Problem....Solution?

This growing problem that exists in America's education system needs to be changed. There are probably a multitude of ways that it could be fixed but I have an idea that I think will be the most effective in attracting males to the teaching profession. If we offer a little incentive to males who decide to pursue a degree in elementary education, or education in general, this might attract more males. This incentive could be something as simple as a tax break once they have a teaching job. It could also be taken to such measures as helping males pay for the education process of becoming a teacher. Now some of you may be freaking out at the thought that males would be getting preferential treatment from our government. Isn't our governement suppose to treat everyone equal? Well that is true when society treats everyone equal. Unfortunately our society doesn't always treat everyone equal. And the government must step in and promote equailty. The current educational system is not attracting males to the workforce therefore things are not equal. Therefore I beileve the government has the right and the duty to balance that workforce, by any many necessary other than forcing someone to take a job. Incentives are probably the easiest way to get more males attracted to teaching as of right now; however, this could create a compounding effect that will help even more later. The more male teachers there are the more kids will see that it is ok for a male to be a teacher thus bringing some of those kids, the ones that were borderline between becoming a teacher and not, will become teachers. This will greatly help the young boys in this country stay intrested in their education and could help improve our country as a whole.

Real Arguments, Real People

With this blog I wanted to respond to some of the people that have commented on my blog. First off, I want to thank anyone who commented on the blog at all. It means a great deal that you would take time out of your busy day to comment on my blog. Now, for those of you that had constructive comments I would like to thank you. Many of you bring up great things. One of the people who commented on this blog brought up a great point with his question. He asked, "Would if be more beneficial for boys and girls to strictly have teachers of the same sex, or is a mixture just as effective?" It's an interesting question and one I probably should have thought of this before. Given my research, I think a mixture is good. Just like any thing in life, you should try to find a happy medium. What is happening in today's education system is that the number of female teachers far out ways the number of male teachers. This means even the possibility of it being balanced in a male to female ratio is highly unlikely. That is why I am saying we need more male teachers because without this balance male students will generally start to lose interest.
Now like any good blog there is some controversy in my statements. One person has commented that I am overgeneralizing. That teaching style is different from person to person. This is a true statement. They do differ but it doesn't mean that the general rule doesn't apply. There are of course exceptions to every rule. I am not saying that every male teacher teaches in a certain way. But from the research I procured it showed trends. I am sorry if I made it seem that I was speaking for all male and all female teachers I'm not. Trends exist between males and females in everything not just teaching habits. Males and females think completely differently and when it comes to teaching there is a clear trend between gender and teaching method. That doesn't mean I'm being sexist. It doesn't mean I'm oversimplifying. I am simply stating a trend. The truth of the matter is if it was true that gender played no role in teaching strategies then there wouldn't be a need to increase male teachers. But because female teachers are less likely to teach in a way that little boys will comprehend and enjoy, we must increase the number of teachers that do reengage little boys, IE male teachers.

Difference In Teaching

Most of you may read the title and instantly think that I am going to argue that female teachers are bad. Well I am. Female teachers are inherently bad for the young male student. I am not making a claim that men are better than women, I’m simply saying that males need other males. Males and females tend to have a different teaching style then each other. A male teacher is more likely to stuff their lesson plans with more activities while teaching. They are also more likely to change up their lesson routines. Female teachers, on the other hand, have a tendency to put many work sheets in their lesson plans. These differences wouldn’t be a problem except that young boys and young girls learn in different ways. Young boys tend to get bored rather easily and need to different and new things to keep them interested. This is backed up by the research done by Ali Carr-Chellman as she spoke in TEDTalks. (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html) The male teacher’s style of teaching reengages young boys in learning. It is not the female teachers fault, it is simply that males and females learn differently. It is this difference in learning that leads me to believe that it is instrumental to make sure that we increase the number of male teachers that are employed in elementary schools.

