Males at the elementary level fight stereotypes, suspicions

Instead, their greatest challenges are fighting the stereotypes of society and the suspicions of adults - including school administrators and other teachers.

Thirty-five years ago when Dr. Steve Silvern was applying for a teaching position in Maryland, he was discouraged from teaching second grade. The school’s principal tried to sway Silvern to teach sixth grade instead.

“Don’t you realize that parents are going to look at you funny,“ the principal told him.

Despite the principal’s views and comments, Silvern went on to teach second grade for two years - and loved it.

“It was great. The parents thought it was absolutely cool,“ recalls Silvern, now an early childhood education program coordinator and professor at Auburn University. “The only thing that kept me from teaching were the other teachers. The other teachers couldn’t think outside the box - the kids could.“

It’s even tougher for male elementary teachers in today’s society, Silvern said. Men who enter the elementary grades as teachers - especially the early childhood years of preschool to third grade - are often looked upon with perverted suspicion, he said.

Overcoming such prejudices is one of the main reasons why men chose not to become elementary school teachers. “People think there’s something wrong with you, so why would men subject themselves to that,“ Silvern said.

In the 30 years since Silvern has been at Auburn University, there have been only six men enrolled as early childhood education majors. Most male teachers at the elementary school level teach fifth or sixth grades, he said.

The number of male students enrolled at Auburn University in early childhood education or elementary education has historically been low in comparison to female students. In 2000, there were 27 men enrolled in one of the two majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels, according to figures provided by the AU College of Education. This year, a total of nine men were enrolled in those two majors.

But those numbers can be deceiving, because in some instances, the same person could be counted twice.

For example, one of the male students enrolled in the early childhood education undergraduate program graduated this year, then entered graduate school in the same major, Silvern said.

In comparison, the total number of female students enrolled in early childhood education or elementary education at Auburn University in 2007 was 530 and, so far, a 676 women have enrolled in those two majors this year, according to figures provided the college.

Auburn University and the College of Education have stepped up their efforts to recruit a diverse group of students - based on both ethnicity and gender - but there is currently no separate initiative to attract more male early childhood education or elementary education majors, said Dr. Susan Villaume, associate dean for academic affairs at the college.

“I think we do need to make concerted efforts to diversify in terms of students,“ Villaume said. “I think that the males that do go into early childhood education and elementary education are very committed, because they are overcoming stereotypes.“

Lack of male early childhood or elementary education majors in college naturally results in fewer men teaching in public elementary schools.

In the three public school systems in Lee County, male teachers in kindergarten through sixth grades are greatly outnumbered by their female counterparts. In Lee County Schools, for example, there are 32 male elementary school teachers as compared to 348 female teachers.

The issue of relatively few male elementary teachers compared to female teachers is a trend also seen at the national and international levels.

A 2003 survey by the National Education Association found that the number of male elementary teachers in public schools nationwide had dropped to a record-low 9 percent, half of the 18 percent record-high set in 1981. In fact, the NEA survey showed that the number of male teachers - in all grades - was at a 40-year low.

A recent BBC article reported the need for more male elementary school teachers, citing that less than 16 percent of primary school teachers in England were men.

Experts provide several reasons for the lack of men teaching in elementary schools that include the die-hard gender stereotypes, discrimination and the belief that a man cannot support his family on a teacher’s salary.

“People assume that teachers are women, except in the high schools and except for coaches,“ Silvern said, later adding, “You’re certainly not going to attract (male teachers) with the salary.“