The Elijah School

Lousy Male Role Models

Though this is hardly a new subject, last night’s Super Bowl ads brought some things home for me.  Quite possibly the worst ones were those that portray men as bumbling idiots or as sex-driven robots.  One commentator says “One ad actually took the position that adult behavior (e.g. picking up after one’s self) is so odious and emasculating that it means men can fight back by picking out their own mid-level car. Sad.”   A tire company actually sought to sell their product by supposing a man might give up his wife before his Brand X tires: isn’t that lovely?  Did any of you catch the talking babies in which the little boy is two-timing a little girl?  Not to put too fine a point upon it, but it made me want to throw up.

Have we really sunk so low in our society that this is the best we can do?  How is it we expect so little of men today in terms of behavior, but see him almost exclusively as a provider of material wealth and sexual gratification?  Speaking as a man with two young daughters, I want better for them, and they have the right to expect better.  I want to see more young men who are willing to give up their obessions looking good and feeling good for actually doing good and being good. 

As a Christian school, it is our job to point students to appropriate male role models (e.g. Biblical ones), but also to give them examples to live by.  The Bible is full of them: open the pages and they leap out at you.  Work, love, the difference between the sexes, and God’s expectations of men (and women) are there for all too see.  If we don’t provide the teaching and coaching of character, we can be sure that our media-driven culture will fill the void. 

At Elijah School it is our objective to educate the entire student – body, mind, and soul.  Our classes extend beyond the core subjects to include social skills, critical thinking, and life skills.   We do so because we must.  The alternative is the vapid and self-centered men we see on TV – no thank you.