Learning Like a Girl

Faced with a spirited eleven-year-old daughter, a concern about what therapists have called a 'poisonous' youth culture -- especially for girls -- and a conviction that parents need powerful tools to help their daughters realize their potential, educator-activist Diana Meehan was disappointed in the selection of schools available. So she decided along with two other mothers to create one, based on social science and brain research on how girls learn best. The result, The Archer School in L.A., has in only ten years become a model for girls' schools nationwide. In this entertaining, inspiring book, Meehan describes her obstacle-ridden journey to create a new institution to serve girls first and foremost, while laying out through vivid stories and examples what girls need to thrive. She explains why co-education so often doesn't serve them (just as it doesn't serve boys), takes sides in the controversy over male/female learning differences, and advocates for schools' role in giving girls tools to navigate through our sexualized, materialistic culture. She also visits other schools around the country -- private and public -- to show how single sex education works, and how every girl everywhere can benefit from having a classroom of her own.