may learn, compete, create, interact, and think on their own terms, with a faculty intent on supporting them at all stages of development.

In his book, Why Gender Matters, Dr. Leonard Sax asserts that gender-neutral education favors the learning style of one sex or the other. Scientifically proven differences such as the ability of girls to hear better than boys, and the development of language and spatial areas of the brain, can not be ignored. Dr. Sax’s research supports the 1982 groundbreaking work of Harvard University researcher Carol Gilligan who authored In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development.