The uniforms may be the same, but the cultural differences abound.

Grade 12 students Rob Mills, left, Jordan Kan, Daniel Frankel and Derek Lau at St. George’s Senior School in Vancouver. Photo: Laura Leyshon for The Globe and Mail

Grade 12 students Rob Mills, left, Jordan Kan, Daniel Frankel and Derek Lau at St. George’s Senior School in Vancouver. Photo: Laura Leyshon for The Globe and Mail

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With strong interest from international families in Canadian single-gender private schools, respect for differences — the cornerstone of teaching boys and girls separately — is extended to global diversity, educators say.

"In an all-girls environment like ours, we really believe that girls should stretch themselves academically," says Karrie Weinstock, Branksome Hall's head of senior and middle schools. "And in the global world we live in, we put tremendous value on the global perspectives our students bring."

Modern single-gender private schools contradict stereotypes that they are protective institutions that shelter students or restrict their opportunities.

At Toronto's Bishop Strachan School, "Our philosophy is that girls can do anything," says Deryn Lavell, head of the school.

"We have 82 boarders and two-thirds of these are from 26 different countries," she says. "And our overall student population of 900 girls is, like Toronto itself, reflective of families from many cultures.

"We start from a perspective of respect and understanding — those are key tenets to having those open discussions of ideas and taking risks as girls in a safe environment with a myriad of cultures."

How this fits with the expectations of international families (those on study visas as well as Canadian citizens or permanent residents) is something that families themselves must judge, Ms. Lavell says. "We are very clear about our mission and the families who apply to our school have done their homework, they know what we offer."

For Dana Shum, a 16-year-old international student from Ghana, the experience of a girls' school with a diverse culture and curriculum has been "amazing."

"In Ghana girls were expected to be able to be able to cook, clean a house; girls weren't pushed that much to go to university. Back home, boys in my old school were focused on more. At a girls' school it's not about looking pretty. It has made me more pro-feminine and competitive because we're all working toward the same general goals."

She sums the experience up in one word: leadership.

The international flavour of single-gender schools also permeates the all-boy environment. It fits well with an increased awareness in these schools that old views of masculinity don't serve boys well in today's world.

"There is a myth of single gender schools as protective environments — that is not the mission of a boys' school," says Brad Adams, executive director of the International Boys' School Coalition and former head of the senior school at Upper Canada College.

"There is not one way to be a boy or one path to manhood or a rigid view that would conflict with cultural diversity," Mr. Adams says.

At Vancouver's St. George's School for boys, there is "increasing interest from abroad, in particular from China," says Gordon Allan, the school's director of development. "We've seen applications from China increase by at least 30 per cent in the last five years."

Parents are looking for the best school for their sons, Mr. Allan says, and "they are savvy about the brain research that adds value to learning in an all-boys setting."

He's referring to studies indicating higher test scores and achievement from single-gender environments; and to recent literature saying boys have been left behind in traditional co-educational classrooms because of different learning styles and rates of neurological development.

What has been termed the "boy crisis" (lower grades, more school dropouts, higher suicide rates) has heightened interest in same-gender education. Even public schools in Canada have begun looking to same-sex classrooms as routes to higher success rates for both genders.

At St. George's, most of the 120 boarders are studying on international visas and Mr. Allan says there are a number of other boys from international families who are either Canadian citizens or who have taken up residence so their sons can attend school here.

Sometimes the school needs to help parents understand that their sons may aspire to what they view as non-traditional careers for boys — that instead of becoming a doctor or lawyer, a boy may want to study film design or classical music.

"Here, 60 per cent of the boys are in the band," Mr. Allan says. "There's no stigma in being involved with the arts, no preconceived notions about what boys should be involved in. Boys see their friends involved in everything from tap dancing to singing in the opera."

Special to The Globe and Mail

A SAFE HAVEN

Pak-Wo Shum is a Ghanaian businessman whose daughters Dana and Christabel are entering Grades 12 and 9 respectively at Bishop Strachan School.

Here are some of his reflections on an all-girls setting: "Given my conservative Christian upbringing I felt that for my two daughters, who were ages 11 and 14 at the time, a co-educational environment, in addition to all the other adjustments they would need to make, could be a confusing and possibly devastating experience.

"Although I was happy selecting an all-girls school, I admit I did have my secret concerns about possibly handicapping my daughters' ability to deal with the opposite sex. It was not my intent to send them to a convent or a nunnery. Taking into consideration all of the other cultural adjustments above and beyond gender that children have to surmount in their transition from their home countries to a setting like Canada, the all-girls environment provides a bit of a safe haven.

"My daughters have certainly gained an additional level of strength, pride and decorum because they are in an environment built for women by women."