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This one wins “The Long Bow Award” for the most absurd theory in education.
A Decline in the number of male teachers is being blamed for rising youth violence.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said the lack of male teachers was a major problem.
“We know males give something different to the developing boy than what female teachers give. To some extent we have lost that male narrative and left it to Hollywood to teach boys about masculinity,” he said.
The article is right though in suggesting there are very real reasons why males are not finding teaching an attractive career path:
Low pay, a perception that teaching is “women’s work”, and fears of being labelled a pedophile have been blamed for the reluctance of young men to teach.
As long as males don’t find this career path appealing, we are wrong in believing that we even have a shortage of male teachers to begin with. There’s nothing worse than a teacher that doesn’t enjoy what he/she does.
I wonder if this frenzy to have more male teachers will inspire a new kind of sexual equality. I wonder if the following methods will be employed to get potential male teachers interested:
- Pay them more than female teachers
- Offer a university fees rebate for male teachers
- Create quota systems for males in schools and universities.
I believe all these measures would be a mistake. Essentially what we are looking for are good teachers not male teachers. Whilst I hope men come to discover what a wonderful profession this is, I wouldn’t push it.
As for the lack of male teachers being blamed for youth violence, I very much doubt it. Male teachers can have a very strong effect on male students in particular, but the theory is outrageous at best.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
