enlightening research on a wednesday !!

dear friends!!

Have you ever considered the long term affect that integration in schools during the 1960s had on students of all ethnicities? Malcolm Gladwell, a famous Non-fiction author, in his newly crafted podcast entitled, The Revisionist Podcast, discusses this topic in length. There is an episode entitled “Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment” in which Gladwell recalls the events surrounding the famous Civil Rights case, Brown vs. Board of Education. In an interview with the Brown family, Malcolm discovers that they were not fighting for integrated schools because they did not like their own African American schools, but rather they did not like the fact that they were not allowed the option to attend white schools in their community. The Supreme Court ruled in the favor of integration in schools, meaning black students were to be integrated into white schools but their black teachers were not (Gladwell, “Miss Buchanan’s…”). Black schools were now either smaller than before or completely nonexistent. This one simple misunderstanding has led to a huge inequality for children of all ethnicities. Although there are ample opportunities for students grades kindergarten through twelfth-grade to thrive in the American school system, there is still an educational disparity for minority students compared to those who make up the majority of the student body, due to the lack of a diverse teaching staff.

In the same episode, Gladwell goes on to make a claim that teachers tend to favor those students who are of similar ethnicity. White teachers tended to favor white students over the black students who had just recently been integrated (Gladwell, “Miss Buchanan’s…”). However, this case was a long time ago, so the favoritism was much more blatant. Today, smaller instances of this inequality exist, and it has spread beyond white and black, becoming an issue that affects any minority race. For example, Gladwell discusses how white teachers tend to choose the smartest student in their class to be placed in the gifted program, and that student usually turns out to be white. Whereas, if a black teacher were to select a student for the program, they would consider the black students just as much as the white students, because they are aware of the disparity. They realize the struggle and hardship that comes with being the minority race, being a part of it themselves. That simple understanding and relatability gives each child in a given classroom an equal opportunity to thrive (Gladwell, “Miss Buchanan’s…”). It is not to say that white teachers want to favor white students, it is more that they don’t always understand how students of different ethnicities preform on tests or comprehend different material. They can sometimes be ignorant to the behavior and cultures of students unlike themselves, creating a cultural divide.

Public schools need teachers of varying ethnicities, not merely black and white. Imagine, for a moment, a white student going to a primarily Hispanic school, with mostly Spanish-speaking teachers. Those teachers are generally going to focus on the students who speak the same language and who have experienced the same culture. It is easier to get the curriculum across to the Hispanic students, rather than the few English-speaking white students. It is not that they favor one student over the other per say, it is just easier to help one succeed. It takes much more time and energy to help minority students, and teachers don’t always have that time and energy to focus on one student in a class of twenty-five kids. Therefore, the white student does not have an equal opportunity to thrive in that particular school environment. Having a diverse population of teachers will ensure that no child feels like the minority. One year they may have a teacher unlike them, but the next year they can have a teacher who is from a similar culture. Consider Marcelle Haddix, an advocate for social justice with a PhD in Education, who writes an academic article explaining not only the root of this issue but also her personal experience with the matter. She says that outside of her black family members, in all her years of formal education, she has never once had a teacher who looks like her or shares even remotely the same culture. She is aware of the negative effects that resulted later on in her educational career, making her plea for diversity in teacher populations that much more urgent (Haddix, “Diversifying Teaching…”).

There has been a shortage of African American teachers and this has hindered the success of many minority students. Reflect on this quote from an academic article written by Tia Madkins,

“…it is problematic that the teaching workforce does not match our student population, especially in larger, urban school districts. This disparity does not allow Black students to see themselves reflected in the professional realm. Black teachers should serve as models for Black students and; although, all students benefit from having Black teachers it is especially important for Black students to have these role models. Many Black teachers have cultural experiences and linguistic backgrounds similar to Black students allowing the students to have familiar interactions with their teachers.” (Madkins, 417)

This excerpt does not just apply to the African American community but to any race not being equally represented in schools. We often feel secure and comfortable with people like ourselves, and to deprive a child of that security can be damaging. Students do need to experience teachers different from themselves, but in addition to that, they should experience someone whom they can relate to. It should not have to be an either-or situation. Desegregation made the number of African American teachers disappear (Madkins 418), but that does not mean that today, in 2019, it has to stay that way. We need educators who can relate to all different students, giving them role models whose success is within their grasp. A teacher is supposed to educate children and provide them a safe environment to learn and grow. The best way to do that is by giving children a teacher who can provide them security and another teacher who will challenge their perspective.

