Nora Stapleton was an exemplary teacher. She taught a class of boys and girls of mixed ability. They were aged between nine and ten. She not only taught them arithmetic and writing and all the other stuff. She taught them values.
One must hold the door open for everyone, not just for girls. That would be sexist. One must always leave the toilet seat down. In fact, if Ms Nora Stapleton had her way she would have supervised in the boys’ toilets. If boys learned to sit down when they had a pee there wouldn’t be all this trouble with the toilet seat. And the rough and tumble! Nothing annoyed Ms Stapleton more.
“Boy! Boys! I went to the zoo and the baby lion cubs were fighting and snarling. Little boy puppies tussle and tumble. Little boy kittens tussle and tumble. All the baby boy animals tussle and tumble. But boys! Boys! You are not animals! You must never fight, neither inside nor out. You must respect each another. Be gentle. Boys! Boys! Stop that constant brawling!”
That was years ago. Ms Nora Stapleton’s dead now.
When they grew up some of these boys hurt others; like, for example, some of them hurt their own kids. I guess they’d never got to learn the limits of their strength.