COVER STORY | CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
A masculine environment BACK IN THE DAY Marksmen hopping off the school bus in the 1950’s, soon after Cathedral School for Boys and Texas Country Day merged to form St. Mark’s School of Texas.
May 21, 2021
All-boys
The ReMarker
10
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t’s 8:33 a.m. on a Monday morning. Streaming in from the parking lot are hundreds of tousledhaired, unshaven boys in half-tucked Oxford shirts. By 8:35, they’ll be pouring into classrooms and giving each other morning nods as they drowsily settle into their chairs. By 11:35, they’ll be up and at ‘em — playing spikeball on the quad or laughing about some YouTube video over their lunch. By 3:35 in the afternoon, they’ll be flooding back into the parking lot in hordes: it’s time to change for baseball or track practice. That’s a typical day. Welcome to an all-boys school.
Single-gendered schooling has been around for a long time. In fact, the first public school in America was all-boys. That raises a question in and of itself: have they become outdated in the face of more popular coeducational schools? Eugene McDermott Headmaster David Dini certainly doesn’t think so. “I firmly believe in the significance of singlegendered schooling,” Dini said. “But I also believe that being engaged in broader conversations is really important. It’s not to the exclusion of other genders in any way, shape or form because I think we should be having inclusive conversations all the time. Nevertheless, having the opportunity to be in an environment full of shared experiences is really influential.” To Dini, being an all-boys school is a critical ingredient of what makes up the Marksman experience — but it is just one ingredient. “The fact that it’s a boys school enables us to do some things that contribute to our uniqueness,” Dini said. “Although, I think there are a lot of things that contribute to what makes an environment like
ours special. Through that single-gendered facet, we’re able to tailor experiences and programs and activities and interactions towards traits that tend to be more prevalent in boys and young men.” According to the International Boys’ School Coalition, a non-profit organization of all-boys schools, researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe differences between the developing male and female brain that demonstrate why boys and girls learn in different ways. Boys’ brains are wired to require movement, space, action and rest. They also learn better when material is presented in small portions. Thus, a typical co-ed classroom that favors verbal and auditory learning can put an active boy at a disadvantage. “Whether it’s what we’ve done with Spirit Week in April or our annual trip to the Pecos wilderness, many aspects of the experience are enhanced by the fact that we’re a boys school,” Dini said. “Shared experiences and perspectives among students are also a really important aspect of the experience. The sense of brotherhood we foster is really important to
daily life, culture and community.” Former Headmaster Arnie Holtberg also feels strongly about the advantages of an all-male environment. The primary benefit he sees is a freedom from posturing. “We might try to impress members of the opposite sex in ways that may or may not be constructive,” Holtberg said. “We felt that we were providing an alternative where boys could be themselves in the most positive sense possible — taking intellectual risks, taking social risks.” Both Dini and Holtberg had their own valuable experiences in single-gendered settings growing up. Holtberg attended Princeton University when it was a men’s college, while Dini went to high school at Strake Jesuit in Houston. “Strake was very David Dini formative for me,” Dini Headmaster said. “It shaped my high school experience in such a positive way. I draw on all the bonds, the shared experiences and the mentoring to this day.” Throughout his discussion of the benefits of single-gendered education, Dini stressed time and time again that the all-boys facet of the school does not make Marksmen superior. “There’s also so much value in co-educational schools,” Dini said. “It’s not to the diminishment of them in any way, because I think they serve a really important function. Many students thrive in co-ed environments.” Although they attended all-boys schools as students, both Dini and Holtberg began their teaching careers at multi-gendered schools. “My all-boys high school experience wasn’t necessarily connected to my being at St. Mark’s later in my life,” Dini said. “But my time at co-ed schools has helped me to develop a tremendous fondness and appreciation for the strength of culture that we have here.”
Misconceptions: what role do women play in the lives of Marksmen?
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t. Mark’s boys aren’t well versed in interacting with women. That’s a common stereotype. You go to an all-boys school, you don’t meet girls. You go to an all-boys school, you don’t talk to girls. You go to an all-boys school, how do you know how to act around girls? For Eugene McDermott Headmaster David Dini, this stereotype is just that — a stereotype. In fact, Dini believes students develop well-rounded female interaction skills right on campus in spite of attending an all-boys school. “In many ways, you are learning both alongside and from women
directly,” Dini said. “Think about the many women across campus and in y’all’s classrooms. If our faculty were all male, that would be different. I certainly believe it’s important to have male role-models on campus, too. But that’s why you see — from top to bottom — so many strong, impactful, experienced female leaders, which is great for all of us and certainly for Marksmen.” Given the impact he sees women having on the student body, Dini dismisses generalizations about unsubstantial female influence in the academic setting. “Some people think that women don’t play as active of a role in the educational experience, when in fact
they do,” Dini said. “Which is why I think it’s so critically important to have the kind of women that we have on campus. Look at our counseling office. You’ve got three highly accomplished professionals, all women. It’s the same across every discipline in the school, in classrooms and on playing fields.” Beyond their educational impact on students, Dini finds great value in the role of female community members in fostering the development of the young men on campus. “When you go to college, almost all are going to be co-ed experiences,” Dini said. “We’re fortunate that our faculty is split evenly, male-female,
literally 50/50. You’re going to learn from women in every discipline, including athletics, fine arts and core academic disciplines. You’ve got women leading across campus, in senior administrative roles and department chair positions, and you’re going to be mentored by women every day, in and out of the classroom.” In addition to positive female role models, academic programs throughout the school prepare students for the reality of co-ed environments. Director of Counseling Gabriela Reed maintains that these programs familiarize younger Marksmen with equality in the classroom. (continued, next page)
