Interesting Chicago Tribune story about the dwindling number of male teachers. I remain skeptical that this lies at the core of the boy troubles, but the lack of male role models certainly doesn’t help.

chicagotribune.com
Fewer male teachers are in K-12 classrooms in Illinois
Men cite obstacles to taking the jobs, and many educators believe teachers’ gender gap isn’t good for how young boys and girls learn
By Joel Hood

Tribune reporter

August 19, 2009

For two years Chezare Warren taught math at a middle school on Chicago’s South Side, weathering the kind of situations that keeps so many men from pursuing teaching careers at elementary and secondary schools.

There were the usual jokes from friends about his low pay and cushy workday. There were the awkward moments with women who sometimes belittled his profession. There was the occasional whisper or suspicious glance from parents who questioned why a young man would choose to spend so much time with children.

Most troubling for Warren — one of six male teachers on a staff of more than 30 — was the look in the eyes of many of his young male students each semester who, lacking positive male role models at home, seemed to latch onto him for fatherly guidance.

“I learned early on to draw lines and establish boundaries with students,” Warren said. “I needed to instill in them that I wasn’t their father, I wasn’t their social worker.”

Those experiences partly explain the ever-widening gender gap among teachers, which accelerated in the early 1960s as more women sought jobs outside the home, said Steve Tozer, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Many educators believe the trend has had a profound impact on the way young boys and girls learn. That’s particularly true in urban communities where more and more children are growing up without a steady male influence, they say.

“You’re talking about something that has had a devastating impact on the academic success of young black men in their formative years,” said Phillip Jackson, president of the Black Star Project, a Chicago-based organization that promotes children’s education. “Unfortunately, the males that become important in the lives of so many African-American and Latino boys are the gang leaders, the drug dealers, the hustlers — and if that’s all they see, that’s what they’ll become.”

While male professors still far out-number women at colleges and universities, their numbers are dwindling at lower grade levels, both across the Chicago area and around the country.

In Illinois, fewer than 1 in 4 teachers between kindergarten and high school are men, a percentage that has declined over a 10-year period from 24.6 percent in 1999 to 22.9 percent in 2008, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The ratio of male teachers is 1 in 5 at Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest district, and at Plainfield High School District 202 in western Will County, among the state’s fastest growing. Those ratios are robust compared with the 12 percent of male teachers at Joliet Public School District 86, and the 11 percent at Downers Grove Grade School District 58 and at Schaumburg Community Consolidated 54. Some districts have no male teachers.

Mary Fergus, a State Board of Education spokeswoman, said the board is concerned about the imbalance but has no plans to recruit more men.

Phyllis Watson, superintendent for Joliet District 86, said her district has a program to recruit minority teaching candidates but does not make a distinction between men and women. Similar minority-targeted programs are used in Downers Grove, Schaumburg and scores of other districts.

“We want our classrooms to reflect the world as a whole, and we put such a priority on hiring people of color. Why do we ignore gender?” said Bryan Nelson, director of MenTeach, a Minneapolis-based advocacy group for male teachers. “The message we’re sending to boys is that, not only is teaching a women’s realm, but perhaps education is as well.”

Yet after decades of decline, Nelson and others are optimistic about a turn-around. Over the last year, Nelson said, thousands of men laid off from their careers in business, advertising, journalism and other white-collar professions are taking a fresh look at teaching, attracted by its seemingly stable work environment and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the next generation.

That optimism is shared in academic circles as well, although officials warn it’s too soon to say whether men really are seeking teacher certification in larger numbers than before. At National-Louis University in Chicago and other area schools that offer such programs, women still make up a strong majority. Officials said that disparity has not gone unnoticed, but that their top concern is producing qualified teachers regardless of demographics.

“The optimal thing would be to have a diverse teaching staff at all levels,” said Harry Ross, chair of secondary education at National-Louis. “But the key is to work ourselves away from the stereotypes that say women are better at certain things, or men are better at other things.”

