About 15 years ago I was the deputy headmaster of a medium sized junior school. The headmaster was good at his job and I backed him to the hilt; we got on well. The staff was a good mixture of male and female, were happy in their jobs and we ran a very efficient and happy school. 

Discipline was good and we could take the children anywhere confident that they would, with very few exceptions, behave well. On several occasions when we were on  school trips, members of the public approached our staff to congratulate us on the children’s behaviour. On a few occasions, even other teachers, out with their schools, did the same.

 

The story of John

One morning the headmaster came into my classroom and, very sheepishly asked me whether I could take another boy into my class of 32 children. I replied that, if one had moved into our catchment area and was eleven years of age I had no choice.

He then went on to explain that it was not that simple. He had just had  a phone call from a terribly distraught headmistress of a small country school some eight miles away. She had an eleven year old boy in one of her two classes and there was nothing they could do with him. He just ruled the roost. He played havoc in class and had even put up his fists at the headmistress and challenged her to a fight. Apart from the headmistress there was an assistant mistress on the staff and she was unable to handle him either. She pleaded with us to take the boy off her hands.

I told the head that I was not at all keen on importing other people’s troubles but if it was just a case of the lad being given a fresh start, and if he was willing to take it, I would agree to have him for two or three weeks. If he settled down, well and good; if not, he would have to go back. The head said he would reply to the headmistress along those lines.

They couldn’t get rid of him quickly enough, and the very next morning John appeared. While everyone was filing into morning assembly the head took me aside and asked whether I wanted to see the report on John from his previous school. I said I would prefer not to. I would treat him exactly the same as every other new child.  The head knew me as a strict disciplinarian, but I also pointed out to him that, should John choose to kick over the traces, he would be in for a couple of rough weeks.

After assembly I allocated John a desk and gave him all the necessary books, pen, pencil etc to enable him to work normally. Then I carried on as usual but kept a weather eye on my new recruit. 

The first day passed without any sign of rebellion. I thought he might be lying low and planning something for the next day. But that arrived and passed without any move by John. By the time the third day had passed I began to wonder just when this mutineer in embryo was going to emerge. By the end of the first week, not only was the ‘terror’ not showing any signs of aggression, he was becoming positively friendly and polite. I must confess that I thought this might be some sort of ploy.

By the middle of week two my new pupil was turning out good work, getting on well with his classmates and was one of the most polite pupils I have ever taught. I began to wonder just what was going on, so in various oblique ways I started asking a few questions. I then set my class an essay with the title ‘My Home’. It’s amazing what children tell you in this sort of essay, and John was no exception.

Then the penny dropped! I suddenly realised the source of his trouble. During a break time during the third week I went into the head’s office to have a chat.

‘I know what John’s trouble is,” I said. The head looked interested.

‘Oh, yes. What?’

‘He’s a misogynist,’ I replied.

The head looked incredulous. ‘What! At eleven years of age?’

I then asked to see the report from his previous school, and my worst fears were confirmed. John’s parents were separated. He lived with his mother during the week and spent the weekend with his father. His mother worked full time so naturally did not have a great deal of time to spend with her son. If he played up to get some attention she often punished him or shouted at him. In school he was in the charge of two women. Whenever he misbehaved there he was told off or punished by a woman. At the weekend his father took him to football matches, out hiking, camping, playing cricket and so on. Consequently John got the impression that all women were a pain in the butt, whereas men were kind and did interesting things with him. He would do anything for me because I was a man, and, being very happy in my class, he just about managed to put up with the few times he encountered the female members of staff.

Now I am not saying that John’s outlook was just, or even fair, but from where he stood I could quite understand how he came to the conclusion he did.  But the frightening part of this story is that there are probably a few hundred thousand ‘Johns’ who hate women and, like a time bomb, are waiting to go off. And even more frightening is the fact that we can do nothing about it. John’s only chance for a normal relationship with women will be to meet some loving girl who will fall in love with him and show him that women can care too. But an unsatisfactory relationship could mean that the balloon would go up and there would be yet another domestic violence scene; possibly even a killing.

 

Boys need to know how to grow up to be men

But there is something we can do to stop this sort of thing happening in the future. The Government must act urgently to make absolutely certain that there is no school in this country where boys do not come under the influence of male teachers. Boys need to know how to grow up to be men, and only men can teach them how.

But the sad part about this is that men are turning their backs on teaching, and for very good reasons. The pay for a man is poor particularly in the primary sector; he can probably do a lot better in industry. Short contracts also do not appeal to men. With 80% of main wage earners in households still being men, they need something more permanent. Also there is always the danger of a false allegation of abuse.  With men being such a rare commodity in many children’s lives, when one appears in their classroom they like to crowd around and clutch at him which is open to misinterpretation, particularly if there are envious feminists on the same staff who might try to make the most of such an event

The presentation of male teachers – and indeed male role models, such as fathers, in general – on TV does not help the situation. Teachers, for example in Home and Away, are presented as wimpish characters, not authority figures. It is irresponsible of the media to alienate men from such a challenging and necessary profession.

