Ah...the start of a new year, and the attempt at maintaining a blog! I honestly have no idea how long I will be able to maintain this blog once school starts, but at least I could say that I gave it a try right? For some reason, I have always wanted to write about my daily happenings, or at least interesting little tidbits that occur in my life, but I just seem to be too lazy to really make it official. So, with this blog, hopefully it will drive me to continue to update those who wish to know about me and the interesting life that I continue to live on a daily basis.
One of the reasons that I have started to write this blog is that I am currently part of this Leadership Academy, which is an organization that helps to create leaders within the field of early childhood education. What makes my involvement with not only this Leadership Academy, but within this very field, is the overwhelming discrepancy there is as a male. Honestly, I have no real idea as to why I joined the leadership academy, and even to this day, I still try to figure out why I joined. As I continue down the path that I have taken, and gone through the experiences that I have within this profession, I have to say, I really do love what I do. Being a male in the field of early childhood education brings about so many perks that many other professions could never have. I get to play as my job; who can honestly say they do that for a living? It may not be glamorous, but at least I know that I am making a difference (or at least I hope I am) in somebody's life!
Now, on to the reason I brought up the Leadership Academy. We are required to come up with a project that we create ourselves, and it can be on any given topic that is related to making strides in the early childhood field. Interestingly enough, I had always wanted to bring about more awareness of male involvement in the field of early childhood, and as I got to thinking about it more, I decided that my project would revolve around bringing about more male involvement and awareness within the field of early childhood education.
Just to give each one of you an idea of the craziness of being a male in this woman dominated field is that within this field alone, the population of males that works in this profession only constitutes about 5% or lower!! With the trend that continues for this field, this number continues to stay consistent or reach the lower. Personally, it really doesn't surprise me that many males decide not to pursue early childhood because males who decide to choose early childhood education as their profession may be seen as "weak" or "gay" or "feminine." It is really sad that this number continues to be so low, and as I continue to work within this field, I see that there is a HUGE need for males in this field! As I write this blog, I want to give each one of you the opportunity to realize that most children who are part of the early childhood age group may never have had the male influence in their lives. Since women are so heavily dominant in this field, when children see a male figure come into the setting, they immediately gravitate towards the male because of the lack of male involvement in this field. This is why I feel it is so important for my project to not only help those understand why I believe this to be of such great importance, but to help males who have no idea what to do with their lives and to possibly suggest that they could choose a profession in where they can truly make an impact in a child's or individuals' life.
If you have taken the time to read this blog, I thank you for reading this! This is the start of what I hope can give each individual an awareness of an issue I believe needs to be addressed. If you are involved in early childhood and understand what I am talking about, please let others know of my project and I would love to discuss more in depth of why I am doing what I am doing! Hopefully my blog will plant the seed, and hopefully it will continue to grow and spread to others who wish to know more about my project!
LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN!
