Friday, June 13, 2008

of boys and girls

One thing I haven't been able to decide conclusively is whether it would have been better studying at a co-educational school. Having studied at a boys school for the first twelve years of my life, and then IIT, my judgment is bound to be biased.

My opinion is that in a boys school one grows up with a very inaccurate and narrow perception of the other sex. Girls were considered a curiosity and to be able to talk to them a big achievement. Till Std 10 i don't remember any girl or anything related to them ever mentioned among us, and by "us" I mean my group of friends including me.

Friends who have studied at co-educational schools narrate how they had fights among the two sexes. I recall a particularly funny incident narrated by my mom who is a teacher. The story concerns students of Std 9.

Scene: The Classroom
There is some minor disagreement between Boy1 and Girl1

Girl1: Tujhe AIDS ho jaye!

Boy1(flummoxed): Kya boli? (To his friends)Suna tum logon ne isne muhje kya bola!

Many dissenting voices heard in the background as boys protest.

Girl2(coming to the rescue of her friend): Tum saare ladkon ko AIDS ho jaye!

Uproar.
The boys go to the teacher's common room en block and complain against the girls. I don't know how the issue was resolved and in in whose favour the decision was awarded, but my mom said that all the teachers had a good laugh about it.

Now I have no idea whether all co-ed schools have such colourful existence, but if they do I certainly would have preferred that to a boys school. The only incident in my school that bears any semblance to the above is when I was in Std 11 and Std 3 students started throwing water at us through the window. We were defeated, but in my defense I have to say that we were severely handicapped by the fact that they had water bottles and as a mark of "adulthood" hardly anyone in our class used to carry those.