After 29 years in education, I am still convinced that I made the right career choice.  It is not uncommon to hear African-American high school and college students, when asked about becoming a teacher, respond without hesitation, “No, I would never be a teacher.”  However, when discussing solutions to social problems facing African Americans, there is general agreement that more African-American teachers are needed to teach our children. So where do they come from?  The percentage of African-American teachers is declining rapidly.

A people cannot maintain its culture, if the customs and values are not taught.  The customs and values at jeopardy today in African-American society and schools are the expectation to learn at high levels, and the importance of an educated African-American person to function in mainstream America.  Never before has the need been so critical for African Americans to become public school teachers. Not only are they needed to be role models for children, but they are also needed to correct the attitudes and behaviors of teachers who have low expectations for students of color.  The achievement gap between white and African-American students continues to widen. It is not because white students are getting smarter, but because African-American families are not demanding excellence and African-American children are not performing academically.  Urban schools are besieged with unqualified teachers who continue to foster the tracking of students in lower-level courses.  

African-American college students must respond to the need and become teachers.  Your presence at a college demonstrates that you know the importance of an education and that a teacher touched your life.  You are needed to touch the lives of thousands of African-American children who are being left behind.  I hope you will embrace the saying “Each one, teach one,” and become a public school teacher.