Why are there fewer and fewer male teachers? Teacher: Not only is the salary low, the other problem is the main reason

When the son of a friend of

was reading the text aloud in the second grade, he had an obvious female voice tone, which sounded more than graceful, but lacked masculinity, which sounded strange. After some understanding, it turns out that there is almost no male teacher in the lower grades of elementary school, and even the physical education teacher is female. My friend worried that her son’s character formation would be affected, because the father at home was busy with work and few company, but when he arrived at school, they were all female teachers. They would unconsciously imitate the feminine operation in the children's actions. She hoped that the school could add some male teachers.

When the teacher's gender is too singular, it will more or less affect the students' emotional cognition and the diversity of education. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer male teachers in primary and secondary schools. Although this problem has received widespread attention and some improvement measures have been taken, no effective solution has been found. The inability to recruit male teachers has almost become a headache for all primary and secondary school principals. The imbalance of the ratio of male and female teachers not only cannot be improved naturally with the addition of new teachers, but the imbalance is getting worse.

A principal of a primary school in the central region said that in 2017, the county recruited 327 primary and secondary school teachers, and only 41 male teachers, including 23 assigned by the "Special Post Program", and only 18 were actually recruited. There are too few boys as teachers in primary and secondary schools. People feel that the problem lies in the poor treatment of teachers and low wages.

With increasing investment in education, the notion of “ensure that the average salary income of primary and middle school teachers is not lower than the average salary income of local civil servants” has been gradually implemented since January this year. Improving the treatment of teachers and making teachers an enviable profession is not only a key task of the Ministry of Education at the moment, but also a problem in many countries. From preschool education to higher education, women account for 2/3 on average. In countries such as Lithuania and Russia, female teachers account for almost 80%. It seems that low wages are not the main reason for the lack of male teachers. In fact, the real reason is that teachers are a highly gendered profession.

A netizen left a message: I felt a lot after reading your article. I am a male elementary school teacher. Although I took the test with great difficulty, I got bored after working for a year. Being a kid king, living a simple and happy life every day, in fact, from a certain point of view, it is naivety because the social circle is too unsuitable for men. Apart from elementary school students, she is a female teacher. She doesn't like this kind of simple and repetitive work that can be seen at a glance. It is not challenging and has no prospect. As a man, I am afraid that I will retire from the beginning and change jobs after another two years.

A teacher student who has worked for 5 years also expressed a similar sigh: I like children very much, so I did not hesitate to apply for the teacher training when I filled out the college entrance examination. But after working for a few years, I gradually lost my passion. I was so numb to talk with the children every day. I gave all my patience, care and love to the students. When I came home from get off work, I didn’t bother to talk to my family. I felt like saying one more word. Very tired. For boys, there is no sense of accomplishment in the face of a bunch of children's mother-in-laws all day long.

Therefore, there is a shortage of male teachers in primary and secondary schools. We cannot only blame teachers for poor treatment and low wages. There are also some deeper problems that deserve our attention and analysis.

In terms of physiological characteristics, men prefer innovative and challenging jobs. For male teachers, if teaching is not challenging, they just work step by step every day, and explain several knowledge points over and over again day after day, month after month, and year after year, it is easy to cause job burnout.

From the perspective of professional feelings, in ordinary positions, "human soul engineers" are destined to shoulder special responsibilities and missions. It is difficult to stick to this profession with enthusiasm and interest alone.

From the perspective of career prospects, teachers can predict what they will be like when they retire from the beginning of their posts. After decades of simple and repetitive work, not only the income has not changed much, but even the life circle and work circle are unchanged. To put it bluntly, life is too plain, there are no ups and downs, and there is no expectation of paying back. Men have to bear the responsibility of supporting their families. Obviously, this calm job is really not suitable for many men.

All in all, the problem of the imbalance between male and female teachers in primary and secondary schools for many years can not be solved by simply improving the treatment and income of teachers! It also requires a multi-pronged approach and a lot of strength to make the teacher's job prospects and high social status. In Finland, the most desirable occupation for young people is to be a teacher. The level of respect for primary and secondary school teachers even exceeds the totalProfessor of Tonghe University.