More boys are growing up without fathers, and fewer men are becoming teachers, writes Richard V. Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, on Education Next.
Men make up 20 percent of elementary and middle school teachers, 43 percent of high school teachers, he writes. The numbers are declining.
"Girls outperform boys in K-8. In high school, "boys get worse grades, have more behavioral issues, and are less likely to graduate on time than girls," he writes. They make up only one-third of the top 10 percent of high school students. If they graduate, "boys are less likely to enroll in college and less likely to complete their degree."
It's not clear that having a "matching" teacher improves academic outcomes, Reeves concedes. Some "studies find no strong relationship between teacher gender" and academic outcomes, while others suggests that it matters, with black boys benefitting the most.
Male teachers also can be mentors and role models of healthy masculinity. They can persuade boys that school isn't just for girls.
Initiatives to attract and retain more male teachers of color include a residency program in Dallas, the NYC Men Teach program and the Call me MISTER program in South Carolina, Reeves writes. But it will take more to reverse the downward trend in male teachers.
Well, I don't know whether this sort of thing prevents men from becoming teachers or not, but I do know that, if I were a teacher, I would never allow myself to be alone with a student of either gender.
I'm inclined to agree with superdestroyer, that elementary teaching men are likely to be vulnerable to accusations of abuse. The easy solution, same as I was taught before I taught Catholic kids our faith, is never alone with a child. I would also have that enforced on the women as well.
Besides that, teaching must be made more attractive to men, more money, administrative back up, ability to discipline their classes, etc.
Or they could do something most ed school graduates would hate, open shop classes. This could be a way to get men on campus, but also to help the girls develop mechanical skills which is predictive of those girls going into applied-STEM majors and jobs
Twenty years ago my ex showed me the yearbook of a school in one of suburban Houston's "Not so Good" districts. Her elementary did not have a single male on the staff, not even a PE Coach. She told me that her principal was outright, to just short of an EEOC complaint, that she did not hire men. I told her. "Great! What a great thing for those poor black and Hispanic boys without Dads that the only male they see every day is the custodian! Super awesome policy!
Why would anyone want to take a job when a Moms for Liberty group will start calling one a groomer? The legal risk is too high for men to be teaching in elementary school.