Comments on: Why are my daughter’s teachers all women?

By: QueenBee

QueenBee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:47:47 +0000

Teachers don’t make enough. The only reason my husband can teach is that I have a very high paying job - high enough to afford child care - which is astronomical. And, unfortunately, women making that much money are the exception rather than the rule. I have to admit that I very proud that I am able to help keep a male teacher in the classroom. My husband teaches a lot of teen boys that don’t have a father figure and is also a coach, and I can’t count the number of families we have run into at the grocery store that have just gone on and on about how he changed their lives. I’m glad that in my small way I can help make that happen.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:29:20 +0000

My daughters have male and female teachers at their school (although still predominantly female) - I think their individual abilities are more dependent on the person than the gender.

I have a number of (female) friends who are teachers and they are all mothers as well, they say teaching works well for them in terms of having similar working hours to their children’s school hours and getting the same holidays as their own children.

Interestingly in my university faculty the majority of professors were female - what was my faculty? Education.

By: Avi Spivack

Avi Spivack — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:26:01 +0000

Thank you for these comments - it’s great to know that there are some male teachers out there. And so I guess the question comes back to pay - why are women willing to accept these lower-paying jobs while most men will not?

By: Anji

Anji — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:34:33 +0000

A lot of it is to do with the fact that teaching is a low-paid profession. The careers with the lowest salaries are disproportionately seen as “women’s work” (teacher, cleaner, secretary, receptionist).

By: Daisy

Daisy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:31:38 +0000

I teach, and I’ve been able to work with several male teachers. I’ve always enjoyed them, and I see how kids benefit from having both male and female role models. Pay is one issue, certainly in preschool more than any other level. As our society gets more comfortable with pay equity, perhaps the gender inequity in this field will even out.

By: Lylah

Lylah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:12:46 +0000

My preschool daughter has a male teacher, and he is just fantastic. The kids (and toddlers — it’s a preschool and a daycare) respond so well to him, my toddler son recognizes his car in the school parking lot and runs to him as soon as we get in the building. …

I think men can be good teachers (yes, even at the preschool stage) for they same reason they can be good parents — many of the qualities you look for in a teacher are similar, after all, aren’t they?

By: Veronica

Veronica — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:22:43 +0000

My daughter has a man and she’s in pre-school and he’s great. As this is often the refrain in “Boys Crisis” articles, I have to say that I think that women have always been tuned to teaching as it was always seen one of the few things women could do besides nursing & being a secretary. Thus historically (althou I haven’t been able to find the stats) I think it’s safe to say that women far out number men in PK-6 classrooms. Once classes get sorted out into science, math, history, etc…men get into the picture. At least that’s how my education went. Maybe women are just better at teaching a wide range of topics? I dunno…but I do have to say that I do wish more men were teachers.

BTW - My best teachers were equally men and women.