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I like drawing, but that doesn’t mean I do it well.

So I wasn’t too offended when my friend challenged me to draw a bicycle and found I couldn’t, but then she said, “See, that’s because you’re a girl.”

She didn’t say this in a condescending or defeated way, but rather matter-of-factly.

“Girls just can’t think mechanically like guys can,” she said.

Whether males and females truly do think and learn differently is a long-standing contention.

With the recent amendments of Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972), public schools can devote classes, or even the entire school, to one sex.

Previously under Title IX, federally funded schools had to prevent sex discrimination and were only allowed to offer single-sex education in limited cases such as sex education and physical education.

Researchers claim that single sex education is beneficial, especially for females, who perform academically higher in these environments, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s research compilations.

According to Linda Sax, associate professor in residence at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, eliminating intimidation from males in classrooms can nurture higher self-confidence among female students in single-sex settings.

But gender differences are essential in creating a more diverse learning environment.

For instance, different perspectives from opposite sexes would be missing in class discussions. How would females hear the male perspective when discussing the women’s rights movement?

Given these differences between the sexes, it’s not too farfetched to say that single-sex education would lead to the ultimate cardinal sin in education – limiting diversity.

Advocates suggest that because males and females process information differently, they essentially have different mindsets – and thus cannot learn together.

Researchers contend that males tend to value competition, but females collaborate.

Then I suppose we should also segregate education based on race and ethnicity.

Different cultures and backgrounds breed different experiences and ways of thinking, right? So some students might be (dis)advantaged compared to others.

Heck, it’s impossible to teach a class of students who may have different skill levels, strengths and weaknesses – because that just never happens in our school systems.

Once the same basis of argument moves from sex to racial/ethnic lines, the claim becomes absurd.

“Separate but equal,” anyone?

Speaking of equality, deviation from education equity is possible.

In 1997, California launched 12 experimental single-sex schools.

However, “rather than finding a setting that was emancipatory ... teachers’ constructions of gender shaped curriculum, instruction and discipline in ways that often reinforced of gender stereotypes,” states a study conducted by the University of Toronto, UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.

Though the schools were inadequately funded and managed, the study reveals that unequal and stereotypical treatment according to sex is not difficult to achieve.

But distractions from the opposite sex among teens with raging hormones prevent academic potentials, proponents say.

Michael Moskovitz, a fourth-year physiological science student who attended an all-boys school, said it was easier to focus because “the daily worrying about what this girl or that girl thinks of you doesn’t happen.”

However, single-sex education fails to look at the broader picture of sexuality. Where would gay students benefit from this? Not all girls are distracted by guys and vice versa.

Single-sex education categorizes male and female into convenient stereotypes, and removes educational design from reality.

It also fails to address future social consequences between men and women.

“When I started UCLA, it was hard to incorporate myself into the (opposite sex) social atmosphere again. ... It was difficult to speak to guys just as friends, because I didn’t have that in high school,” said April Hudson, a fourth-year psychology student and former attendee of an all-girls school .

Under the protective walls of single-sex education – where differences between the sexes are not only acknowledged, but perpetuated – how can the sexes overcome these differences and adapt to each other?

Drawing a bicycle is challenging, but learning to ride it was an even bigger task: falling, scraping, bruising. But we adjust to these obstacles to master the art of bike-riding.

And in the same way, I will learn to draw a bicycle – mechanically challenged female or not.

If you fit the gender stereotype, e-mail Yoo at jyoo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.