One thing I’m seeing a lot of as I begin my education classes is women. Most of my classes are female dominated. Where are the men? Though Geneseo is known to have a higher women to men ratio, I think my education classes exaggerate that difference. The exact female to male ratio is 57:43 (http://www.geneseo.edu/about/fast-facts). In education classes, it’s more like 80:20 (this is just an estimate).
Why do fewer men pursue education careers than women? In the past, teaching has almost always been a “female” profession. Teaching could be considered to be in the field of “childcare” which women have been prescribed with in the past. The fact it has been labeled as such irks me. Men can teach just as well as women can. Some of my favorite teachers in high school were men.
That being said, I’m glad that some men at least are pursuing careers in education, and I welcome more men to break down that barrier and join the field of education.