Eric Schmitt, a 5th-grade teacher at Creekside Elementary School in Plainfield, became a teacher two years ago after a career as an accountant. He said pride and ego are perhaps the two biggest reasons more men don’t pursue teaching at the lower grade levels. Experts agree, saying that low starting pay and stigma are major factors, along with outdated stereotypes about men’s and women’s roles, and few mentorship opportunities.

“It’s not glamorous, it’s not a status position,” said Schmitt, 44. “Guys at a young age are chasing after big dreams, big money. But at some point, later in life, they look for a job that’s more meaningful.”

Increasingly, administrators are reluctant to hire a man to teach young children for fear of abuse allegations or outcry from parents. When the men are young, single and fresh out of college, the reluctance is even greater, said Valora Washington, president of the CAYL Institute in Massachusetts, which last fall released a study on the shortage of male teachers.

“I’ve heard from many men that they’ve just felt unwelcomed by their school administration,” Washington said. “Working with children is often not the problem, it’s working with the adults.”

Keilan Bonner, 29, an advanced placement math teacher at King College Prep High School on Chicago’s South Side, said he connects to the boys in his class on a different level than a female teacher might.

“We talk about a lot of stuff they might not be comfortable sharing with others,” Bonner said. “They know I’m somebody they can talk to outside of class and I think they appreciate that.”

Mike Schuelke, a 4th-grade teacher at Freedom Elementary School in Plainfield, said he was the first male teacher many of his students had ever had. And, he said, that seemed to bring him a certain respect. “It may not last long, but you can see it there in the beginning,” said Schuelke, 31.

Warren, 27, said he also noticed that extra measure of respect in the beginning. But after two years teaching 8th-grade math at Calumet Middle School, a charter school in Chicago’s Auburn-Gresham neighborhood, and two years at other area schools, Warren left to pursue other interests. He’s now enrolled in a doctoral program at UIC and hopes to one day teach at a college.

“There’s a lot I really enjoyed about teaching,” Warren said. “But it wears on you and there’s a lot that can discourage you. I felt like I needed a change.”

jhood@tribune.com

Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune

Here’s an attempt in Baltimore. The onset of the ”boy troubles” and the decline in the number of male teachers occurred at the same time, which should place that cause at the top of my suspect list. Hiring more male teachers would undoubtedly help; I’ve seen male teachers have a huge impact. Problem is, I’ve seen superior teaching by female teachers accomplish the same thing. Hey, having more male role models has to be a good thing. Just don’t assume any huge turnarounds if that should somehow happen.

 From the Sun:

baltimoresun.com
Programs encourage male presence in schools
Fathers show up to give youngsters a wider range of role models, mentors
By John-John Williams IV | john-john.williams@baltsun.com

June 18, 2009

A group of seven fifth-graders clambered around the lunch table at Talbott Springs Elementary School in Columbia, eagerly awaiting their chance to arm-wrestle parent Mark Scott.

“Look at these guns,” Scott jokingly taunted the students as he pointed at his bicep.

Starting with his 10-year-old son, Jonathan, Scott gave each one of the students an opportunity to take a shot, with no success. The kids didn’t mind. And Scott loved every minute of it.

(more…)

Why? Because of low salaries and fear of abuse allegations, according to an article in the New England Board of Higher Education. This article from the Foster’s Daily Democrat, which covers southern Maine and New Hampshire, describes the local situation:

Still too few male teachers? Many grades see small percentage

Little Harbour art teacher Andrew French will be the first person to tell you he loves his job, but he is among a minority of men who have been going into a profession dominated by women.

An article by Valora Washington in the New England Board of Higher Education’s magazine suggests the number of male teachers in the United States is at a 40-year low because of issues ranging from fear of abuse allegations to insufficient pay.

Educators are expressing concerns about the trend, which is backed up by National Education Association reports showing that only one in five public school teachers are men, with that number being even more disproportionate (one in nine) for elementary school educators.

An NEA report formulated using survey information from education departments in all 50 states estimates there are 785,151 male teachers in public elementary and secondary schools across the nation, compared to 2.4 million women counterparts.

