The Color of Teaching Revisited

Professor June Gordon wrote a book in 2000 entitled “ The Color of Teaching.” In it she explored through interviews and surveys reasons why college students of color were not choosing teaching as a career path. Some of the interviewees stated that they did not have positive experiences in school and that teaching turned them off as a profession. Others stated that if they were going to go through the effort to obtain an undergraduate college degree they wanted a better payoff at the end than that of being a classroom teacher.

Fast-forward to 2015 and an editorial by Motoko Rich that appeared in the New York Times dated Sunday April 12,2015. Rich notes, “ Across the country, government estimates show that minority students have become a majority in public schools. Yet the portion of teachers who are racial minorities has not kept up: More than 80% of teachers are white.”  This raises several questions. Have the parents of white students given up on public schools and moved their children to private schools or to home schooling? Or have the same issues that plagued Dr. Gordon’s thesis fifteen years ago still exist?

Many minority students still want to see teachers in front of the classroom that look like them.  It is that affiliation and kinship connection that helps create a more positive learning environment for some.

Additionally neither the book nor the editorial addresses the more recent issue of the war against teachers. Union busting tactics and the breaking of pension promises have dissuaded many potentially good teachers of all races from pursuing a career in public education. Furthermore, the linking of teacher performance with student success on standardized tests has become a game-changer for many. This has become part of the Common Core program, where recently we have seen a growing number of parents opting out of the “required” tests on behalf of their children. Editorialist Rich observed that many school curricula are  “out of sync” with the culture of the students sitting in the classroom.

This issue is not likely to be resolved soon. But those of us in the education profession need to ensure that the best candidates of ALL races make it to the classroom.

c.2015 J. Margolis