On Sunday, August 29, 2010, in an interview with, “The Washington Informer,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had this to say about the Black male teachers. “Overall, less than 3 percent of the nation’s teachers are persons of color, so, during a time when Black children need Black teachers as mentors and role models, we have to make sure our teachers and principals reflect the great diversity of this country.”
On the topic of the shortage of Black male teachers, Secretary Duncan had this to say to “The USA Today” newspaper in July, 2011. “Only two percent of the nation's nearly five million teachers are African-American. That’s one in 50 teachers. Something is wrong with that picture. As a country, we have a huge challenge to make sure many more of our young Black boys are successful. Our graduation rates have to go up dramatically, our dropout rates have to go down. To get there, I’m convinced we have to have more men of color teaching, being role models, being mentors and doing so not just in high school but on the elementary level.”
In a Saturday, July 4, 2009, article by Avis Thomas-Lester, staff writer for “The Washington Post” reported that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics only 2 percent of the nation's 4.8 million teachers are Black men. In Virginia, the number of Black male teachers stands at 2.6 percent while White male teachers make up 16.4 percent of teachers in Virginia. In addition, according to a 2003 study by the National Education Association, Black males leave the teaching profession at a higher rate than other teachers. Half of Black male teachers leave the profession before retirement, compared to 30 percent of all teachers who leave the teaching profession before retirement.
Many say that after their parents, the most important role models for young people are their classroom teachers. In this time of crisis for Black children, especially young Black males who come from single-parent households without a strong father figure, most will agree that the most important role models for these young Black males after their parents are Black classroom teachers, particularly Black male teachers. Nor can we ignore the fact that in some circumstances, the only positive Black male role model a young Black boy will see on a daily basis is the Black male classroom teacher. Given the need for Black male teachers, why is there a shortage of Black male teachers in America’s classroom?
To answer this question objectively, we must first look at the potential pool of applicants of future Black male teachers. A 2010 report by “The Schott Foundation,” titled, “The Fifty State Report on Black Males in Public Education,” shows that the overall 2007-2008 high school graduation rate for Black males in the United States was only 47 percent. Also, half of the states in the U.S. have graduation rates for Black male students below the national average. For example in the 2007-2008 school year, the state of Virginia had 162,679 Black males enrolled in its public schools. However, only 49% of those Black males students graduated.
In an August 26, 2010, radio interview on, “The Tom Joyner Morning Show,” Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation said that in addition to a 47% Black male graduation rate from high school, the Black male graduation rate in major cities is very low. For example the Black male high school graduation rate in New York and Philadelphia is 28%. It is 39% in Washington D.C., 44% in Chicago and 47% in Nashville.
On the college and university levels, the statistics are not much better for Black college graduates, especially Black male college graduates. Department of Education data shows the nationwide college graduation rate for Black students is only 43 percent. The graduation rate for Black female students is currently 47 percent, while the graduation rate for Black male students is only 36 percent.
Given that only 47 percent of Black males graduate from our nation’s public high schools and only 36 percent of Black males graduate from our nation’s colleges and universities, is there any wonder there is a shortage of Black male teachers in America’s public schools? With such a small pool of potential Black male teachers to begin with, no one should be surprised by the shortage of Black male teachers in America‘s classroom.
Are low high school and college graduation rates the only reasons for the shortage of Black male teachers in America‘s classroom? Other factors are causing the Black male teacher shortage, as well. In conversations I have had with Black men about going into the teaching profession, I have found that there are Black men who refuse to go into the teaching profession because they see teaching as, “a woman’s profession.” These Black men see teaching as a noble profession. However, these Black men do not see teaching as, “being manly.”
Black men have told me they will not go into teaching because they do not feel like, “babysitting other people’s children.” One Black man told me, “Why should I go into teaching when I can make more money with less aggravation doing something else? I’m not babysitting someone else’s bad kids.” Another Black man had this to say about going into teaching. “I’m not going to raise someone else’s children.”
