There is actually quite a bit of prejudice against hiring male teachers in the lower grades (k-6) and an almost unbreakable wall in the daycare / pre-k settings. The schools are very worried about lawsuits. Plus, many parent in daycare don't want males changing their daughters, but are fine with females changing their sons.
// yes, I worked in the area and had a buddy who ran a center
The problem isn't so much about finding them than it is about retaining them. Male teachers tend to leave the profession before the end of their 20
s. Some start in their semi-retirement days, but that's quite rare.
First, isn't the article about higher education, most professors are male.
Second, is that really a problem? Honestly so much of the world is becoming if you can't physically see someone similar to you doing something you are disadvantaged. Do you really need to see a male teaching a subject for you to press yourself to do your best?
I had primarily women teachers too, probably everyone did. It didn't do anything positive or negative to me. If you can not drive yourself, you are going to be at a significant disadvantage when you move on to the working world.
No, because she immediately points to scientific studies backing up her statements. Facts can't really be sexist, so if there is a problem with the statement, then we need to determine why the study is invalid.
It appears anything that is pro-boys is immediately seen as "anti-girls" which shouldn't be the case. If we want true equality we need to have equal opportunities but be aware that gender has different methods, motivations, and desires.
"Young men in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada have also fallen behind. But in stark contrast to the United States, these countries are energetically, even desperately, looking for ways to help boys improve. Why? They view widespread male underachievement as a national threat: A country with too many languishing males risks losing its economic edge."
As an American, I may be unplugged from many of these happenings, but I feel like this is a stark difference between America and other countries. We seem to have a laissez-faire attitude that "If there's a problem, and a deadline for the problem, someone will just magically figure it out at the last second." And we often attribute that someone to the free market. On a broader note, as with any issue people seem to have significant worries about, what is a good way to actually begin solving it, assuming this general American attitude? I honestly don't know.
I'm not certain we attribute "that someone" with the free market in many cases. Education is quite solidly considered the purview of the federal and state governments these days, which I think contributes to that last second feeling.
When an opportunity for work appears in the free market, there is quite often a surge of responses. I hope it doesn't come across as cynical, but, I think often when there's an opportunity for work in the public market, there's quite often a surge of analysis and discussion and waiting until a response has to be given.
The author seems to call for a very American solution: lobbying... but I think all it takes is for teachers to be willing to test new practices. See for instance this TEDx talk on reengaging boys in learning through gaming: http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_enga...
"Officials at schools at or near the tipping point are helplessly watching as their campuses become like boy clubs, with a surfeit of men competing for a handful of surviving women. Henry Broaddus, dean of admissions at William and Mary, explains the new anxiety: “[M]en who enroll … expect to see women on campus. It’s not the College of William and William; it’s the College of William and Mary.”
Just me who feel that it is slightly offensive and paint a picture of women as sex objects? I wonder how they were allowed to print it without massive outcry.
One response is to get offended. Another response is to realize that college is as much a social exercise as it is an academic one. Men expect there to be women on campus, women expect there to be men on campus (even at an all women's college, as I found out by dating one at Wellesley).
Ultimately students are customers of a service. The service that universities provide is part academic, part social.
Wow you actually quoted it and changed it around but didn't say explicitly what you were doing and didn't make it clear where you made changes. I think you were trying to make a point, but the way you did it is wrong. The original text I had no problem with.
I know I blew right by those sentences in their original form, and was quite alert to them in your comment.
I wonder if the decades of girls being encouraged to go to college and get their "MRS Degree" still plays into how readers reacted to the original text.
Or if a lifetime of education with a feminism critique viewpoint encourages sensitivity to statements colored with male chauvinism but not with female chauvinism.
It's interesting how flipping the gender provides a different emotional reaction. It reminds me entirely of the rapid sorting test in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. You are given two categories, such as (White or Good) and (Black or Bad) and sort things on the two axes (face color and goodness). Apparently, people (all colors alike) do far better with the categories as I outlined than if you flipped good and bad, and put white with bad and black with good. Essentially, these stereotypes (white is good, men compete for women as if they are prizes, etc), become a part of everyone. Innately.
I'm curious, if you wanted to make a similar point as the article, but imply that coeducational studies are more productive, how would you do so?
