You’re in your school; you’re in your faculty break room. Stop and take a look around. What’s missing? I suspect it may be something you think about but never give voice to, perhaps because you’re totally okay with it or you just think it is the way things are supposed to be. Of course, this little exercise may not work for all of you, but, when you look at the averages, it’s quite likely. There are few men working as teachers, especially at the elementary level. Take a look. It’s true.
When I started teaching, heads turned. I was the first male teacher hired at my school in years and joined just one other gentleman. My second year, I was the last man standing. I won’t say that it was hard opening all the pickle jars, but it was…well…strange.
Based on statistics from The Mailbox fans at Facebook, roughly 93% of you are female. We can say with near-certainty that the remainder are male. Across the teaching field as a whole, more than 84% of teachers are women.
Sure, teaching has traditionally been a field dominated by women. Experts also point out that there’s no data showing that the teacher’s gender has any impact on a student’s learning. But sometimes, don’t you wonder? Do you wonder if, overall, a student’s learning experience would benefit from the presence of more male teachers?
Just wondering here, Mailbox teachers. What do you think? Do we need more men teaching, particularly at the elementary level?
Share your viewpoint.