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We're now using a blog to make
it easier to post our editorials. Read
them here...
Editorial - Great to teach children (04/05)
I also have received
e-mails
from men from all over the world who have told me how wonderful it is
work with children. How the children are so excited to have a man in
their daily lives.
I know when I walk into a
classroom, so many children come up to me and want to talk, show me
things and just be with me. I've watched women come into the room and
the children will just look up and not really respond. Children really
are hungry for men in their daily lives.
Editorial - Men Teaching Could Be Hazardous (03/05)
I received an e-mail from a man
in Alaska. He had seen an article in the Christian
Science Monitor. In his e-mail he said that we were irresponsible
to encourage men to become teachers. That they are being set up for
false accusations. What do you think?
Editorial - Winter Conference (12/04)
Sign up for a weekend conference
and retreat for men working with children and families: Registration
for Winter 2005. This year's winter retreat is: February 4 -
6, 2005.
See the Don's latest column
about what individual actions you can take.
Editorial - No Touching Children? (11/04)
Should teachers not touch
children? There are some programs that have implented that policy. Read a great
discussion
about how one insurance company now does not allow teachers to touch
children in their classroom.
Editorial - High school boys teaching young children (10/04)
Do you want to get high school
boys to work with young children? Read a letter from a director of
a program making it happen.
Editorial - The Pendulum - A opinion column (9/04)
Read a column by Don Piburn
a teacher from Hawaii about attending a conference with mostly women
and setting goals for diversity.
Editorial - Touching children (9/04)
There is a great discussion
going on at the ECE discussion list about how one insurance
company now does not allow teachers to touch children in their
classroom. The President of National Education Association was quoted
as saying, "Our slogan is Teach, Don't Touch." Join the
discussion.
Editorial - Men teaching all over the world (9/04)
One of the great joys of
offering this website are the hundreds of people I get to connect with
from all over the world.
There are times that a man can
feel a bit isolated doing this work. But, then I get an e-mail from
someone from another country.
Garry Jones, who lives in
Canada, has a website about male teachers
and has been meeting with a group of men to address the issue of men
and also boys.
Attend a conference in
Scotland about male teachers!
Editorial - Need parttime help (8/04)
We're looking for a parttime
person to work in our office ten hours a week. If you know someone,
have them e-mail us. See the
job description.
Editorial - Great discussions (7/04)
Earlier this year, a group of
men had an interesting discussion about how we should approach making
change in our society and institutions about men teaching children. Do
we take a radical stand or do we try to quietly influence. Read the dialogue and
share your opinions.
Editorial - Working with boys (7/04)
This summer I taught a course
with another man for boys called, "Boys Are Awesome!" It was a
fantastic experience. The boys were eight to twelve years old. It was a
week long and it brought back memories of my own childhood when I was
that age.
We did art projects, games and
circles with rituals. We were trying to develop a community of boys led
by two men. There were challenges, but as a group we would discuss the
issues as a community.
Many of the challenges had to do
with boys calling each other names. And the most "insulting" name was
to call another boy a "girl" or "gay." The boys had already learned
that being "male" or avoiding appearing like a girl, was the worst
insult.
What does that tell us about our
attitudes about being female or being male?
Fortunately, with guidance and
discussion, the boys recognized what they were saying was hurtful.
We'll see if a weeklong experience can counteract the lifelong messages
that boys, girls, men and women face every day.
For more about gender issues and
boys read Brian Silverira's
article about boys dressing up.
Editorial - Great e-mails (7/04)
I've been busy traveling all
over the United States but have continued to receive some great
e-mails. A man in Canada has been busy working with a group of men.
Visit his website at www.maleteacher.org
There has also been lots of
discussions about whether we are going to able to make change and how
we will do it. I'll post them as soon as I have a chance to format them.
Editorial - Great online discussion (6/04)
We had a great online discussion
the beginning of June that you can read about it in the archive. There
were more than 200 messages posted from men and women from all over the
world.
Numerous topics were covered.
There were threads of discussion about men working in family child care
programs, how to recruit men, how to retain men. Read the entire archive here.
Editorial - Requests from students (5/04)
I get many requests from men
(and women) who are in college or graduate school looking for
information. They're writing a thesis or paper about men teachers. It's
great to see such interest in this topic.
It's really interesting to read
some of those papers. I just had a request from a man I've been
connecting with in Argentina. He'd like to interview some men who are
teaching children. If you have a paper that you'd like to share with
us, I'd love to share them with others.
I've been noticing that the
topic about men teaching comes and goes in the media, but that interest
continues to grow with students' questions.
Another measure of interest has
been the number of people visiting the MenTeach website. When we first
started more than a year ago, we started with maybe 100 or 200 visits a
month. We now have reached over 3,000 visits per month. And that is unique
visits to MenTeach.
Keep connecting with us and each
other - men (and women) teaching children remains an important issue.
Editorial - Men in Norway (4/04)
I've been e-mailing with a man
who helped start the movement for men teaching in early education in
Norway. He was kind enough to write a short history of their work. I
found it fascinating to see what a group of men can do (with the
support of women of course) to work to increase the number of men
teaching. Read
the article.
