Lewis, Mark S. (1996). Supply and Demand of Teachers of Color. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from
ERIC database. (ED390875)
The main arguments in this ERIC Digest article is that there is an increasing need of teachers of color, but the there are not enough minorities going into the teaching profession. The point of this article is to highlight the the unbalanced increase of minority students and the decrease of minority teachers in schools, and how the decrease of minority teachers affects both minority and non-minority students. The article goes on to highlight data about the number of minorities and whites who enter the education profession compared to the number that drop out of the profession after five years or so and their reasons for leaving.
non-colored students. To obtain more details about these, I will be utilizing outside sources including, Gillian White’s article, “The Data are Damning: How Race Influences School Funding” and Seth Gershenson’s essay, “The Power of Teacher Expectations: How racial bias hinders student attainment”. These two sources directly correlate with the aspects of schools I want to focus upon. In fact, both of these are multi-modal as they have not only historical facts and personal testimonies, but also statistical data that illustrates how much racial bias is incorporated when deciding how much funds a school receives or how some faculty decide to treat certain groups of students. Referencing this data will definitely strengthen and give my claims a lot of credibility, leading me towards the end of my essay. To convince the remainder of audience who wants even more evidence than what I have presented, I will be ending my essay explaining the negative impact racial bias not only has upon lower grade public schools, but how it is affecting future college students as well. Jackie Kerstetter’s article “Racial bias hinder college degree attainment” extends upon my previous claims about teachers exhibiting racial bias has a negative impact upon colored students for the rest
Schools systematically subjugate minority and black students when a school’s enrollment contains a huge racial majority. If students have no exposure to persons of different ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions, then these students will experience culture shock when they confront “other” people. Even in our class, we talk about black and minority students as another group, one that differs from “us.” We think about the inequalities in school systems as problems we need to fix, not as problems that have influenced our thinking and affect us as prospective teachers. For example, a white graduate student with
African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all
In the United States, each and every day, more minority children are born than white children. Fewer and fewer white parents are giving birth to multiple children, while many minority parents from African-American cultures to Hispanic cultures are continuing to have the same number of children, and possibly more. With all these minority children entering the U.S. education system, there is a problem current minority students are facing; there is a shortage of minority teachers. While there are minority teachers in the workforce, when Richard Ingersoll and Henry May, in their report: "The Minority Teacher Shortage: Fact or Fable?", looked at the data in 2011, they found that there is not a shortage in terms of number of teachers, but a shortage of minority teachers in the places that need them most: inner-city schools, with high minority populations. Minority students assimilate better with a teacher of the same ethnic background and the contrary view of this was highlighted in a 2012 skit by Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. The duo did a skit of an inner-city black substitute teacher inside of a middle class, almost all white classroom. Using his current cultural capital (defined as: “…the general cultural background, knowledge, disposition, and skills that are passed on from one generation to another,” (McLaren, 80,) the teacher, Mr. Garvey, acts as a disciplinarian. He takes attendance and when a student corrects his inner-city pronunciation (i.e. says “Jay-quellin”
“Start Where You Are But Don’t Stay There” by Richard Milner is a book about dealing with diversity in the classroom in today’s day and age. It holds a focus on allowing all students to be successful academically and throughout their lives. Milner talks about several different case studies in which teachers must help students who are struggling. It goes through scenarios with Mr. Hall, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Jackson, and Ms. Shaw, who are all struggling with diversity in different ways. This book holds an importance in expressing ideas and concerns of equality in schools, and I believe it would be beneficial for all aspiring educators to read it.
