Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403160002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
IT'S Friday at Raleigh Court Elementary School and the fourth-graders in Jeff Hicks' class are getting ready to take a spelling test.
"Your first word is catastrophe," Hicks says. "The earthquake was a `catastrophe.' Catastrophe."
The children, like the guests on the popular game show "Jeopardy," scribble the word with their thick grade-school pencils.
"Soften," continues Hicks. "Remember what we've learned about the "F-T" sounds. Soften."
And so it goes. The children complete the test, turn in their papers and go on to the next activity for the day.
This seems like an ordinary scene, and in most respects it is.
The difference however, is the teacher.
As a man, Jeff Hicks represents only 10.8 percent of elementary classroom teachers in Roanoke city.
Why?
The most obvious reason men are a minority in teaching, says Rob Jones, president of the Virginia Education Association, has to do with money. In 1992, Virginia salaries were ranked 27th overall in the United States. Virginia is 46th in the nation in percentage of male teachers. That is a "strong correlation," says Jones.
"A lot of people still think of the man as the primary breadwinner," says Chris Walter, a fourth-grade teacher at Christiansburg Elementary School in Montgomery County. "If you're single, the salary is fine, but if you're not it can cause a problem."
Hicks, who is single, says he can manage OK, but his colleague Joe Rogers, who has taught music to grade-schoolers for 34 years, is the only breadwinner. In order to pursue this career he has had to take on two extra jobs to make ends meet. He works at his church and gives private music lessons, but teaching, he says, is his true love.
"You'd be surprised how many men and ladies moonlight," he said. "But it is worth it. I dearly love what I am doing. Any teacher that works for just the money is not in the right job."
Nick Varney, who teaches the fifth grade at Back Creek Elementary near Bent Mountain, believes that negative stigmas - not salaries - are the primary reason men avoid elementary school teaching.
"I think it's an ego thing,'' he said, "because teaching pays the same no matter what grade you teach. Society may not think as highly of me as they would a high school teacher. And they also may think higher of a college professor [where the pay is much higher] than a high school teacher."
It's like a pecking order, as far as teaching goes, he says.
Varney says he doesn't let it bother him that he is working in a profession that has traditionally been dominated by women.
"I certainly don't mother the kids," he said. "I believe that perhaps the kids are better able to relate to the ladies a little better - especially the girls. But I let them know I'm concerned and I certainly talk to them if they need help with a problem."
Walter agrees that a stigma exists in elementary teaching that implies one must be of a nurturing nature.
"A lot of people think this is a woman's job," he said. "When I tell them I teach fourth grade, they say `that's interesting' and wonder if you're strange."
It's a shame, he said, because "in a rational world, all the best people - whether they be male or female - would be teachers, and the rest would settle for something else."
Will Rosenfeld, a kindergarten teacher at Prices Fork Elementary School in Blacksburg, sits crossed-legged on the floor with a giant book in his hands. A semi-circle of four small children surround him as he begins reading.
"Teaching to me is the most justifiable occupation there is," Rosenfeld said. "I've chosen to be in the classroom because to me that's where the apex of education is. People carry prejudices and biases with them, but I have chosen exactly what I want to do."
Rosenfeld believes it is important for children to learn early on that gender should not limit them in their choices, and he often uses himself as an example of someone who is filling a traditionally female role.
"We focus on presenting a balanced image with gender roles," he said. "I think a good teacher is a good teacher, and we want to show the children gender makes no difference."
Although these teachers believe in presenting equal opportunities to their pupils, they still see the value of serving as traditional male role models to children who have no father figures at home.
"I'd say absolutely, positively, I have filled that void," Walter says of some of the fourth graders in his class who have no father. "Because of death, divorce or other circumstances, a lot of children are put in my class specifically for that reason."
Walter recalls one little girl, who sat in her seat quietly, her bangs covering her face as if to say "I don't trust you." It took Walter a long time to bring the girl out of that shyness, but "to her credit, she did it," he said.
"One child who doesn't have a father accidentally called me `Daddy,' and I was very flattered," Hicks, of Raleigh Court Elementary, said. "I thought, `Wow, if a child can transfer that to a teacher, that says a lot,' and I realize what an important parent-role teachers play."
Some school systems actively seek out male elementary teachers to fill this void, but the bottom line is that there are so few qualified men applying for the jobs, it is hard to do, said Doris McElfresh, director of elementary education for Montgomery County Public Schools.
"We will choose men if they have the best qualifications, but we can't hire them just because they are men," she said.
To muddy the picture even further, many male teachers are wary about how they deal with their pupils on a personal level. With recent accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct headlining the news, men feel they must be particularly careful in their own classrooms.
Varney, a teaching veteran of 23 years, stands in the front of his fifth grade class, math book in hand, a smile across his face.
He begins asking questions to help his pupils review for an upcoming test. Hands go up. Some answer correctly. Some do not. But every child that speaks gets the same treatment.
Respect.
"I'm one who firmly believes if the child is doing a good job, whether they're a boy or a girl, I'll give them a pat on the shoulder," he said. "I will just have to take my chances. To me an important part of elementary education is positive feedback, and it is important to have human contact."
Rogers, who teaches at Raleigh Court Elementary, agrees.
"If people object to a man teaching, why don't they object to the child having a father?" he asks. "At this age we're more like an extended family. It's OK for Grandpa to love the children - why can't others do the same?"
Others are more guarded.
"You have to be careful with that," Walter said of how male teachers should deal with their students.
He said he often feels he must hold back when he thinks a child may need an extra pat on the back to avoid any chance of accusations.
"Once the accusation is made, your career is over, no matter what, even if you're innocent,'' Jones, of the VEA, said. "If you're a male and watch this happen, it really makes you say, `Wow, is this worth it?'"
For most male teachers though, the intrinsic rewards far outweigh the monetary shortcomings or the societal sneers associated with elementary school teaching.
"I knew it was not a high-paying job, but the rewards far outweigh the disadvantages," Hicks said. "It's so much like play for me, it's hard to see the line where play and work cross. My enthusiasm for the job keeps me very happy."
by CNB