I'm just going to assume that the last couple paragraphs of Jay Mathews's column today are tongue in cheek. He thinks that the word "paternalism" is loaded enough that it has a negative effect on the largely positive work of attitudinal schools like KIPP and its ilk. Fine. He wants to have a competition to replace the word "paternalism" with something a little less loaded. Fine. But then we get this:
Among other things, the label makes these inner-city successes sound like a guy thing, when in fact many of their principals and most of their teachers are women.
I'm stumped. Is this a joke? I wish I could be generous and assume that Jay's intentions were innocent, na??ve even, but then I got to this:
Although I don't think it is such a hot name either, maternalistic schools works better for me than paternalistic. The ones I have looked at energetically recruit and train teachers who will give their small campuses a family feeling, with firm rules for behavior but warmth and respect for each child, more Meryl Streep than Robert De Niro, more Laura Bush than George Patton.
Wow, Jay, stereotype much? After we get a good chuckle from imagining General Patton reading to some wee babes on his knees, let's talk about how Mathews has illuminated an actual problem: most teachers really are women.
At first bite, this doesn't seem newsworthy. As Mathews himself argues, we like to think of schools as friendly, warm, maternal places (or do we? I like to think of schools as places where children learn, but maybe that's just me). But the NEA recently released data showing that the number of male teachers as reached a 40 year low. So what? Well apparently more than we bargained for, according to L.J. Williamson over at Babble Magazine, a parenting site. Some children, especially those with single moms, are growing up with no or few adult male role models. Williamson jokes that these kids might start thinking that women rule the world and quips, "Are they in for a surprise." I wasn't totally convinced by the sometimes conspiracy theory-esque conclusions, but it was thought provoking, especially when it comes to stereotypes. One of the biggies? That women are responsible for raising the children, in the home and the classroom. So while Jay can have us all imagining mobster Paul Vitti wiping a six-year-old's nose, there's no excuse for making tactless misogynistic jokes, even if they are a matter of tongue-in-cheek semantics.
