Dallas Creates a Public School for Boys

This is the VOA Special English Education Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | facebook.com/voalearningenglish Girls and boys usually attend classes together in American public schools. But there are some single-sex programs, like a girls public school in Dallas, Texas. It opened in two thousand four. The students have done well enough that the school system is now opening a school for boys.Nakia Douglas is principal of the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy. He says he was the kind of student that the school is seeking. "I was born and raised in south Dallas by a single parent. I was a neighborhood child. I was that child that -- I would work if I knew the teacher believed in me. But, at the same time, I had a hunger and desire for more."Educational researchers say boys learn in different ways and mature more slowly than girls, and are more likely to leave school. Being in class with the opposite sex can also take attention away from learning. Kendall Keeter thinks the boys school will be good for his son the way the girls school was for his daughter. "Our thought was to also give our son an opportunity that would best prepare him for college in the same manner she was prepared, and I can't imagine any other option that would have prepared her better."Another parent, Madeline Hayes, also likes the idea of a publicly funded school for boys. "This is something, as cheesy as it sounds, that I've always dreamed about, that there will be a boys school that doesn't charge twenty-five thousand dollars a year, but would give the same academics, the same level of interaction and leadership."The school is for grades six through nine. It will offer college preparatory classes and leadership courses even on weekends. Principal Douglas says the boys will be urged to support one another. "All of our young men we call 'brother.' So it may be Brother Malyk Davis or Brother Samuel Keeter. The young men understand they are their brother's keeper. And so the young men are really learning to be responsible not only for themselves, but also for their brothers here at the campus."Most students who want to be accepted into the Obama Academy in Dallas will need to have good grades and pass a number of tests. But ten to fifteen percent will not have to meet all of the entrance requirements. Principal Nakia Douglas says they will have to show they have a strong character and a desire to learn.For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 18Aug2011)