From the Comments: The Perils of Teaching While Male
Submitted by Boys and Schools Blog
Well, our house has been attacked by the flu/cold bug from hell, and I’m feeling as wonderfully frazzled as you would if you had a houseful of sick people and just spent a chunk of your day taking three children under the age of 5 to the doctor. What kills me about toddler boys and colds (having had no personal experience of toddler girls as of yet, I don’t know whether the same applies to them–I let you know once infant Gigi gets bigger) is that no matter how poorly they’re feeling, they still have a freakish amount of active energy. So I still have this little bundle of flu running and jumping around the living room and trying to climb the furniture–only now he’s more cranky than usual about it.
It has been a long day.
Today, I wanted to bring a little attention to a new comment that got added to the blog this weekend. Unfortunately, the entry being commented on is so far back that I don’t think many people will see it, and it certainly deserves some attention. The topic of the blog was the lack of male teachers, especially in elementary settings. Here is what the guest wrote:
As a former male teacher I can assure you that, not only the obvious problems that were pointed out a real concern, but there are a number of female students that know exactly what kind of “power” they have.
At one point I was tutoring a high school aged female student and she was having a difficult time comprehending biology. She wasn’t going to pass the class unless she passed the final, and I was in charge of giving her the final “one on one” because she was diagnosed with ADD. As I read the questions to her, which were multiple choice, she would answer out loud before writing the answer looking for some type of facial reaction or expression from me. She finally came out and asked for the answer telling me that it was “in my best interest to help her out.” The look from her that followed that statement was pure evil…she was implying something that is every male teachers worst nightmare. Just to be sure, I asked her what she meant by that statement, and she looked me right straight in my eyes and said “you know I could ruin you for life, don’t you”?
I was told later by my teenage niece that it was common knowledge that girls realize the power that they have with males in the public school system. She did attempt to accuse me of sexual harrassment but, unfortunately for her, she had tried it before and a pattern had surfaced, but the damage had been done. I was told it would be in my best interest to “resign immediately.” She won, and I will never go back to teaching again.
I know that some people would like to say that young children don’t know about the use of false accusations as a way to stir trouble and make problems for adults. Unfortunately, there’s a pretty long and sad history to the false accusation by children and young adults. In this country, it probably goes back as far as, oh, the Salem witch trials at least. In any case, the poster bears out my main point about the chilling effect that suspicion of men has on male teachers in general–a truly regrettable thing, especially for boys who could use the example and mentorship.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Have a health issue you want to discuss or just a general issue regarding children? Register on Children's Health Blog now and get published within minutes. Before posting, it is recommended that you review our posting guidelines.
