September 11, 2014
How to Diversify Teaching
Introduction
Finding a male teacher in an American classroom is hard. Finding a black male teacher is even harder. Drew Angerer for The New York Times The teaching profession is dominated by women: Three-quarters of all teachers in kindergarten through high school are female, and in elementary and middle schools, women account for more than 80 percent of the educators.
What’s more, more than 80 percent of America’s teachers are white, even though minority students are expected to outnumber white students in public schools for the first time this year.
How can the teaching profession become more diverse in terms of gender and race or ethnicity?
Debaters
-
Pay Teachers Better and Support New Recruits
If we want to attract and retain the best and brightest individuals, salaries must be competitive with those of other professions.
-
Very Few Jobs Offer This Much Reward
Even when the tasks themselves are relatively simple, the act of helping a gloriously mixed group of kids is hard.
-
The Best Talent Means Diverse Talent
A largely white teaching force can wrongly suggest to children that the owners of knowledge are white.
-
The Profession Provides Little Room for Growth
The many deterrents for those interested in being a teacher are partly responsible for the lack of diversity within the field.
-
Address the Underlying Issues
The lack of diversity in teaching is a symptom of our failure to provide a quality education to children of color in the first place.
-
Make It Attractive and Accessible
Young black men are not aware that the kind of leadership and service that comes from teaching in a classroom is a powerful thing.
When Do Consumer Boycotts Work?
New Terms for Nafta?
Media in the Age of Trump
From Their Pens to Donald Trump's Ear
Western States, Federal Land