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CNN Live Saturday

Enrollment in All-Girls Schools Is on the Rise

Aired August 25, 2001 - 16:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: All-girl schools are not what they used to be. They are churning out academically savvy young women who are going beyond just simply making the grade. CNN's Elaine Quijano explains the results.

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ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the past, the perception was that all-girls schools focused mainly on proper etiquette.

DAVID SADKER, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Fifty years ago, they prepared young women in the skills and sciences of how to be a good wife, how to be a good social person.

QUIJANO: But times have changed, and so have the schools, turning a weakness into a strength. Educators say an all-girl atmosphere keeps the focus on academics for students like 17-year-old senior Erica Chan.

ERICA CHAN, STUDENT, ALL GIRLS SCHOOL: I don't have to worry about who to impress and what I say and who is going to talk about me later and stuff like that. So, I have that confidence within me.

QUIJANO: Chan is editor of the yearbook, an athlete in three sports and plans to pursue a career in medicine.

(on camera): According to the National Coalition of Girls Schools, enrollment at their members schools has increased by almost 30 percent in the last 10 years.

SADKER: I think enrollment is going up because a lot of parents are tuning into the fact that their daughters are getting shortchanged.

QUIJANO (voice-over): David Sadker, who has written extensively on the subject, says all girls classes can boost self-esteem and allow girls to thrive in subjects like math and science, areas historically dominated by males.

WHITNEY RANSOME, COALITION OF GIRLS SCHOOLS: You will see their hands being raised and their excitement being expressed clearly and consistently. QUIJANO: As for Erica Chan, after 13 years as an all-girl school, next fall she is headed to a co-ed college for a whole new experience. But she'll go with the confidence she feels she would not have developed at a co-ed school.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Baltimore.

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