Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-11-14
WANTS MALE TEACHERS
inspector Hand Says High Sehools are
a Becoming Effsminized. 5,

Becoming Effsminized.
The high schools Of South Caro-
lima are rapidly becoming oyer-el-
feminized, Is the statement OF w. ID.
Hand, state high school Inspector, In
his annual report.
Mr.. Hand goes fully into the dis.
cussion Of the question Of men and
women teachers and concludes that
BOYS cannot be kept through four
years high school course unless we
give them more men teachers.p
Mr.. Hand says: .r,1
FOR four years the number Of men
teachers has remained almost sta
tionary, but with a slight decrease.
For the same period the number OF
women teachers has increased SO per
cent. realize that 1t is rash. impol-
itic and dangerous to say that the
high schools are in need Of more men
teachers of ability. In discussing q
question like this 1t Is hard to con-
fine people to ordinary reasoning. Let
us divest the subject Of sentimentaii-
ty and ourselves of blarney and pa
tronizing gallantry. The whole ques-
tion of the relative efficiency Of men
and women as teachers Is usually
pitched on the wrong place and dis
cussed from the wrong viewpoint.
The discussion Is not to try to prove
that men teachers are in any way
superior to women teachers, but 10
show that each has a place, very
necessary place.
"The characteristic Of the two sex
es are distinctly unlike, but they are
harmonious, they are Complementary
and supplementary. God wisely mace
them so. The child's existence Is que
to the existence Of the two sexes, ana
10 future welfare and development
depend on what can be supplied py
both sexes. The well-balanced train
ing Of the child is dependent on the
retention Of this harmony Of dual
characteristics; the joint training
given by the father and the mother
makes it q symmetrical training, ana
the absence Of the training OF either
parent is a distinct loss to the chlld.
In this joint parental training the
child at different stages OF his physi-
cal. mental and moral growth Is more
dependent upon, more responsive TO-
and more in need Of, the peculiar
Influences furnished by the one par
ent or the other. -
What Is true in the home Is true
In the school. In his education ne is
entitled to the influence or both sexes
as teachers. For the first five years
Of a child's school life, the average
man as its teacher Is all but failure
as compared with the average wo-
man. The woman Is more patient
and gentle and sympathetic, and is in
every way better fitted to furnish
what the child needs. About the time
the boy enters his thirteenth year he
begins to manifest radical changes In
his disposition, in his tastes, and in
his ideals. He still needs patience
gentleness and sympathy, but he
needs something even more import
ant than mere control-he Is yearn-
ing for that conscious tuition
which Is involved in association with
a manly man.
1.-The time has come for him to imi-
tate, and to whom should he turn
with more confidence than to his
teacher? What mother Of judgment
would have her boy initiate the most
perfect woman of her acquaintance,
any more than she would have her
girl initiate the most perfect man or
her acquaintance? The silent power
Of imitation must never be lost sight
of, and the boys craving the COM
panionship of a manly man must not
be ignored. Mere control Is among
the least Of the adolescent boys needs.
Many a woman teacher is able to
shake Sixteen Years Of Young Ameri-
ca until his teeth rattle. In the Ian
guage of DR.. Thomas Arnold, ne
needs a man of common sense who
understands boys. -.
"And. to be perfectly candid, we
are not going to keep the boys
through a four-year high school