Why Same-Gender Education Matters in Rhode Island

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Guest MINDSETTER Colleen Gribbin

As a principal of the oldest and largest all girls school in New England, I was drawn to the recent “Good is Good: Are Women’s Colleges Outdated?" article, authored by GoLocalProv contributor, Tom Matlack. The piece was honest and certainly exposed the false notions and myths of an all girls education, unfortunately still held by many people, even today. While Mr. Matlack’s feature focused on all-girls colleges, the process of creating powerful female leaders can and often does start with empowering our daughters with same gender education at an even earlier age.

As he described the confident young lady at Barnard clearly articulating what Barnard does, with surgical precision by offering her opening salvo, “Why wouldn’t you want to send your daughter to an institution whose sole purpose is to insure the success of women? Three percent of women graduating from high school go to women’s colleges, and yet 30 percent of congresswomen went to women’s colleges and 20 percent of the female CEOs. There’s a reason that is the case and that’s why we are still here.” The response to that young lady’s proffer which immediately struck me, as both an educator and administrator of an academy that teaches 810 girls from Pre-K to grade 12, was, “No kidding.”

The data for same-gender education

For Bay View and I am sure every other all-female school, the fact is the empirical data on the success of graduates is replete and easily found. But, it is the anecdotal evidence that is much more compelling. The ranks of the Bay View alumnae are overflowing with confident female leaders who exemplify the Mercy values of the school, the academic rigors of the academy and more importantly the sheer tenacity of its women. I have the privilege to walk the halls, classrooms, studios, labs and athletic fields each day and be privy to the formation of these remarkable young women. So the realization that hit Mr. Matlack right between the eyes at Barnard is alive, well and available at an all-girls elementary, middle and high school near you.

The anecdotes

Consider this: For the past three years Bay View’s Alumnae of the Year recipients are respectively: an Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, an Officer and Bronze Star recipient, and a bestselling author, as well as a WPI Professor and US patent holder of state-of-the art fire suppression technology. I am right now hearing from our seniors as they get their college acceptances and scholarship awards. Of the prestigious Georgetown University acceptances this year in RI, 50% were Bay View women.

Last year the academy was thrilled to have helped produce Rhode Island’s first ever Jefferson Scholarship winner. Our class of 2010 garnered more than 4 million dollars in scholarship awards and for the past two years Bay View women have achieved a coveted EF Global Citizen selection. This year our elementary/middle school robotics team captured the RI First Lego Championship (first ever all girls team and school to do so in Rhode Island) and will represent Rhode Island in the world finals, and are well positioned to get their invention patented by the Global Innovation Foundation. These accomplishments represent a mere smattering of the overall success stories within the academy's halls.

Emblazoned on the walls of this institution are the words of Catherine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, that, "there is nothing more conducive to the good of society than the education of young women.” Scores of women have lived up to that challenge and remain women of substance-women of impact, and indeed that is why we are still here!

Thank you Mr. Matlack, for inspiring this provocative subject.

Colleen Gribbin is the High School Principal of Saint Mary Academy - Bay View and Rhode Island’s Principal of the Year in 2007.