JM Coetzee calls for more male teachers
2012-12-10 19:35
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Disgrace
An examination into the sexual and political lawlines of modern South Africa.
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Johannesburg - Renowned South African author and Nobel literature
laureate Prof JM Coetzee on Monday urged young male graduates to consider a
career in education.
"It's good for children to have a man's hand guiding
them, and it is also good for you and common social life," he said in
Johannesburg at the University of the Witwatersrand, which was conferring on
him an honorary doctorate in literature.
"What a relief it is to see so many young men among
graduates in the humanities... What a relief that men have not entirely
abandoned a field which they once used to dominate."
Although he had been taught by phenomenal women
throughout his life, he was certain the presence of male figures would have
enriched the experience, he said.
"It has nothing to do with personal qualities, but
if there had sometimes been a male presence in the classroom, the experience
would have been different and I am convinced, fuller."
Coetzee warned against placing the responsibility of
teaching children in the hands of a single sex.
Coetzee urged male graduates to meet the country's need
for hardworking, dedicated and well-humoured teachers.
"Look upon it as a challenge. Let us be a generation
of young teachers who will transform school and make it a place of intellectual
excitement where children can't wait to get to school."
He told the young women in the crowd they had been the
backbone of the teaching profession so far. He spoke against the
"suspicious eye" cast on men who expressed an interest in young
children.
Coetzee was born in South Africa, but now lives in
Adelaide, South Australia.
His professional career includes appointments at the
University of Cape Town, the University of Chicago, and visiting appointments
at Harvard University, John Hopkins University and Standford University.
His fictional works include Waiting for the Barbarians,
which won the CNA Literary Award.
He won the Booker Prize for the first time for his novel Life and Times of Michael K and the second time for Disgrace.
He has won many other literary prizes including the
Lannan Award for Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize and The Irish Times International
Fiction Prize.
- SAPA
