In my twelve years of schooling, I have only had two Black teachers. The rest of them have been white. Think about that statistic for a minute. In elementary school alone, it was one out of twenty. In middle school, things weren’t much better, with one out of sixteen. And in high school, every single one of my teachers has been white. That percentage of teachers of color (3.77%) is far lower than the district-wide number (16.58%), but the latter value still falls short of Louisville’s city-wide demographics. The city’s minority population is roughly 30%, so these statistics don’t make sense. Shouldn’t the demographics of our communities be reflected in most if not all scenarios? Why are there hardly any minority teachers?
One of the things that got me, a white teenage guy, thinking about this topic was the recent election of Kamala Harris, a Black woman, as our country’s Vice President. I’ve read many stories in the news and online discussing how this is a monumental occasion because it gives many people an example to which they can look up to and aspire to be like for the first time in our nation’s history.
“If our teaching staff doesn’t offer enough diversity, then how immersed can we really be in learning about other perspectives?”
In my life, the idea of being limited by what I had and hadn’t seen other people do has been completely foreign. Take a look around virtually any career path; I guarantee you there’s a white man who’s been prominent in it at any given point in time. As a result, I have never felt like there are restrictions on what I can and can’t do with my life. But not everyone has that luxury. I talked with Mr. Charles Marshall (the Assistant Principal of the Freshmen Academy at Fern Creek High School) about this, and he agreed that this is a problem in today’s schools.
“I can certainly see for some kids [a lack of people who look like them] being an issue,” he said in our interview. “Just imagine if you walked into a classroom and everyone was different than you. You might not feel as comfortable.” While he noted that this had never bothered him personally as a Black student, he believes it is important for today’s kids to “be able to see someone that looks like them and think ‘This person is me; I know that I can do it because they’re doing it.’” Talk about inspirational.
In Jefferson County Public Schools, the Backpack is a program that is meant to highlight different skills students should possess upon graduation. One of these is called Globally and Culturally Competent Citizen, the aim of which is for students to be aware of and appreciate cultures other than their own. Part of this comes through studying subjects like Spanish and African American history, but students should also be exposed to different cultures in real life. If our teaching staff doesn’t offer enough diversity, then how immersed can we really be in learning about other perspectives? Like Mr. Marshall said, students are likely to feel less comfortable talking about themselves around people they don’t relate to as well. Therefore, by increasing the number of represented cultures and backgrounds in our educational staff, all students gain an enriched school experience. White kids will be able to experience other perspectives firsthand, and minority students will be able to see themselves in their instructors and feel more at home in the classroom.
