Education Week - March 31, 2021 - 12

By Elizabeth Heubeck
" It takes some degree either of social ignorance or of personal courage
for a man to enter teaching at the elementary school level, " wrote education professor George I. Brown in a
1960 Phi Delta Kappan article about
recruiting more men to the teaching
profession. For a man to teach " is to
spit in the face of a strong societal
stereotype. "
More than 60 years later, these assertions may seem vastly outdated.
But females continue to outnumber
males in K-12 classrooms by about 3
to 1, and stereotyping persists.
" When I started teaching I was
thought of as a lumbering football
coach, " said Nick Schloeder, a 5th
grade teacher at the all-boys Gilman
School in Baltimore, Md., and offensive line coach for Johns Hopkins
University's football team. " They
see a big male teacher. They don't
see him as being sensitive, well-read,
thoughtful. "
Like many male elementary teachers around the nation, 28-year veteran teacher Schloeder has just one
or two male colleagues-a dynamic
he says hasn't changed much over
the years. It also seems to reflect
nationwide numbers. Males made
up 25 percent of all K-12 teachers
during the 1999-2000 school year,
according to the National Center for
Education Statistics; in 2017-18, that
number was 24 percent.
Nevertheless, countless males-
undeterred by stereotypes or minority status-thrive at the head of K-12
classrooms. We caught up with some
of them to find out why they entered
the profession, what it's like to be a
minority in the profession, and what
they think could be done to inspire
more men to join their ranks.
On becoming a teacher

Of the male teachers interviewed
for this article, each found the profession via a different path: a career change, inspiring childhood
role models, Peace Corps, Teach
For America. Few male teachers,
it seems, grow up wanting to be a
teacher. For some, it was the last
thing on their mind.
" When I was going through K-12
education, there's no way on the face
of the earth that I would say that I
would want to be a teacher. My K-12
education was like me serving time, "
said Kenneth Smith, a 20-year vet-

eran teacher of Montgomery Blair
High School in Silver Spring, Md.
Smith, who describes his formative
education as devoid of intellectual
stimulation, says he strives to connect with his students and teach
them to think critically.
Smith began looking for a new
professional direction when his first
job as a research assistant in the
Brooklyn, N.Y., district attorney's
office proved, quite simply, boring.
" I hated what I was doing, sitting behind a computer all day, " Smith said.
Volunteering for Manhattan-based
The Door, a program that supports
high school dropouts, sparked an
interest in teaching for Smith. From
there, he enrolled in the inaugural class of a program at Howard
University that facilitated the path
for Black men to become certified
teachers by offering tuition-free
coursework and teacher certification. " I was in a cohort with a solid
group of Black men, " recalled Smith,
who received the teacher of the year
award for his district from the Washington Post in 2018.
That Howard program has since
ended, but similar initiatives have
followed, including Howard University's Teacher Residency Program,
which focuses on attracting Black
males and is partially funded by the
U.S. Department of Education, according to the school's Dean of Education Dawn Williams.
On being in the minority

That comradery eluded Smith
when he started teaching. Attending a large conference for educators
in the late 1990s as a new teacher,
he became acutely aware of his minority status. " I remember walking
through the halls and realizing that
I didn't see one Black face, let alone
one Black male face, " Smith said.
It wasn't until years later that
Smith began to build a network of
male teachers of color by becoming
an active member of The BOND
Project, a program started by educators within the Montgomery County,
Md., school system to increase and
retain male educators of color.
Smith's early experience reflects
the reality of Black male teachers
in this country, who make up only
2 percent of the nation's teachers,
according to the U.S. Department
of Education. Those low numbers
persist despite research showing
the positive impact that just a single

12 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 31, 2021 | www.edweek.org

Getty

Male Teachers
Share Advice for
Getting More
Men Into the
Profession

Black male teacher can have on a
young student's life.
Bernard Alexander, a second-year
teacher, can relate. " I have kids tell
me, 'You're my first male teacher,
you're my first Black male teacher,' "
said Alexander, who teaches 8th
grade English/language arts at
Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice
Middle School in Hartford, Conn.
" It's never lost on me the impact
I can make, especially as a Black
male. Kids do need that role model, "
Alexander said.
High school biology teacher Bryan
Meeker was struck by the gender
divide during his student-teaching
stint, as the only male on a four-person team. " I had some work I had to
do, not only to show I had value, but
to get to a place where we could collaborate better, " he said. " It can be
isolating. "
Meeker had a far different experience while teaching during a Peace
Corps assignment in Sierra Leone.
" Educators are valued in a different way there. The highest paid
person in the village was the [male]
principal of the high school, " said
Meeker, now employed at Major
Hector P. Garcia M.D., a charter
high school in Chicago.

They see a big
male teacher. They
don't see him as
being sensitive,
well-read,
thoughtful.
NICK SCHLOEDER
5th grade teacher
Gilman School, Baltimore, Md.

Expectation to move into
administration

With the exception of Alexander,
in his second year teaching, every
teacher interviewed for this article
said they've been asked repeatedly
if and when they plan to become administrators.
Although 70 percent of all K-12
educators are women, more than 85
percent of public school superintendents are male, according to AASA,
the School Superintendents Association. But male teachers who've
embraced their profession aren't

necessarily interested in becoming administrators, even if it means
more clout, money, and esteem-
traits traditionally ascribed to male
professionals.
" I've seen what they [i.e., administrators] do. I have very little interest
sitting in an office crunching budget
numbers, " said Meeker. " I would
struggle going to school every day
and not interacting with students. "
Fifth grade teacher Schloeder,
who said he's been asked " about a
hundred times " when he's going to
become an administrator, concurs.
" It's an incredible responsibility to
foster that educational experience, "
he said of his role as an elementary
school teacher.
Recruiting, retaining more male
teachers

Sharing with male adults how
meaningful teaching is could help
attract more males to the profession,
many say. " There are people out
there who are smart and are looking
for [professional] fulfillment, " said
Schloeder.
Others note the value of piquing
males' interest in teaching while
they're young. The BOND Project's
boys' leadership program, aimed
at males of color from 4th grade
through high school, is an example.
" We develop relationships, try to be
the model of what teaching is, " said
Smith, who's actively engaged in the
initiative.
Simply being a constant and passionate male presence in the classroom could also be enough to interest boys in following the footsteps of
their male teachers.
" I would say it's the most rewarding job you can have, " Schloeder
said. " I don't know of many professions where you get such daily gratification. "

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Education Week - March 31, 2021

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