this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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there's a reason it's "hard out there" you know (OC) (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I had a teacher point this out to me too by just pointing out the percentage of girls in the class. They call them the lost boy generation because good intentions to get women into paths like STEM resulted in forgetting about investing in the boys.

But also some of us boys need lots of damaging things its not a one size fits all. Not traumatizing stuff but damage is needed for boys. Boys need to be pushed and discipline and we need to break bones and fight and get dirty to become an adult who can go on to teach a new generation how to do those things safely and responsible.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm a stem teacher, and I work hard at trying to get more women into stem.

  1. More women reduce reduce the number of men but simply increase the number of subjects we teach.
  2. More women in stem creates normality and produces more women in stem. When we have open nights women telling women how cool and interesting the subject is excited them.
  3. It increases range and capacity, I have tasks that are designed to interest young men. As I started producing content that also interests women we got better and richer tasks.
  4. In my teaching area we moderate other teachers courses and every single teacher who whines about women in stem have boring single focused programs
  5. Men like courses with women. Especially if those women have similar interests

The no opportunity for males to be exceptional is a dog whistle. Stem is still there for men. There are still high standards.

The problem is a lack of men in teaching roles.

Young men have few, sometimes no, men who act as role models..for example, I get comments from students who love the fact that I have a beard and they like that a teacher is proud to present in one.

Secondly men and women have different skills socialized into them. Guys are better at exams and practical tasks while women are socialized to be better at communicating tasks. As men left education assessments moved from practicals and exams to essays.

Socialized isn't entirely correct it's also a lack of focus on the difference between how young men and women develop in primary years which also leads to skill issues

Anyway ranting on my phone sucks. More women in stem, especially in digital technology and engineering is great, women have ideas, they can solve problems, we should learn why engineering is a sausage festival instead of just assuming that it is because men are more exceptional at engineering than women.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for bothering to rant on your phone despite the fact that it sucks.

I am a middle aged engineering student (undergrad) with two young daughters (6 and 8), so many of the things you refer to are on my mind a lot.

In my country (UK) the number of male teachers/carers is strongly proportional to the age of the student. Nursery staff : predominantly women Primary school staff: maybe a few men as main teachers Secondary school: is it 50/50? or still more like 70/30? (I dunno, it's a long time since I was there, and my kids aren't there yet)

Anyway, it's easy to have young boys, especially if (their father works away, or is otherwise distant from the family), get up to the age of being aware of Andrew Tate with very few male role models.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I don't know about the UK, but my experience in the US was exclusively women in elementary school, 80-90% women in middle school, 60-70% women in high school. I was actually surprised when I first had a male teacher in middle school, I guess I had thought that male teachers was like an old timey / TV / college thing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The problem is a lack of men in teaching roles.

This is something that men will need to step up and do. We need left wing men who'll help them out. And each of us can do what we can to help the boys we know too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I get what you are saying, but we just need men. Socially healthy, well-adjusted men. Especially in early education. Role models matter.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

All true. But because teaching is historically "women's work," it is undervalued and underpaid.

Most teachers I know have at least Master's degrees, yet we're paid less than B.A.s start at in many fields. I took a 20k/year pay cut when I became a teacher, despite having received a Master's degree before entering the field.

Until we value teaching as much as we value other types of work, we're not going to attract large numbers of qualified people, whether they're men or women.