Op-ed article by Jennifer Finney Boylan
MY favorite teacher in high school was a man named Robert Ulysses Jameson, a terrifying, red-faced man whom the students called “Chopper.” Chopper yelled at us if we said things that were stupid. If our stupidity persisted, he’d throw us out of the classroom by pointing to the door and saying, “Out!” Sometimes he threw us out one by one, and on other days he threw us all out at once. One by one was worse.
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As the nation’s classrooms welcome back teachers and students, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the methods — and the gender — of your own favorite teacher. A 2006 study by Thomas Dee, now a professor at Stanford, suggested that boys do better in classes taught by men while girls are more likely to thrive in classes taught by women. The 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.
