Title: Why There are so Few
Male Teachers in Early Grades
Source: Cohen, D. (1992). Why there are so few male teachers in
early grades. Education Digest, 57(6), 11.
Key Points: Cohen observes the negative connotations associated
with male early education teachers. She views
the social injustices deemed from stereotypes, lack of status perceptions, and
fears resulted from sex-abuse cases. The
article goes in to further depth of the mentioned categories. Men are judged and scrutinized for wanting to
become early education teachers.
Intended Audience: Society
Relevance: In becoming a
more inviting and understanding community, society needs to continue developing
acceptance of all, including profession choices. Men play a vital role in education, it is not
up to society to judge them and predetermine exactly what that role may be.
From a male who worked in an elementary school for a while, I can strongly say that there are more than a few ways that people judge men in early education. This article does a good job of bringing light to the negative connotations that come with being a man in early edcuation and I can definitely appreciate it's message.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I find it interesting (more accurately, disturbing) that this article is from 20+ years ago, and yet men are still dealing with some of the same issues as Andrew pointed out in his comment! I see it myself working in an elementary school everyday. There are three male teachers (one is the P.E. teacher). When I try to encourage my male friends that are resident counselors for DD services for adults to apply for school district jobs, they say it’s too risky because they don’t want to be worried about getting accused of being inappropriate with a child.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that there should be more males, and males from different ethnic backgrounds. We need to advocate that having a well balanced staff hired in our school systems help to develop the student as a whole. I have also seen that some students respond better to a male teacher.
ReplyDelete