Male Teachers in My Own Life

In today's America, I am considered lucky when it comes to my education. In first and second grade, I not only had a male teacher but I had the same male teacher both years. Mr. J, that is not a fake name that is what he actually wanted us to call him after he was no longer our teacher, was perhaps the greatest teacher I ever had. There are others who had a profound impact on me. My fourth grade teacher who taught me how to learn and gave me a friend who is still my best friend to this day. My high school computer science teacher who taught me to love problem solving and really embrase that feeling of helping others. Even my high school JV baseball coach, who I never had as a teacher, taught me many things about baseball and being a man. Yet, none of these individuals would have even had a chance to meet the boy I would become if it was not for Mr. J. I can still remember being in his class while he would strum away on his guitar, and the whole class would sing songs like "Jolly Man". He always had invative and creative ways to learn material that I thought I would never get. He taught us the presidents, in order of their presidency, by creating a tune to go along with words that I still reemeber. "There was George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Madison." i could go on and on until I hit about Glover Cleveland then the tune and the words start to get a little blurry. It is an amazing thing that I after sitting through year after year of having information shoved into my brain that I can still remember this song. How many other people can say they remember something they learned, actually learned, in first or second grade. His methods began to shape me into liking learning and enjoying learning. I remember sitting in his class thinking how cool this guy is. That here is another male who has embrassed this idea of learning. That learning doesn't have to be just boring worksheets and struggled memorization. That we can have fun while learning and in that he made learning fun. (Although I didn't have that exact thought it was more probably like, "Gee, this guy is a hoot." but looking back I can put together the true meaning of that thought.) I honestly believe that this one teacher set me in the direction I needed to go in order to succeed as I have done today. I will not say that having a Male Teacher is the only reason I succeed now and have gone off to college while more and more male students don't make it past high school, if they even reach the end of high school. However, I am an unsure if I will be where I am, without that strong base from that male who showed me that learning can be fun and that learning is for everyone, I could have been just another statstics.

Let My Adversaries Speak

Many different kinds of people have problems with saying anyone, whether it’s the teacher union or the government, should persuade more young males into the world of teaching. In discussions of how we can reengage young boys into learning, a controversial issue is whether or not the introduction of more male teachers will help to solve this growing problem. While some contend that this will not help because in fact female teachers are better for young boys in the long run.  A study done in 2007 (http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/08/24/29099.aspx) refutes that male teacher help young boys and contends that female teachers actually help student in what they believe is the most critical value in determining a young boys likelihood of success, competent reading skills. Still others argue that it’s not the fact that female teachers are better that we should stop imploring men to become teachers, but because of the detrimental effects it would have on women. They use information that was gained in an unbiased research project done by Thomas Dee (http://www.ehow.com/about_5623553_male-versus-female-teachers.html). In this 2006 survey, Thomas Dee’s data showed that young girls do much better with a female teacher and a lot worse when they are being taught by male teachers. Dee points to the fact male and females have different styles of teaching that suit either young boys or young girls in development. My own view is that we need to balance out the number of male teachers and female teachers. In my upcoming blog posts, I will argue against both of these claims made by the other side in this debate.

A Look at the Face of the American Teacher

In a not so recent USA Today article, Greg Toppo discusses the state of the average american teacher and the effect it has on the students. Toppo makes the argument that the typical american teacher needs to change. He claims right now that if the typical american teacher had a face it would be a white, female face. "Men make up only about 10% of elementary school teachers (Toppo)." This is a remarkable low number compared to the roughly half of the teachers that teach in high school are males. Toppo gives many examples of why he believes that males are not becoming teachers. He points out the fact that a less then spectacular salary that teachers receive. A closer look at Toppo's article and you can tell that he is not simply giving out facts. At first glance it appears that way that all the facts are meant to just explain what is going on with the state of teaching. Look a little more in depth at the article and you can tell that Toppo is actually making a claim that this is lack of diversity is a problem and even though much is being done to try and fix the problem that we need to do more. He uses many quotes from people who are making the same stance that more needs to be done to get more men into the classrooms as a teacher. While others claim that enough is being done about the problem with such programs as Teach for America and others, Toppo does not agree and points out all the facts to show us that the problems faced by America's students can be helped with more male teachers.
If you would like to read the article written by Toppo the link is below.
http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/education/articles/20030706.htm

What is the Male Teacher Effect?

TED is an organization that allows people to talk about anything and everything. From how to hack a Wii remote to use as a smart board to a remarkable story of a girl who had a double lung transplant and still sings opera dispite all the complications. The talks are motivating and informative at the same time. They are avaliable on iTunes if you would like to subscribe and I suggest listening to at least a couple. Anyways, a topic two days ago caught my eye. A woman Ali Carr-Chellman gave a speech about how the education needs to take a look at how boys are losing interest in school much earlier. Now me wanting to be a teacher and wanting to really help the guys who see biology as lame or as a waste of their time, this really struck me. One point of hers in particular was that there is a lack of male teachers in the classroom and how this is affecting the boys learning ability and confidence. Also, how the abundance of female teachers and the lack of males effects a young boys drive to learn in the classroom. The Male Teacher Effect is a term I created to describe this phenomena. Over the next posts I will go into what exactly turns an abnormally larger number of boys away from learning then girls and also how a positive male influence in the classroom from an early age can help to improve overall learning of young boys. I will also look at what steps can be taken and what steps are be taken to reengage young boys in learning and become life time learners.