The high cost of higher education with the low return on those costs is another reason why Black men do not go into teaching. Many Black men do not go to college because they cannot afford it. Those Black men who do go to college in spite of their economic circumstances, want a job in which they get a good return on the money they spent for their college education after they graduate. The teaching profession, because of its relatively low pay, does not provide the financial return on the money these men spent for their college education. As one Black male college student once told me, “Teaching may be a good thing to do when you get out of college. But it isn’t the smart thing to do given the cost of a college education.”
We cannot overlook the economy when it comes to the shortage of Black male teachers in America’s classrooms. Given the current state of the American economy, the teaching profession does not offer the job security it once did. A generation ago, teachers taught until they wanted to retire or until they wanted to go into another profession. This is not true in today’s America. We must ask ourselves, given the yearly layoffs of current classroom teachers, the potential layoffs of future classroom teachers, plus all of the government cutbacks that have happened and will happen in education, why would anyone want to go into the teaching profession when there is always the possibility of being laid off year after year?
Nor can we ignore the fact that as America has become a more integrated society, more employment opportunities have opened up for Black men. Fifty years ago, one reason why Black male college graduates became teachers was because they had no other employment opportunities available in other professions due to racism and/or Jim Crow segregation, especially in the South. Today, Black male college graduates are free to explore employment opportunities in fields that were once denied to them just two generations ago. Today’s Black men have more employment opportunities than ever before. Unlike their grandfather’s generation, today’s Black man does not have to go into education to get a good and/or meaningful job.
Few talk about two other factors causing the shortage of Black men in the classroom. One is the socioeconomic conflict between educated Black men and so-called underachieving young Black males still in school. Some young Black males see educated Black men as wanting to be White or as being less than Black. On the other hand, some educated Black men see these so-called underachieving young Black males as playing the victimization game, unappreciative and ungrateful of past Black generations who laid the groundwork for today’s Black youth to be successful if only these young Black males wanted to be successful. These Black men with this type of attitude may want to go into the teaching profession. However, they only want to go into teaching if they have the opportunity to teach high achieving students at high achieving schools.
The other factor few talk about when it comes to the shortage of Black men in the classroom is general hypocrisy in which Black teachers are painted as the bad guy for doing what they were asked to do. Some Americans like to claim they want strong, Black male role models in the classroom, especially to teach young Black boys. However, when strong, Black male role models get into the classroom, they are criticized for being too strong and too demanding, as well as being accused of, “picking on those poor Black children who have it so hard in life.” Many Black men simply do not want to deal with this hypocrisy.
What can be done about the shortage of Black men in America‘s classrooms? Some solutions to the problem are obvious. We need to raise teacher pay in order to make teaching more attractive to more Black men. We must establish programs that identify potential Black male teachers in both high school and college and mentor these individuals until they graduate from college and go into the classroom. We need to find ways to make the cost of a college education more affordable, possibly having school systems offering financial incentives to those Black men who want to go into the teaching profession in exchange for teaching in the school system offering those financial incentives for a certain number of years after they graduate.
As we debate the problem of the shortage of Black male teachers in America’s classrooms, we must also take the time to look at the issue of “quantity versus quality.” Statistics show that America’s teaching force is 87% White and 77% female. We must ask ourselves is the shortage of Black male teachers necessarily a bad thing, if and only if, a quality education is being provided to our students, especially to America’s Black male students?
From personal experience, I got a wonderful public school education. I also only had one Black male teacher throughout grade school and high school. His name was Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore was my band teacher in the 5’th and 6’th grade. I had Mr. Gore for band once a week for one hour. Other than Ms. Washington, my 7’th grade English teacher, I had no other Black teachers in my 12 years of going to public school. I did not suffer because the overwhelming majority of my teachers were White when I went to school. This is not to say that other Black or Black male students did not excel due to a lack of Black teachers or Black male teachers in the school systems I attended. I am just saying that not having more Black male teachers was not an issue for me. Although, it may have been an issue for some of my classmates.
However, I will agree there is a need for Black men teaching in the classroom. This is especially true when, as stated before, there are some cases where the only positive Black male role model some young Black boys see during their day is a Black male teacher. I agree when U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says, “During a time when Black children need Black teachers as mentors and role models, we have to make sure our teachers and principals reflect the great diversity of this country."
SEE YOU SOON