> It is not seen as a high status job - especially not teachers 
> for the younger children

In NZ the trend is increasingly towards female teachers. Apart
from the "male role model", which fewer and fewer kids seem
to have at home, men generally think completely differently and
have strengths in technical areas (maths, spatial problems etc)

I wonder if kids that go through school with a succession of
female teachers will not receive the "right amount" of exposure
to technical thinking, and will have difficulty when confronted

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