African Americans are not the only ethnicity group to be singled out with behavior. Racial and ethnic minority students report experiencing low teacher expectations, having less access to educational resources, being placed on lower educational tracks, and being steered toward low-paying employment (Kozol, 1991; Olsen, 2008).This low expectation is causing
Currently, general education classrooms have increasingly become diverse with both disable students and students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order for educators to ensure that they effectively teach these classrooms, meet the needs of each student both successfully and individually, effective research that is based on strategies need to be implemented. The U.S. Department of Education suggest that, the current school-age population is becoming more diverse as time passes, yet, majority of the teachers in these schools are white non-Hispanic women. According to another report by The Condition of Education in 2006, American schools are portraying increased diversity and growth. The report suggested that, forty two percent of students in public schools were ethnic or racial minorities in the year 2003; this increased from twenty two percent since 1972. Owing to these reasons, teachers in these schools are expected to educate a diversified class of students including those that come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers are therefore, required to implement a number of key strategies that will ensure that every student in specific classroom feels that he or she belongs there (Worrell, 2010).
America has encountered a change within the teaching profession: concerning, experience, age, credentials, and ethnic background (Feistritzer, 2011). It is almost as if the year of 2005, overturned the trend of older employed teachers (Feistritzer, 2011). A six-year survey shows that the amount of teachers under the age of thirty has increased drastically, and that most teachers have earned master degrees. Also, although teaching has been a predominately white profession, more Hispanic and African American teachers were hired between the years of 2005 and 2011 (Feistritzer, 2011).
In a study conducted Rosenthal and Jacobson they examined the exceptions of teachers from their students and self-fulling prophecy. They believe the central problem of so many kids failing school is because of kids with disadvantages. They are lower class children who live in poverty and being taught by middle class teachers. They are the Mexican American, Puerto Ricans and African Americans. These teachers are white females who are middle class and teaching the “disadvantage” which leads to the teacher expectations for them to fail. (Apa)
Due to the mismatch of race from teachers to students in schools, the minority students have a harder time receiving a higher education.“When minority students see someone at the blackboard that looks like you, it helps you reconceive what’s possible for you,” said Thomas S. Dee, a professor of education at Stanford University. By having a teacher with the same race as the student, creates a bond in knowledge of the barriers that minorities have to jump through. It also lets students see that even though they might be in a tough situation, they are able to receive a high level of education and may be able to reach their dreams. In an article in the Nea Today titled When Implicit Bias Shapes Teacher Expectations, they explain that the opinion
Another source of inequality comes from student-teacher relations directly. Thandeka K. Chapman in “Is Integration a Dream Deferred?” argues that within suburban mixed-race (however, still majority white) schools, there is a significant difference between the behavior and treatment of minority students versus that of white students within the same school (314). To examine this more thoroughly, a research team interviewed students regarding their experience, and reported the results. Since teacher student relationships are extremely important in contributing to how connected students are with education, the interviewers asked students to report on their experiences they had with their teachers (317). Each individual response varied. One student reported his white math teacher talking to him like a young child, baffled as to why the student was asking a question during class, as if the student was incapable of understanding the material (Chapman, pg 317). Another student’s white English teacher witnessed 2 students falling asleep during class, a black and a white student. However, the teacher only woke up the white student, suggesting that she is setting the white student up for success, and the black student up for failure (Chapman, pg 217). The undercurrent beneath all of the students’ responses was the same: students felt that the teachers (typically white) in these schools have lower expectations for minority students, have different “tracks” in mind for different racial
Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. (1995). Teachers College Record. Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education, 97(1).
numerous understudies, paying little respect to their own particular race, will move on from secondary school
1-I believe that a teacher of a different race can teach a child as effectively as a teacher from the same race as long as the teacher has a good attitude toward children of color. Also, if the teacher creates an environment where everyone is treated fairly regardless of their race. However, I think that a teacher of the same race may serve as a more effective role model, boosting children’s confidence and enthusiasm for learning. According to Nancy Zimpher’s study (1989) stated that “a substantial number of teachers do not believe that low-income and minority learners are able to grasp the high-level concept in the subjects they are prepared to teach”. In that sense, that could affect children’s learning negatively if the teacher continues
In the article, “Uncovering the Professional Lives of Suburban Teachers of Color”, Vera J. Lee aims to