Editorial - Men who care for children (3/04)
About 20 men gathered in
northern Minnesota to talk about working with children and families.
There were men who grew up in the United States, Kenya, Mexico, Laos,
and from Bosnia. What did they have in common? We all care about
children and families.
It was a cold winter weekend up
in northern Minnesota. Men had traveled from as far away as Chicago to
get there. It didn't take too long for the men to begin laughing and
joking about changing diapers, working with parents and women teachers.
And, it didn't take long for the
men to share some of the powerful stories about how important they are
to the lives of young children. How children respond to a nurturing man
in their daily lives.
There are others throughout the
world who have figured out how to put together a weekend retreat for
men who work with children and families. It's important to open it up
to teachers, drivers, cooks, principals and professors. Even though we
may be doing different jobs, we all share a common goal of making
children's and parent's lives go better.
For more information on how to
develop your own men who work with children and families retreat, be
certain to read this article.
Or, if you have a story to
share, drop us an e-mail and we'll try to post it.
Guest Editorial - Good-bye to Capt. Kangaroo (2/04)
As a little boy I was a Captain
Kangaroo fan and for the last 20 years I have worked as an early
childhood educator.
It's ironic but a story on a
male child sex abuser was placed just beneath Mr. Keeshan1s obituary in
our local paper. Recent features on Michael Jackson confirm society's
taste for sensationalism and a willing media quick to play to our
greatest fears.
Male early childhood educators
must expend a lot of energy coping with stereotypes that portray us as
potential abusers based solely on our gender. It is appropriate to
minimize danger, thus initial FBI checks and yearly criminal background
checks are required for all licensed childcare workers.
What children require are
nurturing men in all aspects of their lives. Dual income parents know
this as demonstrated by an increasing number of guys in public with
infants strapped to their chests, pushing strollers, or changing
diapers at tables in the men1s restrooms.
What male early childhood
educators know is it would take only a tiny misinterpretation of a
basic nurturing act toward a child for our careers, reputations, lives,
and the lives of our dearest loved ones to be permanently desecrated.
The number of men educating
young children has declined since the 1970`s. The loss of role models
like Fred
Rodgers and Bob Keeshan
is sad, but it begs the larger question: How are we going to do to
replace them?
Editorial - A new year, more men? (1/04)
Every once in a while, I start
to question whether recruiting more men really makes a difference.
After all, we don't want an incompetent male teacher in the classroom
just because he is a man.
I'll visit a classroom and see
how excited the children are to see me - a man. I think that's
important and makes me wonder: Why are the children so excited to see a
man visit their classroom?
And probably more importantly,
where are the men in these childrens' daily lives?
Which leads to the question:
What type of classroom do we want for our children?
If we look at the world, we see
that half the people are women and half are men. Wouldn't the ideal
classroom be representative of the world the children live in. We would
want children to see adults that look like them and have similar
backgrounds as well as people who are different from them.
We need to take action to create
that classroom. We need to challenge stereotypes, increase wages and
status of the teaching profession and we need to recruit men that
represent the children to be teachers.
What do you think we can do to
make that happen?
Editorial - How did I get the job? (12/03)
I am a male teacher in an
elementary school a midwestern state. In fact, I am the only male
elementary teacher in a school district with 10 elementary schools.
How did I get the job? My
children attend the school. I got to know the principal and when there
was an opening she asked if I would be interested in applying. I jumped
at the opportunity and got the job. Before this happened, I had applied
for elementary teaching jobs everywhere. (I have taught high school and
junior high.)
With all the talk about needing
men in the elementary, I found there was no way I was ever going to be
hired. I had a couple token interviews and I never got a elementary
teaching job. Every time I interviewed, I would always follow up on who
was selected. Always a woman and in most cases a woman who had less
experience teaching than I did.
Read
the rest of his letter...
Editorial - Why a young man is becoming a elementary school
teacher (11/03)
We receive many letters from men (and women)
from all over the world asking for information or telling us about
their lives. A 19-year old man is studying to be an elementary school
teacher and he writes
about why he likes teaching and why he began teaching young
children.
Editorial - Ask Beth - Bullying (10/03)
Ask Beth a national syndicated
column about the role male teachers play in dealing with bullying
(Select the 10-7-03 and 12-11-03 columns from popup menu).
Editorial - National Education Association (10/03)
NEA Today National Education Association
(NEA) has a big cover story about men teaching with interviews of men
and women about recruiting and keeping men in teaching.
It's great to see such coverage - but - it's
really shocking that the percentage of men teaching is at a 40-year
low. Less than 9% in elementary grades and 21% overall.
There are programs available to address
the shortage, although they are few. And from all the e-mails I've been
receiving from men looking for teaching jobs - there's a desire to
teach - it's that many schools are not hiring.
Perhaps it takes such a dramatic report about
the problem to help create the political will to make the change. With
a struggling economy and a future with many teachers retiring, more men
will begin to make teaching a career.
Although the numbers are depressing, it's
hopeful and inspiring to read the individual stories and to hear what
men bring to teaching. It really makes me proud to be a teacher and a
man.
