t is a simple fact about the world that we expect women to be more affectionate than men.  Women can sit closer together, hold hands for a length of time, and hug one another for just about any reason.  And there is a kind of tenderness that we associate more so with women than with men.  I do not how if we could or even should ever get rid of this difference.  But there is difference between women and men that I do not see disappearing no matter what, namely that men are far more vulnerable to the charge of sexual harassment than women.  There is a fascinating discussion of this by forensic psychologist Helen Smith at the blog entitled Dr. Helen: Percentage of Male Teachers Hit 40-Year Low. The blog is a reflection upon a report found at MSN.

Surely one part of the problem is that with good reason we generally associate rape and pedophilia with men rather than women.  But I actually do not think that this gets to the heart of the matter.  After all, theses associations have always been there, perhaps even more so in the past than now.  Yet, the suggestion is that men are more concerned now.  So, other factors have to be at play. 

As I reflect upon my six grade teacher, Mr. Owens, I do not think that there was ever any concern that he might act in an appropriate way towards us.  To this date, I have no sense that anything was ever amiss in his behavior.  But then those were simpler times and boundaries in general were much more well defined.  And this does shed some light on the matter.

We live in a terribly sexualized society.  Just about anything and everything is about sex.  Sex is flaunted nowadays.  Surely, elementary school students nowadays have an awareness about sexuality that I think that far surpasses what I even new existed when I was there age.  This simple truth is relevant because what we think is a possible course of action is very much tied to what, in the first place, the options are seen to be.  In a world in which all sorts of touches are now portrayed as sexual, if only because they are a way of leading to sex, then these forms of touching now stands as precisely the options regarding behavior that are presented to children. 

Against this backdrop, being a male elementary school teacher is rather akin to walking around with a keg of gunpowder on one’s should with a fuse waiting to be lit.  For the most innocent gesture can be interpreted by a child as sexual.  After all, the idea that anything can be about sex is surely one of the messages that society conveys.  At the very least everything is or could be a double entendre.  For an adult, a world full of sexual double entendres is one thing; for a child such a world really is a version of Pandora’s Box.

Child development best takes place against the backdrop of well-defined boundaries.  And it is precisely that backdrop that society has effectively destroyed.  The issue is not whether it is a good thing that we are more open and expressive about sex.  Well, yes.  Still, there is time and a place for everything. 

There is another factor that sheds some light on why men might have great concern about choosing the role of teacher. There are two parts here.  First, when an accusation of sexual impropriety is made nowadays the accused is typically seen as guilty until proven innocent.  The accused experiences what is tantamount to a public smear campaign as one news station after another repeatedly broadcasts the charge.  There is not an ounce of circumspection.  A further consideration is that we now live in a society in which making false charges is frequently seen as form of sadistic amusement and may be encourage by parents for purely malicious motives.  The mere dissatisfaction with a child’s grade might incline a child so to behave.  The idea of advancing one’s station by any means whatsoever is understood in an increasingly more literal sense.  Accordingly, ruining the reputation of a perfectly innocent person is merely seen doing what one has to do in order advance. 

I have given a three-prong account of the social backdrop of the male teacher in first and secondary schools.  Together, they stand as reason for any male to be extremely apprehensive about becoming a male teacher. 

Now, in commenting upon the blog entry, someone named Nicholas had this to say:

I'm a 28 year old male, just beginning a Masters program in Childhood Education, and I assure you, the bias against male teachers begins well before one actually begins teaching. One of the first courses I've been required to take is a Diversity class, and so far, it has been a virtual non-stop tirade against everything that men have ever done in this country. We have basically touched on nothing that would relate to teaching, instead, we focus on how men (particularly white, European men), have apparently been responsible for everything that is wrong in the world. If this is what I, and those like me, have to look forward too, it's no wonder there's such a stunning lack of diversity among teachers.

Ironically, they reinforce in a rather poignant way and at a more general level the point that I have made.  In human behavior, we often see what we looking for.  If whites are portrayed as always racist, then a pause can be seen as an instance of racism on the part of that white person.  By contrast, if blacks are portrayed as always dumb, then the same kind of pause can be seen as a sign that the black person is intellectually bereft.  And if we think that the person is brilliant, then the bespeaks none other than profundity of thought taking place.  Thus, it behooves us to be careful about how we characterize people and ethnic groups. 

In our rash mischaracterizations of people in order to suit our ideology, we often sow seeds of unwanted hostility and suspicion; and then we wonder we wonder how that despicable looking tree ever came into existence.  Alas, the answer is painfully simple: We planted the seed and then watered it aplenty.