Men in schools . . . why we need them and why they leave.

 Good morning,

I watched a video this morning about issues affecting boys in the US.  

https://youtu.be/Qi1oN1icAYc


I realized, as one of the relatively rare male teachers in my schools, I might have been an asset to the boys in my classrooms.  However, there are many real reasons I chose to leave that profession, at least in its current incarnation in public schools.  

Male teachers are encouraged to develop rapport, in the same way as female teachers.  However, when students try to give them a hug they have to back away and put their hands up, try to go for a handshake instead.  When we chaperone things, we have to clearly identify ourselves as such to keep people from trying to protect their children from us.  As a society, I think we've become so scared of pedophiles that we've stopped men from being able to interact in a positive way with youth, at least comfortably.  Every interaction is first measured by a, "could this be taken the wrong way, by anyone" scale, and hoping my lens is the right one for today's society.  I'm 41.   This summer I chaperoned a trip to a water park.  Our T shirts were black and I decided on a wicking travel shirt instead (it was 95 and sunny).  Big mistake - it seemed like everyone with a child looked at me like I was a predator if I wasn't with my students, and even when I was, they seemed to assume I was with my students in a predatory way.

Why are we so scared of adult males?  Well, there are predators.  So instead of figuring out which ones are safe, we treat all males as potential predators.  This is uncomfortable to be on the wrong side of, even as someone who's never had any issues with this in the workplace.  So men leave.  My particular situation had more to do with my family crisis, but this aspect of being a teacher had been a stressor for years.  

https://youtu.be/BnC6IABJXOI

9R's at 9 minutes.  He focuses on our students, and what it takes to help them.  No more blaming teachers or schools for standardized test scores.  Non-cognitive factors: Full belly, safety, perseverance, work ethic, character, getting enough sleep.  Talk about what's happening to our students.  Rigor has replaced relevance.  He pitched home ec as a math credit (measurements) but it wasn't rigorous enough.  

At any rate.  I think the profession of teaching has all sorts of highly qualified, caring folks in it.  But society doesn't seem to value that, or let them use their professional judgement, almost ever.  We are not allowed to say, "I would like to teach about finances" or, "Gee, it would be nice if students knew about their taxes."  Instead, we are beholden to more and more stringent curriculum and have to get more and more creative about the why.  Why do I need to analyze a parabola and find its vertex?  Well, you see, if you do that you can maximize a throw, or a fishing cast, or a launch.  But Tom Brady doesn't check the vertex of his parabola every time he launches a football.  To actually DO something, rarely (if ever) do people consult their knowledge of the parabola or gravity.  The justifications become increasingly far fetched, especially as students become more and more certain of what they'd like to do.  If they've already ruled out engineering, architecture, science . . . why ARE we insisting that they all have algebra II and know all about sine and cosine?


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