Editorial - National Public Radio interview (9/03)
National Public Radio (NPR) did a show
about the shortage of male teachers in elementary schools. You can read
the transcript of the show here. It's an interesting
read - but - the discussion didn't go far enough in explaining the lack
of men teachers. There is another NPR report here.
The main reason offered was low wages.
Although low pay is one of the key reasons why men don't teach, from
our nationwide study, we found three
reasons:
1) Stereotypes - many people believe teaching
is "women's work."
2) Fear of accusations of abuse - some people
fear men will harm young children.
3) Low status and low pay - the work is not
valued by our society.
One additional idea to consider: In a
unionized school district, the pay for elementary and high school
teachers is basically the same, yet, there are a larger percentage of
men in high school (46%) than elementary schools (26%). If low wages
were the only reason or primary reason then the percentages of men
would be the same in elementary school as high school. The younger the
ages of the children, the fewer the men.
Again, low wages is important, but, there are
other occupations that have greater percentages of men than women that
have low pay (e.g. janitors, farm workers).
As long as we consider the teaching and care
of young children as related to women, than the wages and status will
remain low. Men need to place children as a priority in their lives -
and what better way than to make teaching a career.
Editorial - Getting hired is hard to do (8/03)
If more men teach or work in professions
where the majority are women will wages increase? Maybe. There was one
report from the National
Education Association (NEA) that showed that "States with
the highest salaries tend to have the highest proportion of male
teachers."
But, some men are finding it difficult to
even get an interview. A man from New Hampshire e-mailed that he has
all the qualifications, has in fact substituted in the classrooms, but
can't even get interviewed:
"It is getting very disheartening. I had been
subbing at the high school in my hometown on a regular basis since
October 2001. I heard there were three (3) math teacher positions
opening up for the 2002-3 school year. I did not even merit an
interview!
"You would think they would at least
acknowledge my interest and give me a token interview. Elementary
school has been even tougher. If there is such a shortage of men, then
why am I not even getting interviews?"
What do you think? Are you being interviewed?
Hired? Drop us an e-mail: editorial@menteach.org
Editorial - Children benefit (7/03)
Men have been caring for young children for
generations. If a mom had to go to work, a father would watch the
child. Or in the early days of the United States, almost all of those
teaching young children were men. It was only after economics and
socio-demographics changed (women were getting more education and
delaying both marriage and childbirth) that women began to outnumber
men.
And as we see changes in our society, it may
be that we'll see a change again in who is teaching our children. For
the first time in history, more women are entering medical and law
school. We see women going into battle in Iraq. Who will care for the
children?
Let's be clear. It really isn't really the
sex of the person that makes the difference. It's the quality of their
teaching and caring that makes a difference. But as long as the
majority of teachers are women, children will be getting a clear
message, unspoken perhaps, that caring and teaching young children is
not something men do.
Children benefit from having strong, caring,
nurturing men (and women) in their daily lives.
Editorial - A negative approach to the issue (6/03)
I was reading the article
in TIME magazine about men in child care that has a
negative headline: "I Want Your Job, Lady!" The tone of the article
portrays men trying to take "womens' jobs."
First, what is a woman's job? I cannot think
of any work that is women's work. Second, men are looking for
meaningful work, they aren't looking to take someone else's job. Third,
men don't necessarily want to be promoted to administrative jobs (see Paul
Sargent's book) and would rather work directly with people -
but - unfortunately, the pay is higher for administrative jobs.
Finally, pitting men and women against each
other for jobs is a distraction from helping our society achieve the
equity women, men and children desire.
Editorial - Around the world (5/03)
The Australian website provides a variety of
resources and ideas that are helpful to men seeking teaching jobs. They
include the resources as part of their diversity and equity
initiatives. In addition to statistics, there are steps to becoming a
teacher and some scholarship resources. Australia's efforts could be a
good model for other countries.
Diversity and equity in Australia
Across the Tasmen Sea in New Zealand, you'll
find some additional resources about male teachers. There have been
several articles about men teaching along with statistics about the
number of men.
Male teachers in New Zealand
Editorial - Helping children deal with war (12/02)
There are numerous resources now being posted
on the internet about ways to talk with young children about the war in
Iraq.
Resources for children dealing with the effects of war
As the men and women return to the United
States from the war in Iraq, it's important for us to consider home we
can support the children we work with in reuniting with their parents.
We know from the previous Gulf War that there
were some health and emotional issues that surfaced. Anytime men and
women go to war there will be stresses to the family as they return.
Drop us an e-mail and we'll post your ideas and suggestions.
Some additional thoughts (05/03)
Over the years the movie industry has shown
many movies about men being fathers but fewer men being teachers of
young children. Kindergarden
Cop comes to mind as one, another is The Tao of Steve.
Although they challenge some stereotypes, they promote others.
There's a new movie - Daddy Day Care
- starring Eddie Murphy. What do you think? Does it
challenge stereotypes? Does it perpetuate them?
Drop us an e-mail
and we'll post your thoughts.
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