St Peter’s College teacher Hiwa Jaldiani and his students sound like sterling chaps to me | Caleb Bond

Is it any wonder that men don’t want to be teachers when you see examples like this, writes Caleb Bond. Vote in our poll.

If you want to know why no one wants to be a teacher anymore – particularly men – then this is a pretty good example.

You may have read in these pages on Thursday that a bunch of Year 12 students at St Peter’s College last year threw a surprise party for the head of their science faculty, Hiwa Jaldiani.

Ten boys, with the support of their parents, spoke to Mr Jaldiani’s family and organised to cook him breakfast to thank him for his support during the year.

They rocked up at 5.45am and Mr Jaldiani walked out of his bedroom to find his house full of students cooking him and his family breakfast, which they then ate together while one of the boys played the piano.

They departed at 7.30am for school with smiles on their faces having done a good turn for someone they clearly respect.

That, to me, sounds like a sterling group of young lads honouring a man who has clearly left an indelible mark on their academic lives – so much so that they went out of their way to organise a surprise breakfast with his family.

But not to one anonymous father – whose son wasn’t even involved – who told this masthead that the breakfast was “deeply troubling on several levels” and that he felt “uneasy that this is a culture that this is acceptable”.

What – you’re uneasy that these young chaps have a teacher so good that they dragged themselves out of bed at sparrow’s fart to throw him a party?

Getting a teenage boy out of bed before 7am is like extracting Excalibur from the stone and yet they did it because they clearly feel strongly enough about Mr Jaldiani’s work.

This is the kind of thing we should see more of, not less.

We need more teachers who command this kind of respect and admiration from their students.

The fact that it was organised with Mr Jaldiani’s family, was done in the full knowledge of the students’ parents, Mr Jaldiani immediately made his superiors aware of the breakfast and St Peter’s didn’t sanction anyone for the surprise party tells you everything you need to know.

A parent spoke out about “deeply concerning” conduct after St Peter's College students cooked breakfast for a teacher at his home. Picture: Supplied

A parent is concerned about favouritism and unprofessional conduct after St Peter's College students cooked breakfast for a teacher at his home. Picture: Supplied.

But we live in a world of confected outrage and excessive caution where every stranger is a threat and every man is a potential child molester.

Parents once let young children disappear on their bikes in the morning during school holidays, instructed only to return by dinner time.

Now they’re not so much as allowed to walk to the shops for a litre of milk on their own and if they are they’re fitted with tracking devices – even well into their teens.

I regularly hear of parents now who flat out refuse to let their children have sleepovers at friends’ houses lest someone interfere with them.

When I was a child, a sleepover was a rite of passage.

I am not suggesting that bad things don’t happen – of course they can and do – but there is no evidence to suggest that child abuse is more prevalent than it used to be.

I’m suggesting that the pendulum has swung too far.

We have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

That someone would interpret a lovely gesture to a respected teacher as somehow troubling or inappropriate is quite sad, really.

In primary schools, states have as much as 450 per cent more women than men in their teaching ranks.

In high schools there are as many as 70 per cent more women.

Is it any wonder?