Nationwide, only about three percent of early childhood teachers are male in the U.S. Experts say this can have an impact on young children whose understanding of gender roles and identity are rapidly forming. Research has found that having access to diverse teachers is beneficial for children. For the youngest learners, it means they are more likely to get exposed to different varieties of play and communication. It also helps them develop healthy ideas around gender.

        “In our world and our society, we have very specific stereotypes (模式化形象) of gender roles,” said Mindi Reich-Shapiro, an assistant professor in the teacher education department of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and one of the authors of a recent study. “It’s important for children to see other possibilities and other paths they can take.”

        Despite mostly feeling supported by colleagues and family members, many of the male educators surveyed in the study reported facing social or cultural resistance in their careers as early education teachers. Some also reported that there were parents surprised or concerned that their child had a male teacher. And they had been advised by colleagues or other staff not to hug children.

       Reich-Shapiro and fellow researchers made several recommendations to increase male representation in the field. Low pay has long been acknowledged as a major issue in the early childhood field. Over 70% of male educators who said they intended to stay in the early education workforce noted an increased salary was a major motivating factor for them to commit to the career long-term. The report suggests paying all early childhood educators the way elementary school teachers are paid.

        Cities and programs should establish support groups for male early childhood educators and provide mentoring and professional development advice for male educators and their program leaders.

        The authors also suggest that traditional recruitment approaches for early childhood educators “do not address the gender gap in the field.” They recommend providing young men opportunities to work with children through training and volunteer programs, targeting groups of men who are considering a career change, such as fathers.

解析：A。根据题干中的Mindi Reich-Shapiro可定位至原文第二段。第二段中，明迪·赖希-夏皮罗提到，我们所在的世界、社会中，对性别角色有着非常具体的刻板印象。让孩子看到其他的可能性和其他可以选择的道路是很重要的。A项与此内容相符，其中的importance对应第二段最后一句的important，broadening children’s horizons是对该句中的other possibilities and other paths的近义概括，故A项为正确答案。

错项排除：B项分别利用原文最后一段中的fathers进行干扰，但此处是说建议通过培训和志愿者项目为年轻男性提供与孩子一起工作的机会，目标人群是那些考虑跳槽的男性群体，比如父亲，并没有提及与父亲的责任（responsibilities of fathers）相关的内容，故B项排除。C项利用第二段中的teacher education和最后两段中的programs进行拼凑，但urgency在文章无依据，故排除。D项利用文章中多次出现的teacher和第四段中的motivating进行拼凑，但原文中并没有关于教师激励儿童的相关内容，故D项错误。