Rich Kids, Poor Kids, and the Single-Sex Education Debate

Over the past decade, the subject of publicly supported, single-sex education has generated considerable debate in legal and policy circles. Since 1996, much of that debate has centered around the Supreme Court’s decision in the Virginia Military Institute case and how that case intersects with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In VMI, Justice Ginsburg, speaking for the Court, stated that gender classifications must have “an exceedingly persuasive justification” in order to pass muster under the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause.1 That decision has become a key factor in recent efforts by school districts to establish single-sex schools and classes for girls and for minority boys. In the following discussion, I would like to underscore two points: first, that VMI may offer more support for single-sex programs than some political pundits may have originally thought; and second, that VMI and other Court decisions may command some revisions to the Title IX regulations.