When I married my husband, he was in University getting his 5 year teaching degree (here in Canada) and was constantly told how the teaching profession was in dire need of males and what an asset he would be in any workplace. He had dreamed of being a teacher since he was a child, and was gifted in the profession.
But when he got there, he was in for quite a surprise. Often he was one of maybe two-three males on the entire staff, and as the gym teacher, it was soon clear most of the other staff considered gym a waste of time. Three positions in four years proved this seemed to be a pattern. In his last position he was the only male on staff and was frequently called in to deal with difficult boys in everyone else's classes, due to his success rate, and then was soundly criticized by the female teachers for his tactics. But OH his success rate was amazing! He gathered the worst of the worst around him and taught them wonderful lessons, much to the chagrin of the principal, who was merely looking to expel them. He organized a basketball team, and in two years, these boys who had never played, came in first in their League (one is now attending college on a basketball scholarship). But every day my husband would throw up before work because he knew of the barrage of criticism he was facing for championing these boys.
Finally, came the day when he pulled aside two popular, well-off bullies and told them despite their "A" in the class, next year the curriculum would focus on character, and if they didn't radically change their behavior, they would fail - and to take that into account when doing their course selection. Well, they got into an uproar! One boy's parents came in. My husband was ready with journalled instances of their bullying. My husband read the list calmly until the father stood up and kicked my husband in the groin. My husband left the room… The principal told him they would of course press charges, and for him to head home while she took care of everything. Later that week, the school's lawyer called saying that instead of going after the dad, they had a generous severance package for us. We took it, and now my husband sells cars for a living. My husband is a real man, full of strength and character, and really changed lives. And he was chased out of the profession. Who will teach these boys to be men?
R.
