In his book The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things, Barry Glassner discusses how Americans have become unnecessarily fearful of many things, thanks in good part to opportunistic politicians, single-minded advocacy groups, sensationalist news media, "news magazine" programming and so on.

As an individual walks through the halls of an elementary school more often than not they will observe only female teachers. One may ask are there any males in this profession? If so where are they? Gender roles have changed in the United States, yet there are still very few male teachers in the classroom especially at the elementary level.

We read numerous articles about gender bias. Our focus at MenTeach.org is primarily about challenging stereotypes and bias that men face in education. And we know this is important work.

We also think it's important to challenge any and all gender stereotypes and bias. If we allow stereotypes about women - our co-workers/teachers - then we are perpetuating the entire system of sexism. And ironically, it will hurt us.

There's a new book coming out in January 2010. The author, Richard Whitmire, talks about male teachers in one of his chapters:

MenTeach: A few readers have asked how much web traffic does our site have. MenTeach.org has been around since April 2002. We've had one revision of our site back starting February 2007. You'll see below that we've had over 2.4 millions hits in the last two years. The software that tracks our site traffic screens out the spambots (as best it can).

The key is that the site continues to grow in popularity.

Beginning February 2007
Unique Hits = 19,295
Number of Visits = 32,302
Number of Hits = 660,715

Expect Male Involvement: Recruiting & Retaining Men in Early Childhood Education

An exciting and effective DVD about men in the lives of children is now available for purchase. It's already been shown in Georgia, Canada and will soon be shown in Ireland. A great video about the importance of men in the lives of children.

An MSN article notes that male teachers continue to take a nosedive:

Male early childhood (EC) educators face stereotypes that portray us as potential child abusers on a daily basis. Clearly, children must be protected from child abusers, yet a principle reason many men give for not entering or staying in the field of early childhood education (ECE) is fear of being accused of harming young children (Nelson, 2002). Only at their own peril do many male EC educators offer "the intimate pats, back rubs, caresses and leisurely holding on laps and in arms that little ones need" (Honig, 2005).

Every day we see more and more stories about men teaching - the attention to this topic is hopeful and we believe an indication of the interest.

Both the posting of the article to ABCNews.com and the Good Morning America segment generate more than 30,000 hits in one day to the MenTeach.org website! We've been watching the comment section of their site and have read many stories.

Here is one comment:

If you're like many of those associated with MenTeach, you've probably surprised many different people in many situations with your "Men who change diapers change the world" bumperstickers.



Kitt Cox got T. Berry Brazelton, the famous pediatrician to pose with a bumper sticker.

PATRICK Cunningham taught my youngest son a decade ago in first and second grade at the Cambridgeport School in Cambridge. Now 59, he still teaches the same grades at the same school, one of the relatively few men in the nation working with children so young. In 27 years of preschool and early elementary teaching, he has felt none of the cultural pressures that stop men from even thinking about such a career. more stories like this

There is a small, but slowly growing body of evidence about the importance of men teachers.

In one study, we find that boys do better in reading if they have a male teacher.

In another study in the United Kingdom, "finds that three-quarters (76 per cent) of boys aged eight to 11 are in favour of schools having teachers of both genders."

MenTeach receives e-mails and comments from readers expressing their frustration about not being able to find a teacher job. This can definitely be a very frustrating experience. There are several issues that feed this seemingly contradictory problem - few men teachers and many schools saying they want more male teachers but men are not being hired.

I've arrived in Honolulu, HI for the first World Conference for men in early childhood education. It's been over five years in the planning and it's amazing to think it will be happening starting on Tuesday.

[MenTeach: We like to read what is out there and found this teacher's comments. Do you have any thoughts about his situation? Is it similar to your situation?]