Delaware students rally for more African American teachers

This week, local students in Sussex County, Delaware took a stand to rally for more African American teachers and discuss issues they have faced at school, as reported in the News Journal.
The forum hosted by the local League of Women Voters to mark Black History Month included three adult speakers — but three high school students generated the biggest uproar.
Many students only have one or two African American teachers throughout their entire K-12 experience and feel that they could better identify with teachers who look more like them.
One example given in the News Journal is Sussex Tech, in which is 90.3 percent of teachers are white, 7.5 percent of teachers are black, and one teacher is Hispanic. In the school, 66.5 percent of students are white, 17.9 percent are black and 12.4 percent are Hispanic. The percentages clearly do not add up and it is clear that students are not seeing an accurate representation of their student population in their teachers.
I agree with the students in Sussex County, Delaware: we need more African American teachers in our schools. Teachers in our country are simply not as diverse as its students. Students will perform better when they can identify with and relate to their teachers — and I believe we could narrow and even close achievement gaps by recruiting more black educators.
In addition, I think increasing the number of teachers of color will help students who are not of color too. Putting black teachers in front of children who are not black could prevent stereotyping and promote acceptance of diversity and equity.
Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.
I think diversity is good, but it’s not that simple to just bring more African American teachers into the schools. I do think that having teachers who are a different skin color that their students is very beneficial on a lot of levels.
I understand how children would relate well with teachers of their same color. I also see how white people may have a hard time going into the details of black history and feel a little uncomfortable laying it all out there, even though that is their job.
Diversity in schools is so important to the success of its students. While students can still thrive and don’t HAVE to have a teacher that is the same skin color as them, it’s still great to have role models and more than just one or two minority teachers in schools.
[…] This week, local students in Sussex County, Delaware took a stand to rally for more African American teachers and discuss issues they have faced at school, as reported in the News Journal. The foru… […]
[…] Sourced through Scoop.it from: https://www.theedadvocate.org […]