The value of a racially diverse staff is a recurrent subject, but gender diversity is just as important. Stereotyping, low pay, and few mentors are among the reasons that the percentage of male teachers is at a forty-year low, according to Newsweek. This dearth is especially alarming given the evidence, however controversial, that teachers’ gender affects student learning. Whatever your take on Thomas Dee’s findings that “learning from a teacher of the opposite gender has a detrimental effect on students’ academic progress,” it is undisputable that children need strong male and female role models from an early age. In elementary schools, the problem is even more distinct, as male teachers number only nine percent.