The Trouble with Boys Chapter 10 Good-bye, Mr. Chips

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Permalink Reply by Alexandra Hamilton on March 24, 2010 at 7:03pm

I found this chapter to be very enlightening. In college, I remember discussing how males often teach in the older grades, and one of the reasons being the uneasiness of being involved with young children. You have to admit, regardless of what you would like to believe, if you saw a female teacher comforting a child, even by simply placing her hand on the child's upper back while talking to him/her, it would perceived much differently if a male teacher was doing the same (before personally knowing the teacher). After reading about Ambrose, I found it very interesting how parents were so off-standish when they first saw him, but after seeing pictures of his wife and family, felt more at ease. I am not sure if there has been a study done on this, but one of my professors in college stated that male teachers feel more rushed to get married so they are less likely to be perceived negatively around young children. Regardless of the reasons why males face reverse discrimination, I do not think that it is contradictory that most administrators are men. My reasoning for this is that I believe that, historically in education, males have been identified as authoritative. I also think that they encompass a manner which is much more intimidating than a women's demeanor. A personal experience that relates to this is that as a child, I thought that only men could be principals. I feel that men definately face descrimination in schools. The reason there are less male teachers is due to many factors, but two dominating ones are finances and the pressure to adhere to what is "culturally appropriate".

Permalink Reply by Lisa Litz-Neavear on March 24, 2010 at 9:45pm

It's funny that you thought only men could be principals, because my elementary school had a woman principal! I probably just assumed that principals had to be women.

While I agree that we do live in a patriarchal society in which the men tend to be in charge, my point about male administrators is that they would seem to be the people in a position to hire other men. Yet you have a good point about cultural expectations; they influence whether men go into the teaching profession as well as the perceptions of all people who are charged with hiring teachers. But like many of us in this book club, I admittedly continue to be more concerned about the discrimination women face than those obstacles to men's success. But my concern about our male students is a different story. I don't know if that makes me a hypocrite or just the mother of a son.

Permalink Reply by Tracy Esposito on April 7, 2010 at 7:34pm

Societal roles and cultural roles may also be factors. In many countries, the men are often separated from the women and children, and the women are the primary caregivers. I know that when I went to Italy years ago, the older boys and grown men were allowed access to certain buildings to play cards, while the women and children were not permitted to do so. Many men might just feel that teaching young children is a women's job.