Black Collegian Career Center

"We are now faced with the bold fact that tomorrow
is the day we talked about yesterday."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I can recall my first day in elementary school when a teacher told me, “son you can be anything you want to be; all you have to do is just believe and work hard.”  As I moved from elementary to middle school, another teacher told me never try to cut corners on assignments, because “half effort equals to half outcome.”  While I was unsure of what this meant at the time, it has definite meaning today in a world of many expectations.   Junior high proved to be another milestone, as a teacher told me to always treat people with human decency and respect because that’s the same thing you want.  Where would I be on this issue if I had not fully embraced these concepts, as the world is now totally multicultural?  Finally, as I entered high school, a teacher told me to always “commit yourself to excellence without excuse, and you will experience a life of peace of mind.” This lesson in life prepared me to always give my best and go to bed with a peaceful heart.  While the lessons of these four teachers (and many more) may seem a bit vague and intangible, implementing their formulas for success has truly worked in providing me with the tools to maneuver through the storms of life.

Today, more than ever, we need a teaching force that truly reflects the demographics of our students through the halls of K-12.  The need for African-American students to see African-American teachers is absolutely imperative.  Children must see and have experiences that reflect an ethnically diverse society. There is a dire need for more African-American and other underrepresented schoolteachers to teach in schools across America. Why? We know in reviewing demographic data, the average child in American schools will only have less than three African-American teachers through his/her entire k-12 experience.  This fact alone is absolutely deplorable.  In fact, it is considered a major crisis for education. In most of the fastest growing states, like Florida, the minority student population is growing significantly, yet the percentage of minority teachers continues to decrease expeditiously. If this trend continues, it is estimated that minority students will comprise more than one-third of K-12 enrollment nationally, but only five percent of teachers will be minority by the end of this decade.

There are a number of contributing factors that have caused many African-American students to be disinterested in teaching such as:

• lack of role models
• low pay compared to other fields of study
• the perception of poor working conditions
• lack of professional prestige

Perhaps the most significant factor cited immediately above is not attracting enough career interest in the teaching profession is the lack of African-American role models as teachers. In fact, the lack of African-American teachers in the classroom affects both minority and majority students.  Low visibility of minority teachers for all children leave the impression that minority people are not educated and/or are perhaps interested only in blue-collar jobs, etc.  School districts must begin to work with universities in approaching students in middle and high school to peak their interest in the teaching profession.  Federal grants and other incentives must be provided for universities, school districts and communities to work hand-in-hand in addressing this critical issue.

The bottom lie is we live in a multicultural society that espouses diversity.  We need representation in our teaching profession of all racial groups.  It would seem appropriate and certainly warranted that we seek to find measurable ways of attracting, recruiting, retaining, and ultimately graduating African-American students interested in teaching careers.  After all, the children are our future.  The question now is how bright is our future when students of all races run the risk of seeing the world through the linear lens of only one main ideology?

Dr. Lee Jones is the associate dean for Academic Affairs and Instruction, and associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Florida State University.