Where Did All the Male Teachers Go? France Worries That Boy Students May Be Suffering

[onpatrol98]

Where Did All the Male Teachers Go? France Worries That Boy Students May Be Suffering
By MARIE-ESTELLE PECH / LE FIGARO / WORLDCRUNCH | Time.com

This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in Le Figaro.

There are too many women in English schools, declared British Prime Minister David Cameron. In order to restore authority in the classrooms, Cameron thinks that the presence of male teachers - who can show both "strength and sensibility" - should be reinforced as soon as possible. The idea has been given some thought in France as well.

An advisor close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said "there are too many women teachers" and that the situation should be "more balanced."

"By reforming the whole profession, by offering a better salary, we hope to attract more men to the job," said a source close to the president. "Lots of women become teachers because it's a profession that suits their way of living. They tend to work part-time, which causes many organizational problems. What we want are teachers who are 100% involved, who are better paid but also more present in schools."

http://news.yahoo.com/where-did-male-teachers-france-worries-boy-students-220602675.html

[seabeyond]

1. gender evolved europe, damn good thing no puritan. women weak and unsensible?

not to mention, undevoted.

fuck

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Word salad

C'est Magnifique!

[seabeyond]

20. "strength and sensibility". 100%. so i assume

that they are saying women are not sensible. women are weak. women are not devoted.

i am also preached to by many on du about europe being so evolved. that does not sound very evolved to me. sounds regressive.

[SharonAnn]

2. LIke here, it became a lower paid, lower prestige job. So men left.

[MadHound]

14. Umm, it's always been a low paid job,

Even when there were more men in it. One of the reasons for this is because for decades, teaching was considered a woman's job, and thus underpaid.

Lower prestige, not so much. Despite the constant attacks on teachers, a teacher is still well respected in most communities.

[AngryAmish]

3. I;m a guy and I think it is too dangerous to teach

One accusation of sexual misconduct and you are finished. People will be calling for your castration.

No thanks.

[Blue_Tires]

6. Yeah, I think that is an underlying issue

I used to be a sub teacher (elementary and middle school) a few years back and was absolutely shocked at how few men were in the system from when I was a student (the general shock when I walked in the room was very noticeable)...There was more than one occasion when the only male in the school was the principal/janitor or PE teacher, and sometimes not even then -- And this is a well-funded, well-run school system...

Behind closed doors, some of the full-time teachers agreed that fears of being accused of sexual misconduct played a role, along with the fact that even in a good system, it's still a high-stress, demanding, thankless job...

[MadHound]

15. That's why you carry liability insurance,

And never, ever close the door in your classroom when talking alone with a student of either sex.

[treestar]

4. Who cares what sex a teacher is?

As long as they can teach, so what?

I had teachers of both sexes and so did the boys in my class.

Right wing hand wringing.

[surrealAmerican]

5. For the most part, I agree, but ...

... when all the teachers in their schools has are women, it sends a not-so-subtle message to boys (and girls) that men are not expected to take an interest in children. They need diverse teachers; that's what the issue is here.

[onpatrol98]

7. I agree...

I'm also not sure what to think of a society (ours included) where you're willing to talk salary increases IF it will bring more men into the profession. That speaks volumes to me.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. It makes a difference.

Increasingly, and with some justification, boys see education as something primarily intended for girls.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=440x133

I think single gender classrooms are the most promising strategy. With no girls in the classroom, the boys think they have an equal chance of being a teacher as their peers, regardless of the gender of the teacher. Conversely, the girls realize they can be engineers and scientists.

[treestar]

11. Wasn't that long ago education was thought primary for boys

It was girls who were encouraged to cut it shorter.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. That's true.

But it doesn't change the situation on the ground today.

[Yupster]

9. Boys and girls learn differently

Woman and Man teachers are of course going to teach toward the way they themselves learn most effectiovely, whether they realize it or not.

Also boys need role models, especially if they live in inner city communities where there are few dads around. If a boy growing up has never had a dad, his neighbors haven't either and now they go to school every day and the only man tye see are the custodians, you just have to know that's not good.

[treestar]

10. Women survived

Really nowadays, with the TV and media so pervasive, it's hard to believe boys think they can't be anything. Or girls. And girls were the ones that were disadvantaged.

[MadHound]

16. Kids, whether boys or girls, need real, live role models, not TV. n/t

[treestar]

18. Teachers aren't the only ones

And I am talking about the media, too and about life in general. It would be absurd for a child to know only his/her own experience - the experience of others is out there. Also books. Surely no child today must think he or she is limited.

[seabeyond]

24. wrong place. sorry. nt

[Exultant Democracy]

17. Unfortunately for all of us young disaffected males will be far more dangerous than

young disaffected women ever were.

I personally don't have the solution but it should be addressed. However the women's movement is very understandable on a war footing and I don't think that the fact that they won and it has yet to filter through the system has hit them yet. But one look at the college and higschool graduation numbers tells us that women in their twenties and younger are going to have far more advantages in our modern economy over their male counterparts.

[lumberjack_jeff]

22. "thinking they can be anything" isn't the problem.

Boys are full of aspirations and fantasies, but the education system craps them into the world without the skills to realize them.

[MadHound]

13. Because a young boy needs a male role model to look up to,

Because young boys and young men need a guy to just talk to sometimes. Because there are times when a male is simply more appropriate.

This isn't right wing hand wringing, this is simply a fact.

[treestar]

19. So why does it have to be a teacher?

And why does this boy need male role models and why can't this boy learn from successful women?

If the only doctor the boy knows is a women, why isn't she a role model for becoming a doctor?

Both sexes do things these days. Kids are not too stupid to see that.

[FreeState]

23. I've heard this argument before

It fails here just as much as it does with trying to keep gays from adopting. There is zero science to back it up.

[Pithlet]

28. Yep. Look at the sources.

Pretty typical.

[seabeyond]

25. from my and the boys experience, i like the idea of male teachers.

i think it is good my boys had to learn how to deal with, interact with, talk to the female teachers, but i liked them having male teachers, too. i think it is good for the girls to have to deal with, interact with and talk to male teachers. my son had his first substitute male teacher in the fifth grade. i can remember having a specific conversation if the male teacher felt different in his teaching. we couldnt come up with anything concrete, but it was fun having the unusual male teacher. as the years progresses, they get more male teachers. now in high school about 50/50.

my boys were not deprived in their early learning having only female teachers. they are not learning more having male teachers.

i dont buy the "afraid of sexual charges"
i am ok with increase pay to attract male teachers as long as it is equal increase for both male and female teachers. i have heard and read a movement increasing only male pay to attract men teachers. wrong.

[Odin2005]

26. We need more make elementary school teachers here in the US.

Maybe we would not have so many boys being needlessly drugged for ADHD they don't have just because they are acting like boys if we have more teachers that were once boys themselves.

[Pithlet]

27. Hmmm. Le Figaro. And I should care what David Cameron thinks.

Right.

[Codeine]

29. As a man I would never place myself in that position.

One disgruntled student making a false accusation and your life is ruined, instantly and - all too often - irrevocably.

[Darth_Kitten]

30. It's always blame the females, eh?

:sarcasm: