Written by Harmon Krause
I did not expect to hear anything unusual while MLC President Mark Zarling gave an update at my teachers’ conference. However, as Zarling gave his presentation on the college, he stated something that took me a bit by surprise. He said something that would make an applicable introduction for this article. He said, “Men aren’t going to college, and I don’t know why.”
Zarling’s comment comes from an even larger issue than men going to college — a lack of male educators.
The gender politics of education is not a new phenomenon. Male teachers have always been the minority in elementary schools (Martino, 2008). There are not enough male teachers, at least in early childhood and elementary settings. Below are the statistics of all active called workers, provided by the WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools (2015).
Early Childhood
- Male 0.7% (3 of 440)
- Female 99.3% (437 of 440)
Elementary
- Male 26.4% (635 of 2405)
- Female 73.6% (1770 of 2405
The percentages aren’t only low in WELS schools. Males account for about 17 percent of the public elementary and middle school teaching force (Mullenholz, 2013).
Statistics show that females are more successful after high school than males. “Despite rising college costs and the many other challenges facing America’s schools, women have made extraordinary strides in education. They have overtaken men in high school and college completion in the last few decades, earning 58% of bachelor’s degrees and 62% of postsecondary occupational certificates” (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013).
The success of females translates to the workforce as well. The decrease in male teachers is, of course, a reflection of a broader change occurring in society about gender roles and occupations. In the United States, for the first time in history, more women work outside the home than men (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).
The push for females pursuing careers comes from their teachers. Male teachers have the ability to build strong relationships that will help boys succeed in elementary school and into middle school. We need men in the early grades to build critical relationships with our male students who are, in large numbers, disengaged in school, lagging behind girls in reading, overly identified as having behavioral problems, and more frequently referred for special education (Mullenholz, 2013). The push for males to pursue careers or teaching isn’t as strong because there are few male teachers to prod them in a positive direction. The overall change occurring in society about gender roles and occupations could simply be a lack of men in front of the classroom.
There is a gender gap in education. It begins at the primary grade level and goes to the secondary level. Results show that the gulf between girls and boys at the end of secondary school has now widened to a record level (Paton, 2011). Some experts contribute this gender gap to the number of males at the elementary and middle school level. Prof Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: “The danger of having so many female teachers is that boys get the impression that education is a feminine thing and it is somehow sissy to be fully engaged with education. Boys may demonstrate their maleness by standing a bit apart from the learning process” (Paton, 2011).
There should be male role models for male students, just as there are female role models for female students. There is a need for Christian men in the early grades to build critical relationships with the male students who are lagging behind girls, disengaged, and identified as having behavioral problems.
There is also a need for Christian men to be role models for girls, especially those growing up without fathers. One-third of all children in the United States grow up without a father (Mullenholz, 2013). Christian male teachers should be spiritual role models for their students, role models that embody spiritual leadership in the school, church, and home.
The impact and role of male teachers also affects pedagogical practices within a classroom. There’s a difference—whether it’s in style, voice intonation, just the presence of having a male in the classroom—that many boys respond to best. The effects of having a male in front of the classroom are substantially positive.
Above all, it is important to remember that having a male in front of the classroom does not simply make him a good role model. It is very naïve to believe that the complexity of a good educator could be reduced to sex difference. We need male teachers in front of the classroom for many reasons. As teachers, male or female, we need to make sure our students are getting the best Christian role models.
Harmon Krause (‘14) currently teaches seventh and eighth grade and serves as principal at New Hope Lutheran Academy in West Melbourne FL. He is also enrolled in MLC’s Master of Science in Education program with an emphasis in instruction.
References
DiPrete, T., & Buchmann, C. (2013, June 11). Bridging the male education gap. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/11/opinion/la-oe-diprete-male-education-gap-20130611
Martino, W. (2008). Male Teachers as Role Models: Addressing Issues Of Masculinity, Pedagogy And The Re-Masculinization of Schooling. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(2), 189-223.
Mullenholz, G. (2013, July 19). Op-Ed: We Are in Desperate Need of More Male Elementary School Teachers. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/07/19/we-need-more-male-elementary-school-teachers
Paton, G. (2011, September 2). No male teachers at 4,500 primary schools. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/8734967/No-male-teachers-at-4500-primary-schools-figures-show.html
These are both great thoughts. How do we change the paradigm? How do we get more males in front of the classroom, not only in Lutheran schools, but across all education sectors?
Are we saying the workload scares away male teacher prospects? Why are males being overloaded in our schools when we have more females? I’m curious to hear if females feel “overworked” too. Do we feel as if females cannot contribute to assistant principal, athletic director, or technology director? Why do our schools have a tendency to give males these “leadership” positions when females could carry them out just as well, if not better? I agree with J. Wendt. I would also love to see females take on some of these responsibilities. Schools should seek to have shared leadership.
In connection to Allen’s comment- I think this quote answers the question, “Has the pendulum swung too far?”
“The decrease in male teachers is, of course, a reflection of a broader change occurring in society about gender roles and occupations. In the United States, for the first time in history, more women work outside the home than men (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).”
Thanks for an interesting article. As a dad of two daughters, I know that my wife and I strongly encouraged them to aim high – one just finished her Masters and one is working on her doctorate. We wanted our daughters to consider all their options and held college and obtaining an advanced degree as a worthwhile pursuit. Certainly our influence guided their paths toward these degrees.
Has the pendulum swung too far? We have big events at the science museum and invitations from the university for girls only. I wonder if those types of messages are perpetuating the situation you describe. I and my daughters were often told that the world needed more girls to pursue fields in the sciences and that information certainly was a part of the equation. If a generation of parents successfully worked to get their daughters to pursue higher education, is it now time to take gender out of the discussion and simply start encouraging all students to strive? No one expresses shock at the news promoting a “girls in science” day, but I wonder what would happen if there was a “boys in science” day? Just thinking out loud; what are we saying to our boys?
On a positive note, I am blessed that at my school we have 5 full-time men and 5 full-time women on the faculty. Having so many men teaching, even in the lower grades, has been a real positive for our school and has been well received by parents. I would even say that it has been a bit of a draw compared to some neighboring elementary schools with relatively few or in one case no male faculty on staff. As you mention in your article, I believe that men have an important role to play in the lives of young students and connect with them differently than women. Our students need both male and female role models to listen to them, teach them and give them guidance.
VERY good point. Other males on staff (other than the principal) are often given responsibilities such as athletic director, technology director, assistant principal of [discipline, instruction, etc.], church boards, and more simply because they are male. I would love to see more female teachers take on those duties if they have the gifts to do them. While primary grade teachers often have more prep work to do, they also often have less correcting. The opposite is true of the mostly-male middle school teachers. While we might not have the hours of important prep work that primary grade teachers have, we often have more hours of subjective correcting to do, using rubrics that we took the time to create and modify. We have novels to read for literature classes and outside reading to find for paired reading projects for other subjects. Providing a quality middle school education can be/should be just as time consuming as providing a quality elementary education. If that teacher is also the principal, AD, tech guy, music director, or worse yet, a combination of those, burn out is inevitable.
I’ve heard it said many times that today’s teachers, especially the younger ones, don’t have the work ethic or commitment to ministry that our predecessors had. In some cases, I agree with that. There are always those teachers who don’t want to go “above and beyond” to do anything, citing family/personal commitments as reasons. However, I like to point out that instruction has changed a lot in past years, even in the ten years that I’ve been in the field. We’ve got curriculum mapping to do for accreditation. We have quality videos to find and PPT presentations to make because today’s learners are so much more visual than they were in the past. We search for ways to let students discover facts because research has proven how much better that is than direct instruction. Teaching itself has become more time consuming, and that should always be our first priority above other extra duties. After all that. when a parent arrives at our door asking why the C-team basketball team only has 3 games scheduled, anyone could feel overwhelmed or defeated.
We do need more male educators in our WELS school system. Yet when we get those male educators in place, we overload them with extra responsibilities, and many resign. This is part of the picture.