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Gender-Typed Occupations

Gender-Typed Occupations
A fourth grade teacher probes a question asked by many teachers before: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" One little girl responds cheerfully, "I want to be a teacher!" "So do I" chimes in another girl. The trend continues with six other girls. When one boy by the name of Ryan raises his hand and firmly states "I want to be a teacher, too!" the class begins to snicker. "Boys are supposed to be athletes or firemen, not teachers," a student harshly replied. A very embarrassed Ryan sits in his seat and listens as other young boys exclaim their desire to be football players, policemen and pilots. Ryan grows up to be a successful businessman, but still feels a void in his life. The emptiness in his life could have been filled, if only he would have ignored the snickers many years ago.
This scenario has occurred for thousands of young boys who had a passion for teaching, yet gave up on their dream because based on society rules, only women can become teachers and men are tied to careers as athletes and firemen. Today's culture has provided numerous stereotypes that have led just about everyone to believe that men are incapable of teaching children. Experts in psychology have also proved that women are naturally born to care for children. But does this mean that men are forever inadequate to teach children? What people may not know is that having a variety of male and female teachers, children are able obtain various techniques of learning, which can essentially benefit children. What society may also not know is having a lack of men in the teaching field promotes these stereotypes to children and can have effects on children, especially young boys who want to pursue a teaching career much like Ryan, or young girls who do not want to be type- cast as a teacher or held down as taking care of the children.
Decade after decade, society has had set ideals for an ideal teacher. The ideal teacher is nurturing, understanding...