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Fewer male teachers, fewer male students – coincidence?
Twenty five per cent of our secondary students do not
graduate and the vast majority of the dropouts are turned-off males.
The girls have been showing their heels to the boys in
languages over the years and now are on a par with the boys in math and
science.
The young women have sure learned the lines from Annie Get
your Gun, “Anything you can do, I can do better. Anything you can be I can be
greater. Sooner or later I’m better than you.”
Lori Gribbon, manager of admissions and liaison services at
the University of Western Ontario, shared some very interesting undergraduate
statistics. There are 10,379 females compared to 8,429 males enrolled at the
university.
The enrollment numbers for law and medicine are
approximately 50-50. The honours business program has men at a 2:1 ratio. The
engineering school numbers show a 6:1 ratio in favour of males. Nursing has
always been more popular with females; sadly little has changed with 625
females and only 30 males.
So why am I worried about our young men? Our young males
need positive role models that they can identify and emulate. Fifty per cent of
marriages end in divorce with mother the primary care giver. We need males to
step up and show leadership in our schools.
Maybe the following figures will help us understand why our
boys are not doing well in school.
The number of men registered in education at Western in 2003
was an abysmal 222 out of a class of 855. Do the math and the women outnumber
the men by a 4:1 ratio.
John Thorpe, superintendent of human resources for the
Thames Valley District School Board,
was very kind to share the following numbers. “In the elementary panel
there are 2,504 females vs. 601 male teachers. The secondary schools traditionally
had more male staff members but this year we have 950 females compared to only
785 males. When you factor in principals and vice principals we still have an
abundance of women – elementary 81 males and 127 females; secondary
approximately 50-50.”
John laments that “we have fewer males going into teacher
training every year, proportionally and in raw numbers, and for both
panels.”
The question is why.
“I don’t think that the role of the teacher has changed,”
John says. “The conditions and priorities
may be different from other times and places but the role to teach, shape,
mould and form kids has not changed.”
We need male role models as portrayed in the movie, To Sir
With Love, starring Sidney Poitier to work with and challenge our young men to
stay in school and do well.
The problem of attracting men to the teaching field is not
unique to the Thames Valley board.
When I was a teacher my male colleagues and I prided
ourselves on being able to challenge young men. The hundreds of great male teachers
the likes of Chris Marcus, Brad Fickling, Tim Orr, Dave Shoebottom and Ted
McTavish did not go into teaching to make a dollar. They simply make a
difference in the lives of their students.
We need parents to encourage their sons to take up the challenge
to enter into teaching. Mom and dad, your educational and career guidance to
your children is paramount to them choosing a career.
Too many of our young men aren’t going anywhere. Could we
males be an endangered species?
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