Aug. 26, 2006 
 

Where are the men?

Poor pay, low status, suspicions are blamed

 

 

BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ

 

Gregg Huddlestone has been teaching kindergartners at Peters Elementary in Plantation for 24 years, enough time to hear all the stereotypes about male teachers who dare to enter the classroom. Not once has he thought of forsaking his students for higher-paying jobs.

''I have always liked to work with children, especially young children,'' says Huddlestone, father of three and a former guidance counselor. ``They're much more moldable and you can get them started on a positive road to liking school.''

Dave Garcia is a former Marine, Peace Corps volunteer and a sheet metal fabricator with undergraduate degrees in sociology and anthropology and a master's in education. He teaches shop to kids at Ferguson High in West Dade.

''The best thing for me is the work environment,'' Garcia says. ``I enjoy working with the students and I'm passing on skills I love.''

Much of Joshua Bullard III's world revolves around the paint-splattered work area of his art room at Homestead Senior High, where this teacher of 34 years instructs aspiring artists on technique and appreciation. He wouldn't trade his career for anything in the world. ''I know I'm making a difference,'' he says. ``I've had kids come back to see me.''

Yet, this kind of genuine satisfaction hasn't translated into more men in the classrooms. In fact, the number of male teachers is at a 40-year low, and experts say poor pay, low status and societal suspicion of men working with kids are to blame.

According to National Education Association research, just 24.9 percent of the nation's 3 million teachers are men and the ratio of males to females in teaching has steadily declined over the last two decades. The numbers are especially dismal in elementary school -- 9 percent are men, down from 18 percent in 1981.

In Dade, 22.5 percent of the 24,160 teachers are men. In Broward, the numbers are similar: 20 percent of the 16,600 classroom teachers are men.

SALARY IS KEY

Salary appears to be the principle obstacle in recruiting men to the profession. States with the highest salaries tend to have the highest proportion of male teachers. Michigan, for instance, is ranked first in the percentage of male teachers, with 37 percent, according to the NEA. It also ranks in the top 5 in teacher pay -- an average of $56,973 according to the NEA. Florida ranks 32, with an average of $41,587.

''There's not the salary to attract them, and there's virtually no prestige, either,'' says Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association. ``Then, even if they do come in, they don't stay. Fifty percent of new teachers leave within five years, and that number is higher for men.''

This is true for Wade Brosz, an eighth-grade American History teacher at Indian Ridge Middle School in Davie. He has taught for five years, but now, recently married and eager to start a family, he is considering leaving the profession and becoming a lawyer.

''I love what I do, but I'm intent on going to law school,'' Brosz says. ``I don't want to have go through the financial struggle. We talk a big game about caring for education, but we don't follow through. Our society isn't putting money where their mouth is.''

Those who do stay in education are often lured into administration by the higher pay. ''It's the only vertical movement in the profession,'' explains Becki Brito, director of instructional staffing for Broward public schools. ``It means more money, more prestige, more control.''

Bryan Nelson, director of MenTeach, a nonprofit clearinghouse for research, education and advocacy, calls this phenomenon the ''glass escalator.'' Many of the men he interviews don't necessarily want to leave the classroom for a downtown office, he adds, but are tempted by the money and encouraged by their bosses.

''People are not comfortable with men working in close proximity to children, and they themselves don't always feel comfortable walking into the break room when it's all women,'' Nelson says. ``So they're encouraged, almost cajoled, to move up.''

LOWLY STATUS

But even increasing pay won't keep men in classrooms. As a female-dominated profession, teaching has long suffered from lowly status.

''We're not seen as a regular career,'' laments Bullard, the art teacher. ``We're looked on as less than, as something people choose because they can't do anything else.''

Male teachers also encounter sexism on the job, though much of it is unintentional. For instance, more men are called on to administer discipline. Some are asked to pitch in for minor repairs or to carry heavy packages.

Few, however, are recruited to go into elementary school teaching in colleges of education.

''There's a feeling that women are more caring and more tender and should be with the younger students,'' says Mohammed Farouk, a professor at the College of Education at Florida International University. ``And, as for men, the belief is that they are better at teaching the subject. But that's really not an accurate description.''

Yet, the stubborn stereotype persists. At FIU, about 300 of the 1,300-plus education students are men, and most expect to teach at the secondary level. What's more, adds Nelson of MenTeach, male teachers often voice fear of being accused of improper conduct. For example, Huddlestone, the Broward kindergarten teacher, says he always leaves the door open or asks another person to be present if he is alone with a student.

''I have to be more careful about being alone with a student,'' he says. ''It's a fact of life.'' His colleagues, particularly those in lower grades, echo that sentiment.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Yet, for all of societal hang-ups, educators -- and parents -- say it's important to include men in the teaching profession. ''You want students to interact with all kinds of teachers and all kinds of people in authority,'' says Walter Secada, professor and chairman of the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami. ``The idea is for students to encounter a diversity of role models. It matters not only to boys but also to girls. It's an unspoken message that counters the stereotypes and helps them later when they encounter something that is not the dominant experience.''

Male teachers in urban settings are particularly important. ''We're often the only male role models the children see,'' adds Bullard.

To attract them into the profession, organizations are recruiting both young men and mid-career professionals. National groups like Call Me Mister, a Clemson University-based program aimed at African Americans, and Troops to Teachers, a program that helps eligible military personnel begin new careers in public schools, target potential candidates by looking in unconventional places.

MAGNETS FOR MEN

In South Florida, local recruiters are also trying innovative ways to attract men. In Broward, the Urban Teacher Academies started in 1999 to work with college students, both male and female, to give them work experience in public schools. High school students, promised a free ride in college in some instances, also take education classes and work with elementary school kids.

In Miami-Dade, Cindy Soell, district director of staff recruitment, has gone looking for young men among UM's football players. ''Not all of them are going into the NFL, so we offer them options,'' she explains. Some of these student-players try their hand at teaching by substituting while still in college.

Another program: the Miami Teaching Fellows. Designed to increase the academic achievement of students by bringing professionals into the classroom, the program allows professionals in other fields to pursue teaching credentials though a school-sponsored, no-cost certification program and attend a summer training institute. The program does not target men per se, and Soell recruits teachers based on district need, not gender. But the fellows program has brought many a male teacher into the fold.

One is John DeFranks, formerly the finance manager for Noven Pharmaceuticals. With a business career under his belt and accounting and MBA degrees to his credit, the 48-year-old will fulfill a lifelong dream when he gets his own classroom at Mays Middle School in South Dade Monday. He'll be teaching math to sixth graders.

His two high school children were surprised by his mid-life career change, but his wife was ''very supportive. She knew this was always something I wanted to do,'' after teaching Sunday school at his church for 17 years and volunteering with Junior Achievement for another 15.

His friends, he adds, are both encouraging and envious. 'People say, `It's great that you're doing what you want.' I've had my management career. Now I want to make a difference.''