Get Schooled

By lyncoln

August 12, 2008 10:07 AM | Link to this

I’m saying this somewhat tongue in cheek, but why not summer programs for boys only to introduce them to teaching? Similar to science and technology camps for girls.

I just don’t think you’ll get much interest from the boys regarding summer camps about teaching.

By Scalia

August 12, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

Most men don’t want to be teachers because they feel that they don’t make enough money to support their families. Why would they want to teach earning 30,000 dollars a year when they can start in a business where they know that they know they can move up and make six figures in Corporate America?

By Stacey

August 12, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this

I think it is a very good idea to have male teacher in elementary school since so many kids are being raised without a positive male role model. I also LOVE that Mr. Mitchell is trying to teach the boys to look like young men. I just hope the parents and administrators will allow him to follow through. However, when this topic has come up in blogs in the past, I lot of people have expressed that they don’t trust male teachers. The only male teacher at my son’s elementary school teaches 3rd grade. I would love for my son to be in his class next year.

By tonyac

August 12, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Scalia hit the nail on the head. As the wife of a new teacher, this ain’t for the weak of heart. The pay is just too low to consider suggesting this as a field to my son. The opportunity to advance is good, but the pay will never be what private industry could pay him for the same position.

That being said, he is passionate about kids. This is his calling, and I have accepted that. Pay or not I know there is no place else he rather be than in a classroom teaching kids.

By Jeff

August 12, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

Males come into teaching with 2.75 strikes against them and a blind umpire.

Some of the negatives of that situation could be remedied at the admin level. Most are societal.

Heck, I not only encountered them working as a teacher, I encountered them when I volunteered to work with the toddlers at my CHURCH. People are EXTREMELY suspicious of any young single male that WANTS to work with kids.

The only exception is coaches. But who would you rather have teaching kids AP Math: The guy who can only count to 100 (as in yards on a football field) or the geek with a PhD in Abstract Mathematics?

By HS Teacher Too

August 12, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this

Jeff,

Frankly, in most situations I would rather have the football coach teaching AP Calc. You don’t just get to teach an AP class by being lucky — and most teachers who don’t want to work hard will run as fast as they can from AP Calc. That being said, if the football coach is teaching AP Calc, he must know his stuff AND be willing to dedicate the time to a class such as AP Calc. Moreover, my guess is that the football coach will better be able to make the subject interesting and understandable for the class than the “geek with a PhD in Abstract Mathematics” might.

Am I stereotyping? Absolutely; but if I had to take my chances blindly, that’s the choice I’d make.

As for the challenges men face in the classroom, for the financial reasons people cited above, and for the risk of one punk girl making false accusations and ruining the guy’s life, I’d have a hard time suggesting a guy go into teaching. What a shame, too — because male teachers are great role models, and the world needs more men in the classroom.

By tonyac

August 12, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this

HS Teacher Too:

Some of the most defining moments of my education were given to me by male teachers. Oddly, I had quite a number of them through my academic career before ever seeing college. Men bring a different dynamic to the classroom, something that can’t quite be put into words but is there.

Unfortunately, far too often they never get the chance to ‘show their stuff’ due to the overwhelming (an mostly uncalled for) bias against them from the jump.

By jim d

August 12, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

Jeff,

Males come into teaching with 2.75 strikes against them and a blind umpire

Fortuately your reality effects you and only you.

By HS Teacher Too

August 12, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

tonyac,

I don’t disagree with you. In fact, I said the current situation is a shame.

By Tony

August 12, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

Yes. We need more men to be teachers. The fact that salary is an issue should speak loud and clear to our politicians who push to keep salaries low. If as a principal I had some authority to negotiate salaries, I believe I could hire more men to be well qualified teachers.

By catlady

August 12, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this

Got 5 men at our 3-5 elementary school, with about 45 teachers. They are all, in their own ways, terrific. Male role models are so much more important now than long ago in a galaxy far away, when I was in elementary school. I landed in the classroom of one of the only two men at the school where I grew up, in 4th grade. I was terrified, but he was one of my top 5 teachers EVEr.

25 years ago our speech teacher wanted to teach K but our county would not consider him for the position. He left and went to another county and wound up not only the county teacher of the year but the state teacher of the year and the NATIONAL teacher of the year! Look what our kids missed out on! What a shame!

A person has to have a spouse with a pretty good job in order to “afford” to teach. Sad, but true.

By Lynn

August 12, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this

As the wife of a teacher, the salary level is a definite concern for all teachers. As my husband frequently notes, he could not afford to be a teacher with a family without a spouse who earns substantially more. He said the same is true for female teachers as well.

This is a profession that society has traditionally valued lowly by way of comepnsation. Today’s world also has little respect for the individual teacher. It is the traditional dilemma of a profession with a high level of responsibility with little autonomy or control.

By RandolphCountyFemaleTeacher

August 12, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this

“Males come into teaching with 2.75 strikes against them and a blind umpire”

Why don’t we have more male teachers? One of the male teachers we had here couldn’t handle his class, was guilty of cussing at the kids, and then tried to inject ‘race’ into the mix when his incompetency was pointed out.

By Old School

August 12, 2008 7:19 PM | Link to this

My husband retired a few years back after teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Social Studies at a small rural school for over 30 years. His students consistently scored well above the state average on various standardized tests and many who are still in high school give him credit for their continued success.

We have a couple of male friends who also taught in elementary schools. One was a kindergarten teacher and the other taught elementary special needs students. Both stayed in teaching long enough to retire.

All of these men are kind, gentle, dedicated to teaching, and devoted to children and ALL are still happily married to their school teacher wives. Maybe the difference is in their ages. All are baby boomers raised well by involved parents who modeled the kind of behaviors parents are “supposed” to do.

I think it is exceedingly sad that men have the specter of potential impropriety hanging over them if they answer a call to teach. They can offer so much to children that can only be learned by example.

By thomas

August 12, 2008 7:57 PM | Link to this

Hey guys,

Let me explain this whole “male teacher” thing to you. I am a male teacher. I have taught in elementary and middle school. For the most part, only women are wanted in the elementary schools. White women in the suburban and rural schools and black males in the “ghetto” schools. The only males that are really sought out are black men to work in the ghetto as bouncers, I mean “positive male role models.”

Money has nothing to do with it. People being cautious of men has nothing to do with it. I know there is plenty of paranoid towards men nowadays, but people generally are not wary of male teachers. Also plenty of men will work for $40,000 a year.

The fact of the matter is that the elementary school is really a “good old girls” club and only CERTAIN KINDS of women are invited to join.

By James

August 13, 2008 1:42 AM | Link to this

I work at a private christian school and in the secondary (7-12th grade), there are actually more male teachers than female (10 to 9), but in the elementary, there are 18 female teachers and only 2 males. Honestly I think it has more to do with salaries and being able to raise a family moreso than anything else when it comes to teaching high school. In elementary schools, it’s a social stigma. People just assume that a guy who wants to be around young children is a pervert or pedophile. I HATE to inject race into it but I think Thomas is on to something when he talks about the racial aspect of it. I am the only black teacher in my school, and if you look at the majority of private schools in the Atlanta area, almost none of their teachers are black. Black men are encouraged to go teach for “Teach for America” where they’ll be place in lower-income districts. It is not an easy feat to get a job teaching at a private school being a black man, unless you are extremely OVER qualified, but that could probably be said for a lot of occupations in this country. I think it’s going to take ONE or TWO states, that aren’t highly ranked in terms of public education, to really up their teacher salaries and see the results (which will be obvious, better pay = even better teachers) for other states to follow suit. Then there’ll be more male teachers.

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