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Wanted in China: More Male Teachers, to Make Boys Men

​
FUZHOU, China — The history class began with a lesson onbeing manly....

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Wanted in China: More Male Teachers, to Make Boys Men

​
FUZHOU, China — The history class began with a lesson onbeing manly.


Lin Wei, 27, one ofa handful ofmale sixth-grade teachers at a primary school here, hasmade a habit oftelling stories about warlords who threw witches into rivers and soldiers whooutsmartedJapanese troops. “Men have special duties,” he said. “They have to be brave, protect women andtake responsibility for wrongdoing.”


Worried thata shortage of male teachers hasproduceda generation oftimid, self-centeredandeffeminate英[ɪ'femɪnət]boys, Chinese educators are working to reinforce traditional gender roles and values in the classroom.

In Zhengzhou, a cityonthe Yellow River, schools have asked boys tosign pledgesto act like “real men.” In Shanghai, principals are tryingboys-onlyclasses with courses like martial arts, computer repair and physics. In Hangzhou, in eastern China,educators have started a summer camp called West Point Boys,complete withtaekwondo classes and the motto, “We bring out the men in boys.”

Education officials across China areaggressively recruitingmale teachers, as the Chinese news mediawarns ofa need to “salvage masculinityin schools.” The call for moremale-oriented educationhasprompteda broader debate about gender equality and social identity at a time when the country’s leaders areseeking tomake the labor marketmore meritocratic.

It also reflects a general anxiety about boys in Chinese society. While boysoutnumbergirls as a result ofthe longstanding one-child policyanda cultural preference for sons, they consistentlylag in academic performance.Some parents worry about their sons’prospects in an uncertain economy, so they areputting their hopes in male role modelswho they believeimpart lessons on assertiveness, courage and sacrifice.


The view that there is anoverabundanceof female teachers that has had a negative effect on boys has, perhaps predictably, led toa backlash. Parents have accused schools ofpropagatingrigid concepts ofmasculinityand gender norms, and female educators havedenouncedefforts to attract more male teachers withlavish perksassexist.