（来源：芝士英语）
According to the old nursery rhyme (童谣), "Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Boys are made of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails." Yes, boys and girls are different, and in the modern world, "sugar and spice" seems to win out over "snakes and snails." At least, Chinese education officials seem to think so.
一则古老的童谣这么唱到：“女孩子是由糖、香料以及所有美好的东西组成，男孩们则由蛇、蜗牛和小狗狗的尾巴做成”。是的，男孩女孩是不同的。在现代世界中，“糖和香料”看来是胜过了“蛇和蜗牛”。至少中国教育官员认为如是。
The officials point to statistics （统计数据） which show 80 percent of elementary and middle school teachers are women and that girls consistently outperform boys in the classroom. Moreover, they say this "feminization （女性化）" of schools is making boys soft and preventing them from becoming "real" men. The solution to the problem (if it is a problem), the officials say, is to hire more male teachers and to introduce a more boy-centered curriculum which can "salvage masculinity （男子气概） in schools."
这些官员们指出，统计数据显示80%小学和初中的学校老师是女性且班中的女孩表现一直优于班中的男孩。此外，他们认为学校的“女性化”正在使得男孩柔弱，阻碍他们成为“真正的”男人。官员们说，解决这个问题的方法（如果这是一个问题）就是招聘更多男老师，采用一个更加以男孩为中心的课程来拯救学校中的男子气气概。
Some steps in this direction have already taken place. A teachers' college in Fuzhou has lowered its admission requirements for boy students and it offers full scholarships and a guaranteed job when they graduate. And a school in Shanghai has all-boy classes, hoping that segregating them from girls will improve their grades.
相关措施正在实施：福州某师范学院已经降低了它对男生的录取要求，当他们毕业的时候，学校将提供全奖，并分配工作，保证就业。上海某校有一个男生班，希望通过将他们和女生分开来提高他们的成绩。
But one wonders if these changes are really necessary. Does it matter if your teacher is a man or a woman as long as he or she is a good teacher? (By the way, Shanghai has the best teachers in the world!) And are boys really becoming soft? There are a number of studies about these questions, but they are mostly inconclusive. A study from South Korea says girls do better when taught by a female teacher, but there seems to be no corresponding effect when boys are taught by men. As for boys becoming soft, this is purely subjective—older generations look at younger generations and always find them wanting.
但是有人怀疑是否有必要做这样的改变。只要他/她是一个好老师，老师是男是女是否真的重要？（顺便一提，上海拥有世界上最好的老师！）男生是否真的变得柔弱？有许多关于这个问题的研究，然而它们大多是错的。一个韩国的研究表明当由女老师上课的时候，女孩表现得更好，但当由男老师上课的时候，男生并没有表现出相应的影响。男孩是否变得愈来愈柔弱，这是一个很主观的问题，因为老一代的人们总是希望能在年轻一代身上找到他们想要的素质。
Having said that, the education authorities are right to encourage more men to become teachers. Yes, the pay is low and so is the status, but teaching offers much greater rewards: the love and appreciation of your students and the satisfaction you get from helping young people learn and grow. And male teachers do bring a different "vibe （气氛）" to the classroom. Maybe it's the "snakes and snails."
话虽如此，教育权威人士鼓励更多男性成为老师还是有必要的。的确，教师的工资和地位都不高，但是教学带来了更多回报：学生们的爱和感激以及你从帮助年轻人学习和成长中得到的满足感。另外男教师的确给课堂带来了不同的气氛。也许这就是所谓的“蛇与蜗牛”。
实习编辑：李孟洁
