Response to Lauren - Week 5

Hey Lauren!I've worked in Education for nearly 20 years - I have seen a few male elementary teachers but not many. I think traditionally women are seen as more nurturing and caregiving - and having a classroom full of children is like raising 'multiples' to a degree - so I guess guys have stayed away from what has traditionally been a woman's domain with the little ones and taken a more active role with older kids (middle/high school). Maybe part of it is because guys typically aren't exposed to being around a lot of younger children - girls typically babysit for afterschool jobs, etc. Guys become more of a playmate when they have something in common with the child - usually around adolesence (can we say parallel play...). BUT, in defense of the teachers I have worked with - they were all wonderful at what they did! I think a guy who makes the decision to teach elementary school aged kids really WANTS to be there and they have something to prove too. They have to work twice as hard as a female teacher to be seen as a good teacher just because they are in a nontraditional job. Also, with all the accusations that make the newspaper about male teachers/female students - I think it's going to be harder and harder to get guys into teaching. Society automatically assumes if a girl makes an accusation that it has to be true and the male teacher (guilty or not) has to suffer and is guilty until proven innocent. Whereas for the two or three media cases of women teachers/male students - it was presumed that the guy was at fault and the woman was innocent - which we know now was not the truth (especially with the case of the teacher who has had several children at this point by a former student). I don't know what the answer is - the male teachers I've come into contact with on the elementary level deserve to be there so it tells me that there are a great number of other men out there that would make great teachers - but if I were a guy at this point - I might think twice about entering the profession or recognize that I may really feel I'm being judged - under a microscope so to speak - not just for my abilities teaching students, but for my implied morality as well.
June 17, 2010 6:30 PM