More male teachers could help children on many fronts.

Have you ever wondered why there are so few men teaching in elementary schools? I suspect that most people haven’t. Many probably just believe it is a commonplace and doesn’t need much reflection. If you asked someone, they might respond: “That’s just the way it has always been.”

Traditionally, women have done most of the teaching at these grades. However, this is increasingly being scrutinized, including by many in Maine. Why are there so few men? What societal consequences does it have for our kids? What might be done to change the situation?

According to the Maine Department of Education, only 16 percent of all full-time classroom elementary teachers in 2003-2004 were men. Nationally, according to a 2003 study, only 9 percent were men. How do you explain this?

An obvious reason is that teaching doesn’t pay much compared to other professions. If you get a college degree, you can earn much more money in business or engineering. The average beginning salary in 2003-2004 for a Maine teacher was $25,901, hardly enough to raise a family on.

You can also make good money in jobs that don’t require a degree. Even with the decline in manufacturing jobs in recent years, many men still work in that sector of the economy. If you combine the financial reasons with a strong dose of traditionalism (where the man is supposed to be the primary breadwinner), you have an atmosphere where teaching young kids just doesn’t appeal to many men.

There is another explanation that doesn’t get talked about much, at least in public. It has to do with stereotypes of masculinity. To put it bluntly, teaching just isn’t thought to be very masculine, particularly teaching young kids.

Boys suffer from this. They are not academically doing as well as girls in Maine’s schools based on many categories. For example, they score lower on reading and writing standardized tests and are much more likely to receive special education classes.

Obviously, one cannot say that the educational struggles of boys are directly caused by a lack of male elementary teachers. However, it would be equally misleading to suggest that there is absolutely no relationship between the two either.

Having more male teachers could help alleviate a more fundamental problem: the lack of male mentors for young boys. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in 2004 almost 25 percent of children in Maine were raised in single-mother households.

Boys need male role models that value education. As Bryan Nelson, founder of a Minnesota-based non-profit group which tries to find male teachers, states: “Children are no dummies. When they don’t see any guys, other than the janitor and maybe the principal, they get this message that this is not a place that’s important.”

Boys need to see men who spend their time reading, thinking and communicating the joy of learning to them. If they are not present, countless boys will get lost in school and never get back on track.

Girls also suffer from a lack of male teachers at early grades. They need men in their lives that they can trust and relate to. If their father is absent, a male teacher can help fill that role. There are many organizations that recognize the importance of men on the development of girls. Dads and Daughters is one of them (www.dadsanddaughters.org).

This issue needs more public exposure. There is evidence that this is occurring. The Portland Press Herald recently published a special report that addressed, in part, the scarcity of male teachers in Maine. There have also been recent press reports about this topic in Kansas, Alabama and Utah. There is also a recruitment program called MenTeach (www.menteach.org).

There are men in our own community who are training to become teachers of young kids. Bill Murray of Auburn is one. He is simultaneously pursuing degrees at Central Maine Community College, USM’s L/A College and a K-8 teaching certificate. When he finishes, he hopes to teach in Auburn.

Bill decided to become a teacher for many reasons. He needed a non-physical job because of an ailment he got after long-time employment in manufacturing. He also realized that many teachers were getting close to retirement and positions would open up. A family-friendly schedule would also allow him to spend more time with his young children.

Recently, Bill did some of his field experience at Sherwood Heights Elementary School in Auburn. Along with his mentor, the staff and teachers gave him tremendous support. I asked Bill what he enjoyed most about becoming a teacher. He said “being approached and having that kid say something to you that proves to you that you’ve got that connection.”

How can we get more Bill Murrays? One way is to squarely confront the misconception that teaching young kids is not the work of “real” men. Real men help fix a problem when they see one. All men have to do is open their eyes and begin to make the connection.

Karl Trautman is the chairperson of the department of social sciences at Central Maine Community College. He was a policy analyst with the Michigan Legislature from 1997 to 2001. He can be contacted at [email protected]