Male Teachers: Better Teachers.

For a week I have been working with my students on writing the Argumentative Essay. It became clear to me that they were getting nowhere with the Thesis Statement, the Topic Sentence and the different patterns of writing their essays like the Pro-Con Pattern, Con-Pro Pattern and finally the 3-Con Pattern, It was time for me to do something about it. Last night I sat down and wrote an essay on the topic: Female teachers make better teachers than their male counterparts. I used the first pattern while writing my essay. today I informed the class that within this weekend I will write on the same topic using the most oft-used pattern, that is, the 3-Con Pattern. Any feedback regarding the Pro or Con Ideas will be highly appreciated.
 Male Teachers: Better teachers.

In a world dominated by men not so long ago, women are slowly beginning to assert their status and power. They have started taking their rightful places and giving their counterparts a run for their money almost in every field whatsoever, be it in the field of Games and Sports, Engineering, Information Technology, Medical, Politics or Education. The present scenario in Education especially is finding women working as teachers, administrators or even departmental heads. Their presence in the education sector in large numbers has led many people to put forward the claim that women make better teachers than their male counterparts. Whatever the fact may be the ground reality is even today male teachers are way ahead as most of the responsibilities pertaining to any work of physical or manual nature, are mostly shouldered by male teachers. The students find it easier to open up to their male teachers despite the age old belief of women being more compassionate, committed and understanding by nature.

In a school system other than teaching of the curricula, there will be a number of co-curricular activities being undertaken for the all round development of the learners. In Games and Sports, for example, most of the trainers, officials and so on are found to be the male teachers. They will train and guide the students about the basics of the games, point out their weaknesses during the practice and contribute to the smooth conduction of the various sporting contests and competitions as referees, linesmen, scorers and so on. Even the literary events in most of the schools are conducted by the male teachers. Clubs, in the last decade or so have become an integral and important part of the school co-curricular. In this respect, male teachers are found to be playing a very prominent role as well for the wholesome development of the learners. Almost 90% of the Club In-charges of the 21 existing clubs in CCS are male teachers. So there can be no denying the fact that male teachers contribute immensely to the promotion of wholesome education in any school anywhere in the country.

Even in school where the ratio of male and female teachers is 40:60, students are found to open up more easily to their male teachers. They feel quite at ease to share all sorts of problems – be it domestic, personal, physical or mental with their male teachers. The truth of the observation is borne out by the fact that in a school where the Counsellor is a male, students can be seen crowding around his office with their problems for an amicable solution and help. Whereas in a school where the counseller happens to be a female, even the girls may be hesitant to share their problems of various sorts. One reason why the students find it easier to open up to the male teachers may have a lot to do with their mentality and upbringing in a society where woman’s role has been confined to the kitchen for ages and where men have expectedly lived up to their reputation of dealing with the outside world.

Some critics disagree with the assertion that male teachers make better teachers. They claim that since female teacher are more compassionate, committed and understanding by nature. So male teachers can never hold a candle to them when it comes to providing the children with love and care, understanding their psyche and behaviours.  They may have a point in thinking like that but stories of compassionate, committed male teachers are not too far to seek and abound closer home in Bhutan as well. The contributions of late Father Mackey deserve special mention in this context. He was awarded the title of ‘The Son of Bhutan’ for the tremendous sacrifices he made for the spread of education in this country. His selfless services speak volumes about his commitment and concern for the Bhutanese students.

All said and done, it is not difficult to opine that the debate regarding the superiority of the male teachers over the female teachers or vice versa is not likely to be resolved in the distant future. But all pros and cons considered, it is no mere exaggeration to state that for their immense contributions to the promotion of wholesome education and for lending a sympathetic ear to the learners in times of difficulties, male teachers are way ahead having won the love and trust of the students in all respects. It is no wonder therefore, that the teachers who, down the ages, have left their marks as ‘great’, spreading the messages of love, compassion and peace are all found to be males alone. Be it the Buddha, Gandhi or Tagore or closer home people like Dasho Karma Ura or the former Education Minister, Mr. Thakur Singh Powdel, they have enriched the lives of many and made a huge difference with their sense of dedication, compassion and sacrifice in bettering the lives of the learners.