Over the last decade there has been a catastrophic drop in the number of men opting to work in primary schools. 

The following quote from “The Times” starkly outlines the tragedy in our UK schools today:

Statistics published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families disclose that only 2 per cent of staff in nursery and reception classes at English primary schools – who teach under-fives – are male.

In schools with receptions but no nurseries, this falls to just 1 per cent. Recent figures show that men account for just 16 per cent of all primary school teachers.

Its report admits: “As has been the case in previous years, the childcare and early years workforce is overwhelmingly female, with only between 1 and 2 per cent of staff being male.”

This is despite efforts by the Government to increase the proportion of men in nursery and primary schools.

Last year the then education secretary, Alan Johnson, announced a drive to recruit more male teachers to work in primary schools and to train male teaching assistants to work with “hard to reach boys”.

Recent research has shown that primary school pupils themselves want to be taught by men.

A study by the Training and Development Agency for Schools found that 76 per cent of boys are in favour of schools having teachers of both genders, and 51 per cent admitted they behaved better in the presence of a male teacher.

It also found that 39 per cent of boys are not taught by any men, and that 8 per cent had never had a male teacher.

  This could prove disastrous for young boys, particularly those who do not live with their fathers. They desperately need a male role model.

Boys need the provision of masculine games,  competitions and controlled aggression. When these are lacking there is always the danger that some boys might display bullying, or commit crime and violence.

June Smedley, a retired primary teacher, said at the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers, ‘No woman teacher, however able, can identify from her own experience with the problem of being a boy and growing up into a young man.’

 

We need men in infants’ schools also

The Plowden Report wanted more men in the infant schools of our country, but Elizabeth Arnold Davies, head of Grove Infants in Portland, Dorset, which has no male teachers, said ‘In 15 years I have never had a man apply for a job’. The trend to suspect any relationship between men and young children is backfiring. The media is responsible for much of this paranoia by misleading reports and news bulletins.

The area of childcare is the most sexually segregated occupation in Britain with 98% of the workforce being women. Some of the chattering classes even suggest that it is unwise to let men work with young children at all. Fortunately a more intelligent voice is heard in a report from the European Union Childcare Network, “Men as Workers in Childcare Services”. It argues unequivocally that it is important to increase the number of men working with young children. 

 

Single mother families: the breeding ground for criminals

It has been proved without any shadow of doubt that three-quarters of our criminals come from families headed by single-parent mothers. The Government must pass urgent legislation to ensure that no-one profits from divorce, that married couples are given large tax incentives to live in families, and that an immediate campaign be launched to get men back into our classrooms. If necessary we may have to offer them financial incentives. The Teacher Training Agency has made some rather timid moves to try to rectify the situation, but really strong measures are necessary now. Politically correct attitudes in teacher-training institutions need to be totally discarded and the truth, namely that men and women are not equal as far as teaching is concerned must be recognised. We have heard enough cant from politicians over recent months about ‘supporting family values.’ If they mean it, let’s see some action.

Apart from the male-female relationship angle, there are other reasons why we must employ many more men in our schools.  As more and more women have taken up teaching because it is reasonably well paid, the holidays are good and, generally the hours fit in with looking after their own children, so standards have been dropping. There is now a positive mountain of evidence to prove this. If you doubt this, then read Melanie Phillips’ book “All Must Have Prizes”. When universities have to provide remedial English teaching to students with top A-level grades in the subject, there must be something wrong somewhere. Some examination boards have been manipulating their A-level results to give the impression that pupils are doing better.

 

Women teachers prejudiced against boys

One of the reasons why boys in particular are not doing so well is that, according to Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools, teachers, of whom the majority are women, are prejudiced against them. A study by the Inspectors, published even back in 1996, states that secondary school teachers, again the majority of whom are women, tended to stereotype boys as less sensitive, less reliable, and less inclined to be cooperative than girls. This resulted in more criticism of boys. The teachers believed that girls were more dutiful, more ready to please and less questioning. The latter attitude is, of course, the very thing you do not want in higher education which is why at both A-levels and degree standard, the really excellent results are nearly always obtained by boys.

Some schools, happily, have recognised that their teachers have discriminated against boys. One such school decided to do something about it, and doubled the proportion of boys who obtained five or more good GCSEs.

When I was a member of the National Association of Schoolmasters some years ago, they stated that boys should always come predominantly under the influence of male teachers. They were so right! They still are!

Those readers who are parents might well be asking ‘What can I do to stop my children suffering from this shortage of men teachers?’ You can take some direct action – right now! If any of your children attend any sort of educational establishment which does not have a good representation of male workers, complain!  Write to organisers of playgroups, head-teachers,  governors, school managers, directors of education, your MP. But write! Phone! Complain! 

If you are not going to fight for the well being of your children, no-one else is. It’s up to you.