Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Eek, A Male

online.wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 174 posts

Re: Eek, A Male

#51

Post by kenjackson »

alex_c wrote: post #36
kenjackson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to admit I'd go the complete opposite. I do know there are great male teachers, but in environments where the male teacher might be alone with children I am hesitant. The data bears this out, as does personal experience. With that said male coaches or piano teachers or tutors I have no problem with, since those generally take place in plainsight of parents. I know that really sucks for the good ones, and most…

Two immediate thoughts: 1) Any similar argument about women and another profession would instantly be met with cries of sexism. 2) This is a great example of the types of unsubstantiated mass hysteria that seem to be more and more common. I find it really depressing, not least of which because I can't think of a solution.

There are few other professions that result in a baby being sexually abused. I'm more than willing to bend over backwards to give someone a chance writing code, fixing plumbing, making clothing, painting a room. Some things I'm less willing to do.

With that said, its a great opportunity for people who don't mind male daycare teachers to really get top quality care for less money. I think you'd be foolish not to exploit this arbitrage opportunity.

Re: Eek, A Male

#52

Post by rfrey »

[deleted] wrote: post #38
axod wrote: post #8

If I had to choose one of the following, to improve society: a). More women in tech b). More men in childcare/teaching It'd be 'b' without a doubt. As said elsewhere, the complete lack of any male role models at a large number of schools is astonishing and very worrying. Is it any wonder girls are performing better than boys these days, as the number of male teachers has decreased to almost none? Great to finally see…

[deleted]

What? Axod said, "If I had to choose..." not that the choices were mutually exclusive. Comparing the question to another question that's more frequently discussed in order to highlight its significance is not the same as a false dichotomy fallacy.

Re: Eek, A Male

#53

Post by vacri »

kenjackson wrote: post #40
rgraham wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation? What evidence shows that there are enough bad ones? Cherry picked news stories by for-profit media? What if all the good ones packed up and left when they were treated like predators-to-be?

One of the better papers to read is http://www.ipt-forensics.com/library/female.htm It is specifically about lifting the lid on abuse perpetuated by females, and not a "cherry picked" story. Here's a site that is more numbers focused: http://www.yellodyno.com/html/child_molester_stats.html Here are some numbers: Nearly all the offenders in sexual assaults reported to law enforcement were male (96%). - Sexual Assault…

Where are the stats about male /teachers/ alone with pupils having a worrying level of sexual predation, which is what you claimed.

Re: Eek, A Male

#54

Post by kenjackson »

callahad wrote: post #31
kenjackson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to admit I'd go the complete opposite. I do know there are great male teachers, but in environments where the male teacher might be alone with children I am hesitant. The data bears this out, as does personal experience. With that said male coaches or piano teachers or tutors I have no problem with, since those generally take place in plainsight of parents. I know that really sucks for the good ones, and most…

> The data bears this out I'd really appreciate a citation on that.

See my other post, which contains some. If you don't think those are satisfactory (and please state why), I have more.

Re: Eek, A Male

#55

Post by nmaio »

Male nanny here.

Anyway, I was an education major and one my male professors would always stress to the males in the class that they should be extremely cautious when dealing with children (don't hold their hands, etc):

The professor started out teaching first grade, and one time, a boy in his class came out of the bathroom with his pants down because he couldn't get them back up. Before the boy could even ask for help, the professor ran down the hallway to the nearest classroom with a female teacher to have her pull up the boys pants.

I'm not offended by the way it is though. Like how at the Iowa daycare center where the one male aide can't even be in the room while diapers are being changed. I was taught to stay far away from those types of situations and to be honest, if it makes someone feel better that I'm not in there - that's fine by me.

Re: Eek, A Male

#56

Post by aplusbi »

kenjackson wrote: post #40
rgraham wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation? What evidence shows that there are enough bad ones? Cherry picked news stories by for-profit media? What if all the good ones packed up and left when they were treated like predators-to-be?

One of the better papers to read is http://www.ipt-forensics.com/library/female.htm It is specifically about lifting the lid on abuse perpetuated by females, and not a "cherry picked" story. Here's a site that is more numbers focused: http://www.yellodyno.com/html/child_molester_stats.html Here are some numbers: Nearly all the offenders in sexual assaults reported to law enforcement were male (96%). - Sexual Assault…

You're going to want better (different, rather) citations if you want to justify your claims. None of those citations give reason to be wary of allowing a male teacher to be alone with a student.

What are the statistics on the number of men who are pedophiles? Better yet, what are the statistics on the number of male teachers (who are screened before they are hired) who are pedophiles?

If there was only one pedophile in the world, and he happened to be male, you could say that 100% of pedophiles are male and so you should never leave a child alone with a man. But that doesn't make sense, does it?

Re: Eek, A Male

#57

Post by Semiapies »

gaius wrote: post #5

3 comments on this, and 200 on some girl whining that (male) geeks "hurt her feelings".

And in two hours, this one will have twice as many comments as that post got over the course of days.

Pedophile-paranoia is a real problem, but let's be clear - if there's anything that will rile HN posters, it's the idea that some straight, white guy somewhere might get a raw deal.

Re: Eek, A Male

#58

Post by vacri »

gaius wrote: post #22
haploid wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which article are you referring to ?

This one: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2110756 Obv there are more comments here now :-)

It's funny how that works - a brand new article not having much commentry. No such thing as confirmation bias, eh?

Re: Eek, A Male

#59

Post by stonemetal »

alexophile wrote: post #24

[I originally posted this on a reddit discussion, link's at the bottom] One day, my friend Bryan was charged with the daunting task of getting Ellie, one of the older and more difficult students, to read out of a children's book for a distinct and measurable amount of time. After some cajoling, pleading, and maybe even trickery, the two were finally sitting down at a table with myself and another student. To keep Ell…

We were like 20 at the time, and ill-equipped to deal with children on this level, so we probably should have relayed the event to an adult of some sort

At 20 you are an adult of some sort, and have been for some time. The only problem I see in the story is you don't act like it.

Re: Eek, A Male

#60

Post by mcknz »

scottkrager wrote: post #18
mcknz wrote: post #10

A BBC story from 2006? Stories from her friends? That's the best she's got? Would be nice to see a real article on this topic with actual analysis and data. Of course it's stupid to label all men as possible predators, but there's another side to it: when a single pedophile can damage literally hundreds of children, who wouldn't have cause for concern? The challenge is to find the level of concern that is reasonable…

I think this is a situation where the votes this story is getting ARE the data. I imagine many men voting this story up have noticed this trend in their own lives. It's not hard data, but it shows a trend. Heck just yesterday I rode an elevator up with 2 parents and their maybe 3 year old kid. The kid had been out in the rain and I made a comment directly to the child about the rain. The parents looked pissed just be…

I don't disagree with the notion that people overreact to men around kids, but I think the article itself is just a lazy appeal to emotion, and not very well argued.
Post reply on HN