TO THE EDITOR:
The article, “Only 9 male undergraduates are education majors at UNC,” brings attention that very few men are education majors. As Mr. McDiarmid said, the result is a lack of diverse perspectives in the classroom. It would also be very beneficial for male students to have this kind of role model.
Although I would like to praise the arguments presented in the article, I was a bit skeptical when McDiarmid was quoted saying, “We’d get a lot more males into the profession if we could pay teachers what they deserve.”
Wages play a role, although they ideally should not in teaching. One who does teach should do so with a great passion to educate the next generation.
The aspect of the statement I do not understand is why it would specifically affect males becoming teachers. Our nation is facing a gender wage gap, and to say that the pay is not desirable to men but to women is absurd.
When the article continued to explain that some men are uncomfortable being a teacher because of the female dominated profession, I found this very ironic, as females often find themselves in “a field that doesn’t feel welcoming toward (them.)”
Yes — I do believe there need to be more efforts to recruit men towards an education degree. Making claims that wages affect men deciding to enter the education field and are discriminated against is ridiculous when the real reason seems to stem from their own stereotypical view.
