What is Co-education?
'''Co-education''' is the education of males and females in the same schools. The [[practice]] has been different in different countries and at different times. Most [[primary school]]s have been co-educational for a long time since it was believed that there is no reason to educate females separately from males before the age of [[puberty]]. Also, the [[curriculum]] in primary schools is not controversial since it emphasizes [[reading]], [[writing]], and [[arithmetic]], with some elementary knowledge of [[geography]] and [[history]]. In some countries, it includes some [[Religion|religious]] and [[Culture|cultural]] education. However, before the mid-19th century, girls were often educated at home or not educated at all. On that point, there were great differences in different parts of the world. In [[England]] and [[Wales]], universal primary education was set up by the Elementary Education Act of 1870, and attendance from the ages of 5 to 10 was compulsory. That was extended in another Act of 1880. Since then. almost all primary education in the [[United Kingdom]] has been co-educational, as it is in many other countries. With [[secondary education]], children go through the process of puberty, and there is no general agreement as to whether both sexes should be educated together. People make arguments both for and against the idea.<ref>Gurian, Michael 2001. ''Boys and girls learn differently!'' Jossey-Bass.</ref> At one extreme is the [[United States]] in which both sexes are usually educated together at all stages. At the other extreme are certain traditional societies in which girls do not get a secondary education at all. The tendency has been for more countries to move to co-education as the standard at every level of education.<ref>Goodman, Joyce; James C. Albisetti J.C. & and Rogers R. (eds) 2010. ''Girls' secondary education in the western world: from the 18th to the 20th century''. Palgrave Macmillan.</ref> An exception would be the Islamic [[Islamic world|world]], where girls are educated separat