Male vs. Female? Which Gender Teacher Did You Prefer?
A fascinating op-ed in The New York Times today. Do kids like male or female teachers better? The writer has a unique perspective. She used to be a man. Jennifer Finney Boylan writes that a recent study found that " girls were more likely to report that they did not think a class would be useful to their future if it was taught by a man, and boys were more likely to say they did not look forward to a particular subject if it was taught by a woman." Say what? Boylan goes on to note that m any scholars suggest that other variables, "like a teacher’s experience and the number of students in his or her class, are much more important to students’ success. And yet the way we relate to our students and our teachers surely has something to do with whether we are male or female." She writes poignantly, " When I began teaching, I was a young man fresh out of graduate school. I know I felt more comfortable being funny in the classroom back then; as a woman I s...