Why is it important to have a positive male role model in a child’s life?
Many young boys do not understand what it means to become a man, as they do not have a male role model present in their lives, mainly those children who only live with their mothers and most likely are only taught by women at school. How do these children interact with good male role models? And who shows these young boys how to become a real good man when they are older?
Research shows that even with a man in the household, the usual man will only spend maximum 10 minutes talking to the child about life and education in a day, if even. We live in a society where today’s men did not personally have a good male role model themselves to show them the rights and wrongs of becoming a good man in the future, therefore these men are not trained to show these young children how it is done. (Baumgardner, 2013) School is about offering a social and mental approach to learning for children. It is not about building up only academic knowledge. This is why it is essential that children in primary schools should be taught by teachers that come from a diverse society, in respect to both ethnic background and gender. Evidently, boys that lack male support at home will benefit a lot by having a male role model at school. This will help their future in both academic achievement and life behaviour. As equal as men and women are, there will always be a difference on to what extent they influence a child’s life. Men come across more physically active and playful, they push children to take risks, approach challenges and attempt new things that life brings in both real and academic worlds. Research had shown that the participation of a good male role model can have a reflective end product on young children, such as, physical welfare, perceptual ability, capability of relating to others, the skill of taking initiative and the ability to self control. If this is how much male role models influence children, then why isn't society doing anything about increasing male primary school teachers to give children with less or no male attention the chance to be involved with great men? (Wilson, 2013). |
Some more research was conducted, where results showed that male students will go to only male teachers regarding help with work, also to talk any harassment or bullying the child is experiencing. So if there are not enough male teachers, will young boys continue to suffer in silence? (Rodrigo, 2012)
If children do not have existing male role models at home then the next best place to have a male role model involved in a child’s life, is at school. Having a majority of female teachers had implied that the curriculum is being feminised; therefore female teachers are imposing female values on students. Although there is no strong verification of this, in other words, it is used to explain the basis of why boys are underachieving. This performance calls for an increase in male teachers in schools. Boys tend to get the most time and attention from teachers due to their actions for attention seeking, girls just switch of when they lose interest or get bored of what is happening in the lesson whereas boys start doing things to self entertain, such as making noise. Consequently, this will get them in trouble and therefore teachers will be required to spend more time with them. Once the boys have caught the teacher’s attention, the teachers will begin spending more time disciplining them rather than educating them, it results in boys academically underachieving. (Arthur, Davies, 2010:125). Men becoming school teachers is not only benefiting students, it is also beneficial for themselves. Men think of working in a primary school as a low status role, but they also enjoy the authority and status they have within the workplace. Men will predict a quicker approach to getting promoted to a higher paid position so that even in a feminised profession, men are still ahead of women. |