It is an objective fact that 18 year old people, men or women, are highly interested and motivated by dating and sex. If you are trying to sell them an immensely expensive and time-consuming service (college), you better take that into account or you will go out of business. That's what that quote is about. Your switch is just as true (and no more or less offensive) than the original.
I suspect(I could be very wrong) that a lot of people do the majority of their dating & find their spouses in college, so the dating prospects are almost as important as the quality of education. Just like how nightclubs reduce admission or drink prices for ladies; thus drawing more ladies and of course the boys follow... college is, wether they like it or not, is the main place to "hook up". It's just statistically higher quality than the random person at the bar/nightclub.
The biggest difference is that boys are about DOING and girls are about TALKING. That's not about just schools, but the last 400 years of men's and women's role on society.
Boys don't typically learn by talking, they learn by pulling things apart and doing skills. In addition, because of all the push to "score" children, we've taken away the basic "boy" traits almost entirely.
When I was in elementary school it went form 9am to 3pm with sn hour of recess AND half hour of lunch. There was plenty of time for boys to wiggle and make noise and stuff. My kids current schools were from 8am to 3:30pm with about 45 minutes between one recess and lunch/recess. That's more "chair time" than most office workers are expected in a workday. All the "hands on" things have been removed for cost... Art, music, shop, gym are all drastically scaled back to maybe one of each one time a week if at all. School is strictly "listen and repeat" and MOST boys in history don't learn that way. As modern skills like computers, machining, manufacturing,etc require equipment folks just don't have at home, most boys never have a shot at the typical "boy jobs" until they are 16 and go to a career center or go to college or start working.
As a person who attended a Title 1 high school, I saw a lot guys who came from single parent homes get kicked out after freshman year. I mean a lot them didn't understand the concept of not talking, but at times I felt like a lot teachers where just out to get them.
Okay, I was willing to read this and keep an open mind. But then I got to the fourth paragraph and saw this:
" Officials at schools ... are helplessly watching as their campuses become like retirement villages, with a surfeit of women competing for a handful of surviving men."
Is the argument here that women only go to college compete for men? And that colleges with more women are "retirement villages" because there aren't enough young men to hook up with?
That might be an extreme interpretation but I don't see it as unlikely that romantic possibilities are a factor for college aged people when choosing a place to spend several years of their lives.
Somewhere with a healthy gender mix feel more inviting overall than somewhere with a "bro club" atmosphere (or the opposite of that).
> Is the argument here that women only go to college compete for men?
It doesn't have to mean only. It's not unreasonable to expect that men and women, in the late teens and early twenties, would want to go to college to find people to date. Since when it college just about academics?
Given two colleges, one with a healthy balance of genders and one without, I would except most people would rather go to the healthy-balance college.
Do you really think 18 year olds (male or female) don't take the social scene into account when deciding which college to attend?
In business you have to know your customers. If you're selling to 18 year olds, you can't ignore dating and sex. Especially if you're asking them to spend most of 4 years of their lives and $100,000.
The school I go to is ~75% male and I've overheard women complaining several times about how they wish there were more girls for them to hang out with. I hear pretty much the same thing from the guys, but that is to be expected. Overall, I think most students would prefer a college to have nearly equal amounts of each gender and any imbalance will cause complaints.
[+] [-] throwaway344|12 years ago|reply
Have male teachers.
An incredible 84% of teachers are female. [1] This has led to a dearth of male role models in schol for all the guys there.
I have 1 male teacher. (I'm in high school) And he's the computer teacher, a stereotypical male field.
[1] http://www.edweek.org/media/pot2011final-blog.pdf
[+] [-] protomyth|12 years ago|reply
// yes, I worked in the area and had a buddy who ran a center
[+] [-] hack_edu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mhurron|12 years ago|reply
Second, is that really a problem? Honestly so much of the world is becoming if you can't physically see someone similar to you doing something you are disadvantaged. Do you really need to see a male teaching a subject for you to press yourself to do your best?
I had primarily women teachers too, probably everyone did. It didn't do anything positive or negative to me. If you can not drive yourself, you are going to be at a significant disadvantage when you move on to the working world.
[+] [-] pingou|12 years ago|reply
Fortunately it was a woman who made that statement, it would have been sexist otherwise, right?
