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The Importance of Mixture

Jocelyn Vazquez
PSC 220-101
Educational Psychology
Dr. Deanna Stock

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Abstract
The purpose of this research paper is to inform the readers on the importance of
having a culturally diverse group of teachers and its positive influences on students. Its
important to understand why there is a shortage of minority teachers and the solutions
that can be created to resolve the existing issue. Not only that but its important to
recognize the different influences and relationships that can be made by having teachers
of color.

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Public schools in America reflect diversity through their student population, but
not through their teaching staff. According to the National Education Association there
are some efforts made by school districts to hire minority teachers, the majority of the
faculty members are Caucasian. Classrooms today should contain a greater number of
culturally diverse teachers because they are able to give students a preview of what
diversity in education as well as society looks like.
Few minority students enter and complete college, and those who do have an
increasing number of career and employment options aside from teaching. The minority
college students are able to find other career opportunities with greater benefits and a
larger salary (Ingersoll , 2001). Unfortunately, when minority students are trying to enter
the field of teaching, they are faced with certain obstacles. Some of these challenges
include teaching entry tests, on which minority candidates have lower pass rates.
Standardized tests often have cutoff scores that exclude minority students from higher
education, teacher training, and teacher certification programs (Ingersoll , 2001).
In recent decades, numerous organizations have tried a number of minority
teacher recruitment programs and initiatives. These include future educator programs in
high schools, partnerships between community colleges and four-year teacher education
programs. Beginning in the late 1980s, the Ford Foundation, and the DeWitt Wallace
Readers Digest Fund, donated over $60 million to minority teacher recruitment and
preparation programs. Many of these initiatives were created with intent of brining
minority teachers into schools in order to serve the minority student population especially
in low-income and urban school districts.
The minority teacher shortage is a major reason for the minority achievement gap.

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If there are few minority teachers it can send a message to the students that there are not
many minorities who are interest in teaching. As a result, the students will start to follow
the same pattern and not want to purse a career in the education field as well. The low
number of minority teachers may indicate that there are fewer minority candidates with
the skills and qualifications to enter the field. Thus causing the students to believe that
since they are minorities theyre unable to do as well as the other non-minority students.
Teachers of color can be an inspiration to the minority students. The teachers are
a representation that anything is possible if you work hard. Minority teachers are even
more influential to students that come from low-income houses. They have the ability to
push those students and inspire them to do better. Teachers of color have demonstrated
success in increasing academic achievement for engaging students of similar
backgrounds.
Education experts agree it is important that minority students have someone they
can relate to. Phyllis Gimbel believes, "students can identify well with someone who has
had a similar background to themselves (Kozma, 2014)." Teachers need to be able to
empathize with their students. Martin Haberman, a professor of education at the
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee believes, "if you can't relate to children, it doesn't
matter how much you know. Even though you may know everything you are planning to
teach, if you cant relate to your students, then the material you are teaching will be of no
use.

Students usually feel comfortable with someone who has the same cultural
background because they have someone they can relate to. If the teacher is unable to

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build that level of comfort with their student, it then creates a wall and makes it very
difficult for the students to learn. Even though you may know everything you are
planning to teach, if you cant relate to your students, then the material you are teaching
will be of no use. Students need to need to feel a connection with the person teaching
them and the school (Quinton , 2013).
President Obama recognized that it is important to put more teachers of color in
the classrooms in order to improve students performance. In his July 2012 White House
Executive Order on Educational Excellence for African-Americans he wrote about the
need to improve the recruitment, preparation, development, and retention of successful
African-American teachers. Unfortunately, his administration focused less on this but
more on the testing and the Race to the Top. This emphasis resulted in the closing of
some inner-city schools, and the loss of jobs for teachers of color.
Programs like Teach for America havent helped with this situation either. The
program recently sent college graduates (mostly white), into the public schools for twoyear placements ("Why Minority Teachers Are Quitting Their Jobs | The Progressive",
2014). Although the experience is great for the college graduates, the best teachers are
those who relate to their students experiences and can relate to their experiences within
the community. As our schools diversity increases, its important that staff diversity does
as well.
Chief executive officer of Recruiting New Teachers, Mildren Houston says,
Children need to see different models of teachers. Diversity is part of what America is
about. It doesn't have to be proven. It's a reality."

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According to Professor Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, teachers from different ethnic
and racial backgrounds often have the ability to explain different subjects. By using
cultural terms that help children from the same backgrounds understand the lesson. "If
you don't know anything about the everyday lived experiences of your studentsthe
cultural backgrounds, the dialects, the family, the home, the communityteachers tend
to pull the examples for teaching from their own experiences," As a result, those
connections are not made for students. Lack of cultural understanding can make things
harder in the classroom.

Not only is there a need for minority teachers, but there is also a need for male
teachers. Since school is almost a reflection of the world, children need to be taught by a
range of different people. Unfortunately, due to the lack of minority and male teachers,
this is not happening.

If females are constantly teaching students, then they will make the assumption
that the education field is only for women. This becomes a problem because it will lead
to a pattern of only having more female teachers. Male educators in elementary schools
can show students, especially boys, that teaching is a practical career choice ("Why Do
We Need Male Teachers?"). Every profession needs to have a gender-balanced
workforce. If the students are not being exposed to a gender workforce they may feel that
teaching is only for a specific type of person.