(more…)

Everyone knows that the solution to unparented boys who lack a father at home is to hire more male teachers. You know, establish some authority in the classroom. Makes sense, except when it doesn’t. According to this survey described by the BBC, male teachers are more likely to draw classrooms disruptions, not less likely.

Lessons ‘tougher for male staff’
Schoolchildren are more likely to disrupt lessons if they have a male teacher, a survey suggests.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) polled 1,500 of its members in 13 English local authorities.

Although the survey found a general improvement in pupil behaviour since 2001, 77% of males said they had a lesson disrupted at least once a week.

Researchers at Warwick University who analysed the data found female teachers generally had fewer problems in class.

Of the women, 44% reported no disruption on a weekly basis at all.

Poor behaviour

But 69% of men and 57% of women said they had been sworn at by pupils.

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the NUT, said the analysis demonstrated how “misleading” gender stereotypes could be.

She said: “Despite the impression given by some national figures that women teachers are more subject to experiencing bad behaviour than men, the evidence is that it is male teachers who sometimes experience greater levels of poor pupil behaviour.”

 There’s no question that male teachers have been disappearing from classrooms, especially in middle schools. That disappearance coincides with the slide in boys’ academic achievements. But are the two connected? I lean toward the camp arguing that attracting more male teachers is a good thing, but don’t expect a gender rebalancing in the teaching force to affect the boy troubles.

Here’s an interesting Boston Globe article about the decline of male teachers in Massachusetts (Photo courtesy of the Globe):

  In Massachusetts, only 24 percent of teachers last year were men compared with 32 percent 15 years ago, according to the most recent state data. Nationally, a quarter of teachers are men, a 40-year low.

Even school administration offices - an arena where men once dominated - are more likely to be in the hands of women in the Bay State, with the exception of school superintendents. But that, too, could change, with the number of women expected to climb as silver-haired male superintendents retire.

At a time of increased emphasis on improving student achievement, especially in inner-city schools, education specialists are raising serious concerns that male flight from classrooms could be hindering boys’ ability to learn.

A study by an associate professor of economics at Swarthmore College, which has been gaining national attention in the debate over single-gender classes, found that boys learned better in reading - a subject in which they typically struggle - when teamed with a male teacher. Similarly, girls did better in math and science with a female teacher.

Even more eyebrow-raising, the research questioned whether a predominantly female teaching force is causing more boys to be labeled as behavior problems because women may struggle in handling the sometimes rambunctious nature of boys. It also questioned whether boys may respond better to a coachlike sternness found in some male teachers.

But in an interview, the study’s author, Thomas S. Dee, cautioned against a knee-jerk reaction of simply recruiting more male teachers.

“The more appropriate avenue to explore is how do we make teachers more productive for all students,” Dee said. “I’d rather have my son with a great teacher who is female than a mediocre teacher who is male. Teacher quality often gets lost in this debate.”

The growing imbalance between male and female educators highlights some of the challenges the state faces as it attempts to form a teaching force that better reflects the children they teach. Education specialists say that low pay and a lack of respect for teachers are primary reasons men stay away, and those issues emerge as well in efforts to recruit more minorities.

Yet the shrinking number of men can be chalked up to another reason: Some men worry that overly protective parents might falsely accuse them of being pedophiles because teaching, especially in the lower grades, is still largely perceived as a woman’s job, requiring a nurturing personality that supposedly is not common among men. In other words, something must be wrong with the guy who likes working with children.

“If a woman can drive a tank in Baghdad, why can’t a guy change a diaper at an early childhood education center?” said Kitt Cox, coordinator at the Birth to Three Family Center in Ipswich and one of the few men in the early education field. “We should be showing kids there are different things they can be when they grow up, and it shouldn’t be defined by gender.”

That’s what this Independent article appears to offer up. For those new to this issue, countries such as England and Australia have been working on the boy troubles for years. in this country, we’re still quarreling over whether the “boy troubles” are a conspiracy to peel back the gains made by feminists.

