1
My interest in the topic of single-sex education goes back to 1983, when, as a
fifteen-year-old high school sophomore, I became the first girl in my class of nearly 300
boys at the Central High School of Philadelphia. Founded in 1838, Central is the second-
oldest public high school in the United States, and from the very beginning its identity as
an all-boys school served as a point not just of distinction but of pride. Since its
inception, Central has distinguished itself as well with a commitment to academic
excellence, and, as a magnet school, it long has attracted a racially and ethnically diverse
pool of students from across the city. For almost 170 years, many of Philadelphia’s most
renowned citizens have passed through the doors of Central High, including prominent
lawyers, judges, politicians, doctors, artists, and entertainers. In 1977, responding to a
suit brought by a junior high school student named Susan Vorchheimer, the United States
Supreme Court issued a brief statement affirming a lower court's denial of a petition to
allow girls to attend Central High. A collective sigh of relief could be heard around the
city knowing that this deeply cherished public institution would be spared, but the
reprieve did not last long. In 1983, after a suit was filed at the state level, Pennsylvania's
highest court ruled in Newberg v. Board of Education that Central's all-boys policy was
in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution's Equal Rights Amendment.
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The state
court's decision turned on a finding that Central's longstanding sister school, the
Philadelphia High School for Girls (founded in 1848) afforded substantially inferior
educational opportunities to girls.
I was already one week into my sophomore year at Girls' High when the Newberg
decision was announced. My initial response was elation at the prospect that I might
finally be rescued from what I considered to be the purgatory of single-sex education.
Having lacked enthusiasm for the idea of attending an all-girls high school in the first
place, I had enrolled at Girls High only by default: my parents were not in a position to
send me to private school, and, at the time, the Philadelphia public school system was in
such shambles that Girls High was virtually the only option available to young women
seeking a college-preparatory high school experience. Though I knew I would sorely
miss the company of boys as my classmates and as friends, I hoped that the strength of
1
26 Pa.D. & C.3d 682 (1983).
Convention