Real Men or Real Teachers? : Contradictions in the Lives of Men Elementary School Teachers

by Paul Sargent

Excellent Book

233 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Joe]

As a male who teaches lower elementary grades I thought this would be an interesting read - Is being a "real" man implicitly contradicting my role as a "real" teacher? Through conversations with many male teachers Sargent comes to a few basic understandings: "there are structures and practices that act to obstruct men's entrance into the occupation, there are practices that make men's longevity in the profession problematic, the culture of early education is gendered/feminized, and men are hesitant to speak openly about most of these issues for fear of exacerbating the already oppressive scrutiny under which they must operate." The second half of that last reason seems a bit crazy. It sounds like these guys work at horrible schools that probably also affect women similarly (for different reasons). While I do find the field is very gendered/feminized I don't find it hard to fit in - as long as I do my job and serve my students the female staff appreciates my presence - then again, as a guy in his early 30s I find it hard to fit in with older women in general, so why would that be surprising? I don't teach the same way that women teach, so I would disregard (or, actually, never encounter) any "strong resistance" to trying to teach like a women. And I never personally felt the obstruction to enter the occupation - in fact, I found being a male a bonus because most schools wanted to have more engaged, passionate, caring men on their staff. Overall this book was great to hear other men voice their feelings regarding their roles as early education teachers; however, their voices didn't really resonate with me.