 Here’s the entire article:

By Richard Garner, Education editor
Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Boys will perform better in education if they have a male teacher in their primary school, according to research published today.

A study of more than 1,000 men reveals almost half of them (48 per cent) cited male primary school teachers as having had the most impact on them during their school life.

In addition, 35 per cent said having a male teacher challenged them to work harder at school while 22 per cent said males had boosted their confidence in their own ability.

The research, for the Training and Development Agency - the body responsible for teacher training - comes as the number of males qualifying to teach is at its lowest for five years - 23.8 per cent. Only 13 per cent of all primary school teachers are men.

The research, carried out by ICM, is backed up by psychologists who point out that - with the growing number of one-parent families where children are brought up by their mother - a teacher may be a child’s only male role model. Dr Tanya Byron, the clinical psychologist and government adviser, said: “Male primary school teachers can often be stable and reliable figures in the lives of the children they teach.”

The number of males qualifying to teach was 1.5 per cent down in 2006-07 compared with the previous year. However, with primary school registrations, the figure has been rising by 1 per cent a year to 16 per cent.

The TDA is launching a campaign to encourage men to teach. It wants recruits to follow in the footsteps of Simon Horrocks, who quit his job as a supermarket manager to start teaching aged 39. Mr Horrocks, who teaches at Christ Church school in Folkestone, Kent, sold his home to study to be a teacher. He said: “It was when my two sons started school I thought about a switch. I used to spend one day a week in their school. It was a ‘road to Damascus experience’ and now I come skipping to work in the morning.”

 Maybe. I’m still skeptical. In elementary schools, where boys falter in reading, women have always dominated the teacher workforce. Nothing has changed over the years. Therefore, any attempt to explain the graphic you see at the top of my blog has to deal with something beyond the loss of male teachers in middle schools and high schools.

Randi Weingarten, the NYC-street smart, newly elected president of the American Federation of Teachers, is a welcome addition to teachers union leadership here in Washington. I may not always agree with her, but you always know you’re dealing with a force and a straight shooter. For now, what’s most interesting is the all-female leadership team taking over the AFT.

As written about by my colleague Greg Toppo here and by the Chicago Tribune here, this marks the first time a teachers union will be run by women: Weingarten, Loretta Johnson as executive vice president and Antonia Cortese as secretary-treasurer.

My reaction: What took the unions so long? Here’s an NEA press release from 2004 with the headline, Are Male Teachers on the Road to Extinction?

An NEA survey shows that the number of male public school teachers now stands at a 40-year low. After two decades of decline, just 21 percent of the nation’s 3 million teachers are men. Male elementary school teachers are even more scarce. According to NEA’s research report, Status of the American Public School Teacher, the percentage of male elementary teachers has fallen from an all-time high of 18 percent in 1981 to an all-time low of 9 percent today. And while men represented half of secondary teachers in 1986, today they make up 35 percent.

For minority males, the statistics are as troubling. Teachers of color make up 16 percent of the teaching population, and some 42 percent of public schools have no minority teacher at all.

In short, the answer is yes, male teachers are on the road to extinction, and this is not just a U.S. issue. Consider this recent story out of Vietnam.

The important question, however, is whether that can explain the boy troubles. The easy answer is yes, but I’m not so sure. I’ve visited classrooms where male reading teachers at 6th grade are having a huge impact, especially if they double as coaches. Still, I’m hesitant to place major weight on the disappearance of males from the classroom as the cause.

 As described in this post, TFA founder Wendy Kopp is not so sure teacher gender is a major player. As an observer of KIPP charter schools, which draw heavily on TFA alums and appear to be doing well by boys (and employ mostly women as teachers) I’ll have to concede she has a point. What works with boys is the determination to not let them slip behind in verbal skills, and there seem to be a lot more female teachers out there willing to undertake that challenge than male teachers.  Forget the movie nonsense about Joe Clark roaming the hallways with a club to knock some discipline sense into boys. What’s needed are some teachers of either gender willing to knock some literacy sense into boys.