Schools and Fathers

It depends upon the school. When our daughters were in grade school, I was lucky enough to have a job that (most days) ran from 4:00 AM to Noon, leaving me free to volunteer at their school in the afternoon. Most teachers welcomed me to the classroom to read to students. However, most grade schools have few (if any) males adults around-usually one wearing a tie (the principal), one wearing a whistle (the phy-ed teacher), and one holding a broom (the custodian). Our elementary schools need more positive male mentors available, as teachers and parents.

Sadly, the legacy of men perpetrating abuse on children makes it harder for institutions like schools to accept male employees and volunteers. The solution to that problem is not whining about the unfairness of being lumped in with perpetrators. Rather, it is an absolute refusal to tolerate abuse in our concepts of what it means to be a man, hold our abusive brothers accountable, do a better job of holding up public examples of engaged fathers who parent children well, and raise our sons accordingly. It also means taking our good fathering routine into schools so children can learn how a good man lives his life.