I am a elementary education major (1-5) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Currently I am a junior and have completed my Praxis I exam. I will be graduating in the Spring of 2010 and simply cannot wait to teach young children. I heard about your organization from the article on msn.com "Percentage of Male Teachers Hits 40-year Low" and being as I am currently in college to become exactly that, I was hoping your organization to could help or assist me.
I had many of the same questions myself, and have encountered some rather rude people who ask me why I would want to teach at the elementary grade level; it's discouraging at times. However, I've wanted to be a teacher and help children and people for a long time. Not only do I realize we lack in the male teachers but I also realize that it can be so beneficial for children to see a successful man teaching at their level.
Recently I taught at Dodson Elementary in New Iberia, Louisiana as part of my requirements for Health 300 where I designed and taught a unit on Drugs, Alcohol and Other Dangerous Drugs. After I taught for the week I had been given, I knew that there was nothing else in the world that I would want to do except teach. It's terribly sad that more males are not going into the lower grade levels.
For me, it was awkward at first going into the Elementary Education major because I was the only male in my classes. People and even some of the teachers would tell me "I know why you picked this major" and give me that little smirk I have grown accustomed to. More or less they were saying I picked my major based on the fact that I would be around all females. Shame on them for telling me this.
Thank you,
Joseph David Nowakowski Jr
GET OUT NOW
Parents want the best education for their children, they just don't want to pay for it and the NEVER WILL. You take a de facto vow of poverty when you decide to make this your living. There is still a glut of teachers in every state in the union unable to find jobs and many are working as Subs. In Florida they make $11 per hour or $55
a day! You will never get the same consideration in hiring as a female as most
principals are females and they feel women are uniquely qualified to be teachers
and you are not.
You spent a lot of money to get that degree, in CA its a five year program to
be a teacher and it just nuts to spend $100K or more to get a job for $32K or
eleven dollars an hour.
This is no joke.