Where are all the Men?

Where are all the men in early childhood education? Not there, that is what. In my experience in both going to elementary school and volunteering in school I have noticed there are not many adult males who will venture into the field of elementary and sometimes middle school education. Teaching is often a job that is associated with women. Women are seen as care givers and are the ones who usually raise the children. Societies usually see the male as "the bread winner" in the families. These are our preconceived notions of gender types in education, but they are really lacking in today's world.

If anything, schools, especially in urban areas, need male teachers. Again, I will use a story from my time with City Year. I was in a classroom with students from various backgrounds. However, most of them were from the rougher parts of town and acted like it in class. When I first came into the classroom I only had the minimal amount of respect a student would give an adult. I had to prove to them I was someone they could trust and respect. I felt like my students and I had a good relationship. They realized I cared about them and in many cases my story could relate to their stories, at least in some way. I realized many times my students, especially my male students, found it difficult to relate to me because I wasn't from the same background as them and also because I was not a male. I was privileged to work with a male teacher though. My teacher may not agree with me, but he provided something those male students needed, a positive male role model. In the kids' eyes, he was cool and intelligent. They knew he was looking out for them and would always remark in passing that they were happy they ended up in his class.

This is just my story, but I feel like it is a universal one in schools. I do believe female teachers can identify with their students and form that connection, I have seen it happen with myself and my other teacher (a female). However, I feel like that initial connection is more easily formed between male students and teachers. In places where there may not be many male role models to provide positive examples in life, some young males may not venture far from the path they were given. It is when students have that positive image in both genders that they can identify themselves into something else than what was given to them.