The decreasing number of male teachers is no longer an issue we are not familiar with, especially since, all along the years, different publications have taken it upon themselves to sound the alarm on this topic. Schools worldwide have now reached a point where they can’t but complain about the “endangered species” of the male teacher – and they have mothers to thank for that, a new piece in the Daily Mail reveals.

Over-zealous mothers, it seems, too focused on their day TV dramas to get to know the realities of the educational environments in which their children grow up, are always looking for scapegoats in the figure of male teachers. The piece asserts the “abuse” allegation has now reached levels of downright hysteria, with mothers seeing a potential abuser in the person of every male teacher. This, in turn, makes even the most dedicated teacher bow out from the pressure, running from accusations that, even when unfounded, can ruin reputations and turn lives upside down.

“[Parents] think, correctly, that it is good for children to have a man to look up to; that many pupils, especially boys, behave better with a man in charge. They think that their children are being shortchanged by the imbalance. I agree. But I also think that too many of these ‘concerned parents’ have only themselves to blame.” the Mail piece reads. At the same time, this is not the only factor that would explain the shortage of male teachers, as it’s the men too who see the profession as “women’s work” and who refuse to do it because of the unsatisfying pay.

Nevertheless, the importance of a male teacher and role model should not be overlooked so easily as it is now, the piece further explains. “We need more male primary school teachers for all our children. For boys, they provide a glimpse of potential for their own futures: a reason to work hard, to play fair, to demand respect from the world around them. It matters, too, for girls. If the first proper contact a girl has with men is as a teenager, when her hormones are raging, the consequences of her lack of experience of them are already too obvious.” it is said.

On a final note, the piece warns mothers to stop seeing perils at every corner, and to not give in to the worldwide wave of hysteria that is leaving schools without male teachers.