Men In Education

6 Pages 1395 Words

We are two male pre-service teachers attending college at Southwestern University. Throughout our education we have noticed a lack of male teachers in the classroom. It has become evident through readings in our pre-service classes that the lack of male educators is more prevalent now than ever. A common hypothesis for the lack of male teachers that has been prominent in our readings is due to the stereotyped gender roles of teaching. We believe that the stereotyped roles in society play a larger factor in the shortage of male teachers. To assist our hypothesis we will first look at the role of the teacher.
The roles of teachers in modern schools have become more complex due to the changing society. Not only are teachers expected but they are also expected to instruct their students about other cultures, how to behave, and now they are even expected to be parental figures for their students. For these reasons, much more is expected from educators, especially male, than in the past. The perceived stereotyped roles of each sex have also evolved. Men usually consider themselves a role model for their students more so than their female colleges while women usually consider the teaching and the education there first and foremost duty (Rodriguez p.4). The need for male models in schools seemed to be self-evident for many teachers; ‘children at the age of puberty would definetly need a father figure, and many of them’, said a female teacher in an interview. Some of the teachers mentioned that it is especially boys of single mothers who need a male model at school, while others talked more generally about children or young people. Some of them seemed to remember girls after having first mentioned boys (Lahelma et al, forthcoming,a). This is due to the fact that most children coming from single parent homes live without their father. Therefore the male teacher is placed into a parental role, especially at the lower grade levels. ...