Diversity is vital in having a healthy, well-exposed group of students. Campuses all across America are recruiting minority students to make sure that they are providing not only a well-rounded academic environment but a cultured environment as well. Take this physiological analysis from an online research article for example,

“Efforts to manage negative thoughts inhibit mental capacity by occupying the brain’s executive function and depleting cognitive resources related to attention and control. Proactive efforts to increase campus diversity can significantly reduce this implicit bias and its detrimental effects. White students in particular benefit from racially and ethnically diverse learning contexts in that the presence of students of color stimulates an increase in the complexity with which students, especially white students, approach a given issue” (Wells, “How Racially…”).

One of the major reasons why white students, as discussed above, will benefit the most from a racially diverse student population is because white children have never known what it’s like to be the minority. They have always been the dominate students in most American schools and had teachers that look just like their mothers and fathers. Diversity will not only benefit the black, Hispanic, Indian, or any minority student who now can have a teacher that looks like them, but it will also allow for white children to experience another side of the spectrum. It is not fair to deprive children of a highly diverse teaching population when we are demanding student populations and curriculums to continue to diversify.

Another important task in creating a diverse teaching staff is not only hiring teachers in a variety of ethnicities but also equipping the teachers already on staff. Imagine having a female third grade teacher who is bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish or having a white male teacher who is educated and experienced in Chinese culture and traditions. This is not the same as being physically diverse necessarily, but it is a way to start closing the gap that is rapidly expanding. It is time for schools and administrators to encourage teachers to broaden their knowledge and cultural experiences. Children respect people they can relate to on a personal level and the simplest way to do that is to engage in their culture. Not only will understanding different cultures help teachers relate to students, but it will also affect the content being taught. Even though schools became integrated in the 1960s, it seems only students were integrated not their curriculum. It is important that not just classrooms are diverse but also the information being shared and tested. This is a small piece in cultivating a well-rounded and experienced group of students. An easy step towards fixing this educational disparity is to help inform and transform the teachers currently employed.

It is evident now that the events in the 1960s, regarding integration in the public-school system, had an ongoing effect on public education. In a similar way, the lack of diversity among teachers is having an effect on the higher education of students. Universities are showing that only a small number of students of color are attending their schools (Weisberg, “To Close…). This is not an educational issue in the sense that they are not intelligent enough or any absurdity like that, but they have been deprived some of the same opportunities in their early educational career. According to the detailed research recorded in “Diversity and Education: Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education” done by Richard Milner, the percentage of African American, American Indian, and Latino students is very low in not only universities but Advanced Placement classes and gifted programs. Efforts such as referrals and screening assessments have been made to increase the amount of diversity in these programs. (Milner, 217) The thing universities and high school administrators do not understand is that in order to have a diverse student population in higher education, there must first be diversity among teachers in their earlier educational career. Once diversity is implemented at an early stage, it will have a rippling affect, resulting in diverse student populations in higher education. Testing students or expecting teachers who do not understand the learning methods of minority students will not eliminate the problem. There is a federal push for diversity in regards to education, but not in the right area. The push should be to implement teachers of varying cultures at an early stage to increase the number of minority students in special placement programs, which ultimately feed into university schools. That is the key to ending this inequality.

African American students loved their teachers before desegregation was put into action through the efforts of the Civil Rights movement. They never wanted to lose those role models, rather they wanted to be treated equally and be offered the same higher education white children were receiving (Gladwell, “Miss Buchanan’s…”). During the time prior to the decision to integrate schools, there were roughly 82,000 black teachers. More than 38,000 black teachers in the southern states lost their jobs in the 11 years following the Brown vs. Board of Education case (Haddix, “Diversifying Teaching…). This meant both the teachers and cultural impact on the curriculum had now been removed from the American School System. Even though we have lost vast numbers of teachers of color, it is not too late to increase the amount of ethnic diversity in our teaching staffs. We must bring awareness to this deprivation and push for more federally supported programs for teachers of every gender and ethnicity. By avoiding the topic of diversity among teachers, we are not providing equal opportunities and experiences for our children. If we let this problem continue to manifest, it will affect our future generations, like it already has today. It’s time to put as much effort in to making a diverse teaching population as we do a student population, so we can eliminate this festering educational inequality.

- jos :)