We need more male teachers in K-5 classrooms

Fort Worth, TX

5/1/2008

by Dan Powell**

More than 60 percent of all marriages end in divorce. On any day, a quarter of America’s children are living in single parent homes, usually with a female head-of-household. Over two million cases of battered women are reported each year, as are another two million cases of child abuse.

This means that millions of young children are attending schools that are in fact a sanctuary -- a respite from a troubled home. Millions more come from homes where they are loved and nurtured by a single parent trying to play the roles of both mother and father.

Now, more than ever, it is critical that young children have both male and female role models in the classroom. For children who live in homes with no male role models, the quasi-father role played by responsible male teachers is a significant window into male behavior. For children from nurturing two-parent households, early experiences with teachers of both genders are an important part of role definition and early awareness of the similarities and differences between adult men and women.

No matter where you look, however, it’s hard to find many male elementary school teachers. There is a history of cultural forces behind this.

First, traditional societal roles have relegated child-rearing and, hence, early grade teaching to females. Men who are genuinely interested in very young children are still viewed with suspicion by some--as if their interest were “sissy,” or even worse, prurient.

I know of several young male teachers who applied for jobs in early childhood education, only to be vigorously recruited for work with older children. This was in spite of their expressed wish to work with younger students and their specific college courses and student teaching to prepare them to do just that.

Second, teaching and nursing traditionally have been fields dominated by females. Until the latter part of the 20th century, executive positions and the practice of law and medicine were the domain of men. Pay remained low for teachers, viewed as “second incomes” in the traditional family structure. Low wages did little to attract male teachers, unless they could supplement their incomes as coaches or drivers’ education instructors when teaching older youth.

More recently, with the corporate sector competing to lure both talented men and women, most school districts have raised teacher salaries, though these efforts are being tested by ever-tighter appropriations amid the growth of human services costs found in state budgets. Better pay may enable schools to compete more effectively for the potential pool of male applicants for elementary school teaching jobs.

Still, how many young males are secure enough to opt for professional roles that will cause less-enlightened souls to question their manhood?

There are several potential solutions. Recruit high school-age males into child development classes and place teen-age males in elementary schools as aides and mentors. Likewise, strong recruitment of males into colleges of education on university campuses will help. In addition, male-female teams of impressive elementary school teachers should speak at school career days about the improving pay for teachers and the intrinsic rewards of making strong contributions to the development of young children.

Start these initiatives now. There is a place for men in the elementary school classroom, and the need has never been greater.

** Dr. Dan E. Powell, who began his career as a third-grade teacher, is associate professor of educational leadership in Texas Christian University’s College of Education.