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Thursday, June 4, 2009 12:00 AM

Teachers gone wild!

The media loves reporting on dangerous educators. But is abuse in the classroom really on the rise?

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  • Thursday, June 4, 2009 09:09 AM

    what's this have to do with feminism?

    Seriously. This is not a mothering issue, this is a parenting issue. I have two objections to this: one, I'm tired of mothers hijacking feminism, as I'm not a mother; and--more seriously--two, lumping parenting in with feminism feminizes parenting.

    If we want to tie it tangentially to feminism (and I don't see any genders ascribed to these teachers) we might consider this: that teaching is a largely female occupation, and that this is partly because women have traditionally been shepherded into it and away from other jobs for which they might be better suited. Perhaps that doesn't explain the abuse, but it would go a long way towards explaining why there are so many incompetent female teachers and administrators--education is a low-status, low-paying field that involves working with children, one at which men are more likely to turn up their noses, and women have been told from an early age that this is what they're expected to settle for, whether they're good at it or not. (I don't mean to come off sounding like I'm slamming teaching, just that it's been degraded through feminization.)

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