Well, one of the most heavily blogged numbers in recent memory, (even on this site,) is making an impact with people, even if nothing specific is being done to counteract the situation. The numbers confirm what I guess i have already known, and what has been confirmed by my 12-year-old daughter; as a male teacher, I am essentially rare avis. Education isn't seen as the big "breadwinner" occupation for starters, and is perceived in many places as "women's work." But how else are we going to counteract a generation of young people who think that all they have to do is make it on American Idol, or be a rapper or a professional athlete? The downfalls of being an overly litigious society have already turned vast numbers of people into paranoid slackers, looking for the easiest possible way to turn a quick buck. As a result, we have no industrial society left to speak of, having ceded most of it to China now, almost no young people who are willing to be doctors because they don't feel like they can afford the malpractice insurance, and now no one willing to teach because they fear that if they so much as touch a child, they will be forever stigmatized as some closet sexual predator. And where are we to go as a nation like this? Does any of it make sense? Once this war is over in Iraq, and gas prices have come back down to sane levels, (that because of many factors, I think, including the Iraqis taking advantage of their intense hatred for George Bush and his outright stupidity, not to mention the fact that at some point, biofuels will be even more economically viable than they are right now, and we will end up with billionaire corn farmers in Iowa, and Saudi sheiks on welfare,) those soldiers who don't come back maimed will have been affected intensely by their comrades in arms who did; and more important than that, they'll need jobs. I suspect that America in the future will be a saner, smarter place all around, starting with a renewed interest, and need for education. And for men to show boys that education is not just "women's work." My eldest daughter points to the fact that of the two male teachers she has had in middle school, (and none in elementary school,) they're stricter; i.e., they expect more than the female teachers do, and I think that's good. As a teacher, I yell, not as much as some male teachers do, apparently, quite frankly, I don't really like to, it's wearing as hell. But things get done, and things get learned when I sub. The risk I run, warranted or not, as I say, in being a male teacher is that female teachers and students regard me with some suspicion, so I spend greater parts of my time attempting to counteract that, and worrying about everything I do as a teacher. None of this, of course, is to say that I haven't felt more like the prey than the predator in some cases, (hopefully I'm never perceived as a predator,) but that's another issue altogether; I know in instances where I've subbed, I've probably drawn out females from groups of teachers to come into the classroom with a sweet little, "if you need anything, I'm right across the hall," and look for the presence of a wedding band, which, of course, is always prominent. I damn sure wouldn't be shopping in a school, even if I was single. Overall, I think the rhythm is different, particularly as a male sub; I go where I'm known, and where the students can get to know me, probably more so than a female in the same situation would. Many of my students are getting familiar with me now, and learning what to expect. I hear a lot of "I like this guy, he's good." from students, and that makes me feel good. But c'mon, guys, join the brigade, teaching is a field that needs a few good men.