[+] [-] cobrausn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DamnYuppie|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adt2bt|12 years ago|reply
As an American, I may be unplugged from many of these happenings, but I feel like this is a stark difference between America and other countries. We seem to have a laissez-faire attitude that "If there's a problem, and a deadline for the problem, someone will just magically figure it out at the last second." And we often attribute that someone to the free market. On a broader note, as with any issue people seem to have significant worries about, what is a good way to actually begin solving it, assuming this general American attitude? I honestly don't know.
[+] [-] mattlutze|12 years ago|reply
When an opportunity for work appears in the free market, there is quite often a surge of responses. I hope it doesn't come across as cynical, but, I think often when there's an opportunity for work in the public market, there's quite often a surge of analysis and discussion and waiting until a response has to be given.
[+] [-] abracar|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gz5|12 years ago|reply
Because votes can be won in the US on girls education but not on boys education. For now. Agree there will be a tipping point.
Outside of politics, all US education needs to be addressed, independent of any segmentation.
[+] [-] belorn|12 years ago|reply
Just me who feel that it is slightly offensive and paint a picture of women as sex objects? I wonder how they were allowed to print it without massive outcry.
[+] [-] dlokshin|12 years ago|reply
Ultimately students are customers of a service. The service that universities provide is part academic, part social.
[+] [-] methehack|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattlutze|12 years ago|reply
I wonder if the decades of girls being encouraged to go to college and get their "MRS Degree" still plays into how readers reacted to the original text.
Or if a lifetime of education with a feminism critique viewpoint encourages sensitivity to statements colored with male chauvinism but not with female chauvinism.
Thanks for that.
[+] [-] adt2bt|12 years ago|reply
I'm curious, if you wanted to make a similar point as the article, but imply that coeducational studies are more productive, how would you do so?
[+] [-] snowwrestler|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smtddr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mhurron|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jules|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mabhatter|12 years ago|reply
Boys don't typically learn by talking, they learn by pulling things apart and doing skills. In addition, because of all the push to "score" children, we've taken away the basic "boy" traits almost entirely.
When I was in elementary school it went form 9am to 3pm with sn hour of recess AND half hour of lunch. There was plenty of time for boys to wiggle and make noise and stuff. My kids current schools were from 8am to 3:30pm with about 45 minutes between one recess and lunch/recess. That's more "chair time" than most office workers are expected in a workday. All the "hands on" things have been removed for cost... Art, music, shop, gym are all drastically scaled back to maybe one of each one time a week if at all. School is strictly "listen and repeat" and MOST boys in history don't learn that way. As modern skills like computers, machining, manufacturing,etc require equipment folks just don't have at home, most boys never have a shot at the typical "boy jobs" until they are 16 and go to a career center or go to college or start working.
[+] [-] jskonhovd|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] d0m|12 years ago|reply
Make them run more, damnit.
[+] [-] russelluresti|12 years ago|reply
" Officials at schools ... are helplessly watching as their campuses become like retirement villages, with a surfeit of women competing for a handful of surviving men."
Is the argument here that women only go to college compete for men? And that colleges with more women are "retirement villages" because there aren't enough young men to hook up with?
Yep, done with this article.
[+] [-] jiggy2011|12 years ago|reply
Somewhere with a healthy gender mix feel more inviting overall than somewhere with a "bro club" atmosphere (or the opposite of that).
[+] [-] wvenable|12 years ago|reply
It doesn't have to mean only. It's not unreasonable to expect that men and women, in the late teens and early twenties, would want to go to college to find people to date. Since when it college just about academics?
Given two colleges, one with a healthy balance of genders and one without, I would except most people would rather go to the healthy-balance college.
[+] [-] snowwrestler|12 years ago|reply
In business you have to know your customers. If you're selling to 18 year olds, you can't ignore dating and sex. Especially if you're asking them to spend most of 4 years of their lives and $100,000.
[+] [-] TwiztidK|12 years ago|reply
The school I go to is ~75% male and I've overheard women complaining several times about how they wish there were more girls for them to hang out with. I hear pretty much the same thing from the guys, but that is to be expected. Overall, I think most students would prefer a college to have nearly equal amounts of each gender and any imbalance will cause complaints.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]