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Comment by jseliger | Hacker News Reader

I believe we see this article every time we have a strong economy. When the economy is strong, teaching is unappealing. When the economy is weak, many people cannot find other gigs and so flood into the relative security of teaching.

Teaching may also be less pleasant in the social media and smartphone age, for reasons enumerated in The Coddling of the American Mind (a highly recommended book). There may also be a gender dynamic at work; today, it would be hard for me to recommend that guys go into teaching: https://jakeseliger.com/2014/09/08/why-dont-more-men-go-into....

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Do you have any evidence other than a Reddit thread of anecdotes (about students "seducing" their teachers - ugh) that male teachers routinely have their lives ruined by false accusations of molestation?

Here's some evidence on the "other side" of the issue: Chicago public schools routinely broke the law by failing to report credible accusations of molestation of students by teachers and staff. https://graphics.chicagotribune.com/chicago-public-schools-s...

I think most male teachers in the US will tell you that they have to be careful never to be alone in a room with a student, and careful never to hug a crying student.

Meanwhile female teachers either don't have to worry about this much, or will even be applauded for comforting a crying student by hugging them.

If we're exchanging anecdotes, I had male (and female) teachers in middle and high school (early to mid 2000s) who often spent time alone with students - including myself. Maybe things have changed.

I also would have felt weird being hugged or otherwise touched by any teacher, male or female. I don't remember seeing much of that.

As a male high school level teacher, it’s not something I worry about any more than I worry about being hit by an angry student. I’m not some kind of automatic victim without agency or authority in either situation. Outrageous.

This article is one of the most stupid things I've ever read, pretending there is some crisis of students seducing their poor, persecuted male teachers because of a reddit thread is not merely intellectually dishonest, it's just bizarre.

Welcome to the exciting world of men's rights activism!

> Teaching may also be less pleasant in the social media and smartphone age, for reasons enumerated in The Coddling of the American Mind (a highly recommended book)

Can you expand on these reasons?

A friend of mine, male teacher, randomly met Obama back in like 2006 at some function. In their 5 second conversation, Obama was ecstatic that he was a teacher, saying specifically that 'we need more male teachers'.

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