The profession of elementary school teacher has traditionally been female dominated, and it has become even more female dominated the last few years. In Iowa, 20 years ago, 37% of public school teachers were male, and today, that number is just 27%, according to a recent article in The Des Moines Register. The number of male teachers is just currently 21% nationally, a 40-year low, the National Education Association reports. These numbers raise two questions. First, why is the gender gap getting larger? And secondly, is the lack of male teachers necessarily a bad thing?

The reason more men do not teach is that the pay is low and teachers do not get the respect they deserve, says the author of the news article. No doubt higher pay would lead to higher prestige, for the women and the men educating our children. And the lack of respect has hit a new low, with teachers often being the sole source of blame for a school’s failure, especially when it comes to low test scores. Teachers do play a critical role in test scores. But, it’s easy to forget that educating children and raising test scores requires more than dedicated teachers. It also takes an involved community of parents, family, friends, principals, specialists, tutors, etc.

As far as whether or not we’d be better off as a society if more men were in the classroom, here’s my take in a nutshell: Many children grow up in single-parent households and lack the presence of good male role models. Male teachers can and should be positive influences in the lives of these children.