Male teachers can provide a different point of view. They may have different
opinions about learning and teaching. These views can come in handy to them. Unlike
female teachers, male teachers were once young gentlemen students can provide a males

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perspective with certain situation. Their personal experiences could provide ideas that
education is currently missing out on.

Male teachers can be role models for both boys and girls, especially those
growing up without fathers. In the United States, one-third of children live in a single
parent household. Male teachers have the ability to build strong relationships that will
help boys succeed in elementary school and into middle school (Mullenholz, 2013).

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan intends to employ more AfricanAmerican and Latino teachers. By doing so, it will decrease the achievement gaps among
students. African-American male teachers make up less than 2 percent nationwide
represent 3.5 percent of all U.S. teachers. "That's not a number we can be proud of.
Because so many of our young men grow up in single parent families, they grow up
without a strong male presence in their household. They need to be surrounded by
mentors and role models who can help them envision a positive future for themselves,"
The dropout rate in African-American and Latino communities in many areas is as high
as 50 percent. "If we want to close achievement gaps, if we want to make sure that many
more African-American and Latino male students are graduating rather than dropping
out ... having those teachers, having those role models, having those coaches is going to
make a huge difference in their lives (Flanagan, 2010).

Terry Jackson is a prime example of Duncans vision. Jackson is a math teacher

in Upper St. Clair School District He is one of five black teachers in a district where 94
percent of the students are Caucasian (Lee, 2003). "They need to see black role models.

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They need to see some black professionals. They need to get rid of stereotypes of
minorities as being in gangs or mainly playing sports.
According to Nicolas, it seems as if the only black men in schools are the
custodians, food-service employees, and transportation workers. It is quite often seen that
if there are any black men educators, they are mostly physical educators or a sports coach.
There are less than 2 percent of black male teachers (Nicolas, "Where Are the Black
Male Teachers?").
Project PRIDE, stands for Planning and Rewarding Instructional Diversity in
Education, is a collaborative project between USF's education department and Polk
County public schools which is supported by a $1.2 million grant from the state. The
project was created in response after an analysis showed a disproportion between the
diversity of elementary school students in Polk County and heir teachers. The program
aims to prepare male and minority college students to become elementary school teachers
in Polk County by recruiting, developing and providing financial support for their
schooling. Program participants commit to teach one year in Polk for each year of
funding they receive.
Its important to have a mixture of teachers in the American school system.
Whether they are female, male, black, Hispanic, etc. students need to be exposed at an
early age of the diverse world we live in. After all, our countrys nickname is the
melting pot. We need to reflect that name within our school system. The students will
benefit and establish a close bond with their teachers if they feel as they can relate to
them.

References:
Bireda, S., & Chait, R. (2011, November 9). Increasing Teacher Diversity. Center for
American Progress . Retrieved April 27, 2014, from
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2011/11/09/10636/increasingteacher-diversity/
Education Association. (n.d.). NEA and Teacher Recruitment: An Overview. Rss.
Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.nea.org/home/29031.htm
Flanagan, G. (2010, August 28). Education secretary says U.S. needs more minority
teachers.
CNN.
Retrieved
April
27,
2014,
from
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/28
Ingersoll, R., & May, H. (2001, September 1). The Minority Teacher Shortage: Fact or
Fable?.
Education
Week
.
Retrieved
April
26,
2014,
from
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/09/
Kozma, C. (2014, March 30). Minority teachers are scarce in city schools.
southcoasttoday.com.
Retrieved
April
27,
2014,
from
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140330/NEWS/40330032
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Lee, C. (2003, February 5). A Question of Quality: Minority teachers are a missing
ingredient. A Question of Quality: Minority teachers are a missing ingredient. Retrieved
April 27, 2014, from http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030205diversityrp
Mullenholz, G. (2013, July 19). Op-Ed: We Are in Desperate Need of More Male
Elementary School Teachers. TakePart. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/07/19/we-need-more-male-elementary-schoolteachers
Nicolas, D. (2014, February 26). Where Are the Black Male Teachers?. Education Week .
Retrieved
April
26,
2014,
from
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/02/26/22nicolas_ep.h33.html Copy & Paste |
Parenthetical
Parlier, G. (2014, January 10). PRIDE Project Aims to Prepare Male Minority Teachers.
TheLedger.com.
Retrieved
April
27,
2014,
from
http://www.theledger.com/article/2014010
Quinton, S. (2013, November 11). Why Good Teachers Embrace Culture.
www.nationaljournal.com.
Retrieved
April
27,
2014,
from
http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/education/why-good-teachers-embraceculture-20131111

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Why Do We Need Male Teachers?. (n.d.). Males In Teaching . Retrieved April 26, 2014,
from
http://www.malesinteaching.com/Portals/1a9a2a5a-82b3-4f58-8c71e3d5a1a1cc01/why%20do%20we%20need%2
Why Minority Teachers Are Quitting Their Jobs | The Progressive. (2014, January 15).
Why Minority Teachers Are Quitting Their Jobs | The Progressive. Retrieved April 27,
2014, from http://www.progressive.org/why-minority-teachers-are-quitting-their-jobs

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