August, 2011

In the woman-dominated industry of pre-school educators, Mr Patrick Magno - who teaches at Kinderland - is a rarity.

But the situation is gradually changing, according to pre-school operators.

NTUC First Campus, which operates more than 90 childcare centres in Singapore, now has seven male pre-school teachers. Three years ago, it had none.

I'm sure that many people can talk about one of those special teachers. Our son had just such a teacher, and his name was Michael Moores at Yuba City High School.

Well, the school I attended was Arboga grammar school. I had reached the seventh grade and there were three of us who felt rather big and we were a bit unruly.

The principal, Gertrude Cable, decided to bring in a male teacher to bring our class under control. In came Mr. George Smith.

Today at the New America Foundation in Washington we held an event on child care policy in the context of the President's recent Race to the Top challenge grant. 170 people RSVPed for the event. 141 watched on the internet. 119 attended in person. However, counting myself, there were only 6 men at the event. 6 men out of 119 attending. That is a stunning statistic. It is also a significant problem for child care as a political issue.

[MenTeach: In 2010, K-12 schools in the United States average about 24% male staff in classrooms. If you want to see where your state ranks download this PDF file that comes from the National Education Association (NEA)]

1) Life is Good: Playmakers in Haiti
2) Singapore: More men entering early education
3) Read some Men's Stories: Gene Brugger, Teacher a St. Rita School for the Deaf
4) Male teachers wary of hugging students
5) Thank you for my male teacher
6) Daddy Daycare Planned in New Zealand
7) The Need for More Men to Be Interested in Child Care Policy
8) Parents welcome men into childcare: 98% now happy to let them work in nurseries
9) Kansas Ranks #1 (with 33.1%) For Most Male Teachers
10) Continuing to go after his dream at 50 years old