AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > September > 26
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Teaching: Why Don’t Men Do It?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just got back from my annual check-up with the ophthalmologist. My eyes are still trying to adjust to the light, so please forgive any typos.
Before the eye drops kicked in at the doctor’s office, I was browsing last week’s copy of Newsweek, which happened to have an interesting article about the decline of male teachers.
Honestly, at first, I thought: Why is this news? Everyone knows K-12 teaching ranks are dominated by women. Then I reached this sentence:
“According to the National Education Association, the number of male schoolteachers is hovering at a 40-year low.”
So, I was curious what the situation was in Georgia.
Turns out that, although the number of male teachers has been growing for several years (by 31 percent since 2000-01), the proportion of males-to-females basically remains the same.
Moreover, when looking only at newly minted teachers that were hired this year, the percentage of men shrank somewhat: from close to 23 percent of new teachers last year to nearly 21 percent this year.
Currently, women comprise about 81 percent of the state’s public classroom teachers and men account for 19 percent. That’s not appreciably different from the beginning of the decade, when 82 percent of the state’s teachers were women and 18 percent were men.
Interestingly, student enrollment in Georgia is slightly more male than female: 51 percent are boys and 49 percent are girls.
So, please tell me, because I really want to know: Why don’t more men consider teaching as a career?
UPDATE: Speaking of male teachers, they might soon get the right in Cobb County to wear earrings to school. Who knew this was an issue?
