Boys 2 Men

Even though I went to an all-boys Catholic grade school, I did not get a male teacher until grade 6, my last year.

Every one of us loved Mr. Moore. He was like a revelation.

And it makes me wonder; was it all about Mr. Moore, or was it at least in part about having a male teacher?

Later, in high school and in university, there were more men. And my favourite teachers were always men. Female teachers might get the job done—or might not—but were never inspiring.

We make quite a fuss about the need for “role models.” So we insist that black kids have to have black teachers, and aboriginal kids are supposed to have aboriginal teachers, and so forth.

And yet we leave 50% of our students pretty much without role models at a young age.

I am doubtful whether it matters in the case of something so trivial as skin colour. But it surely does in the case of sex. Men and women are systematically different, not just physically, but mentally. And a boy does NOT want to act like or model himself after a woman.

If ever there was a place where affirmative action was called for, it is here.