Letters

Time & Date: 6 to 8 p.m. - Oct. 27, 2010

Location: Birth to Three Family Center, 15 Market St., Suite 4, Ipswich, MA 01938-2200

Here's a recent photo of my brother Brett posed next to my brother Jeff's race car and a familiar bumpersticker. Look closely at the car door.

It says: Men Who Change Diapers, Change the World!

Thought you might appreciate the humor.

Kitt Cox

[MenTeach: Send in YOUR photo and we'll post it!]

After changing careers in 2003 to become a teacher, I believed what a lot of people said about finding a job as a teacher in grades K-5. People said that there was a teacher's shortage and with a teaching staff at any elementary school averaging more than 92 percent female, a man with a teaching certificate, a Master's degree in education and a diverse background would have no problem getting interviews.

As I eluded to in my first message, I want to move ahead with a special or thematic issue of the Journal of Men's Studies dealing with men and the teaching profession with a special focus on the early grades (not opposed to other educational levels though). I see the issue consisting of 4-6 peer-reviewed papers and a book review section highlighting recent books dealing with men and the teaching profession. The first order of business then is to identify the GE(s) for this issue.

I have looked a the National Center for Education Statistics site that you suggested, the problem is that it has so many statistics and tables it is hard to navigate through to the specific information one is searching for. Although I could not find exactly what I was looking for I did find some extremely useful data.

I am a few weeks away from my initial thesis submission titled, Understanding the role of male elementary school teachers in the social development of children raised by single-mothers in the Jewish community of Montreal, Canada.

It is a topic that has not received much attention. Sure, there is a concern for why men leave the teaching profession, and why there are so few, but what impact do they have on children in today's contemporary society? This is the area I chose to study as a male elementary school teacher myself.

Here is the abstract:

I am a teacher (12 years) who has taken some time away to complete my PhD.

I am looking at teaching and men and was wondering if you would consider including a link to my website and on-line survey on your site. Please check the site out at : www.teachingmen.com.au

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.

Ian Davis
Griffith Institute for Educational Research

One of our readers, Ricky Lobo, had some more film suggestions.

What do you think? Do you have some favorites?

"Coach Carter" starring Samuel L. Jackson
"Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle pfeiffer
"The Substitute" starring Tom Berenger
"Freedom Writers" starring Hillary Swank
"An Officer and A Gentleman" starring Richard Gere

[MenTeach: We've been asked to remove any identifying information from this article because the teacher - two and a half years later - is having a difficult time securing a job and our article comes up in the search. The hopeful part is that so many parents value and appreciate him. The important part is reading how a single administrator can welcome or reject having men teaching our children.]

I am a teacher that is in this story.

I'm a male principal of one of the largest K-3 buildings in Missouri. I have roughly 1000 students, and 80 teachers. I have 2 male teachers on staff, one in 3rd and one PE teacher. Besides them, myself, I have a male custodian and a male food service worker.

Because of this and my experiences I am interested in the phenomenon of the ever decreasing amount of males interested in the primary elementary. As a part of my doctoral studies in Educational Leadership through the University of Missouri, I am going to study this problem.

I'm Ahmad from Malaysia.

I'm student and majoring in Early Childhood Education. Now I'm working on my Project Paper: Male Teacher Involvement in ECE.

I'm pleased because I get a lot of information from the MenTeach.org website. It is really beneficial and helpful.

TO: Male Educators

FROM: Dr. Sheldon Woods, Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University
Dr. Lemuel W. Watson, Professor and Dean of Education, Northern Illinois University

DATE: June 5, 2009

DEADLINE: September 15, 2009

SUBJECT: Invitation to contribute a Chapter to a Monograph about Men in the Lives of Children

[MenTeach: We receive letters from people and unfortunately can be common. Do you have advice?]

I have a friend of a friend who has a son (25 years old and recently married) who is a day care teacher and has been wrongly accused of something two years after the event. This supposedly happened to a 4 or 5 year old who after driving by a school she used to attend where this person worked, remembered this event.

Can you give me any advice or tell me where to go for help?

[MenTeach: We get many e-mails from readers. Several were upset that there continues to be discrimination. It's more common than people might imagine.]

I was stunned to read the last issue of MenTeach E-News only to find out that a group of 25 parents refused to have a male elementary school teacher.

What if a female, Black, Hispanic, Jew, or Muslim teacher were in the same situation? Can you imagine refusing them a position in a nontraditional field?

Time to get real. Time for a lawsuit.

I work in the field of Early Childhood Education here in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

I thought you might be interested in knowing, we just finished our Manitoba Child Care Association's annual conference here. On the Friday evening there was an awards dinner. The award for Exceptional Early Childhood Educator of the Year was awarded to Terry Bussey.