Resume Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9: Interpretations (Last Chapter)
- Professionalism and Community
Students in American urban classrooms do not have a choice—they must meet the requirements of modern life or be resigned to poverty, even though their families may represent a myriad of traditional cultures offering alternatives and lessons for modern life. The negotiation of a balance between the competing loyalties of traditional kinship and urban America takes place in schoolrooms and teachers need every multicultural insight available as they conduct that process. Teachers, however, are not simply instruments of modernization and professional expertise. Teachers have loyalties to identities and images from traditional cultures and local communities embodied in one or many generations of their kinfolk. The task of professional transformation must respect and address these loyalties in order to provide the optimum instruction for low-income, immigrant, and non-White students (Zeichner and Hoeft, 1996).
- Image and Respect: The Choice to Teach
Teaching as a profession lacks color. Teachers, as professionals and regardless of their race, gender, class, or any cultural identity, allegedly possess a general or universal expertise that can be applied to any student within the well-managed world of the school building. To suggest that teaching might have color and that racial or other identities could be relevant in the recruitment and effectiveness of teachers is to call into question the very definition of a profession. In the world of urban school teaching in the United States, race and racism are endemic. Schooling is conducted within a social context that embodies racial assumptions and practices on an everyday basis and that rests on a history of racism. If we are to understand the ‘color of teaching,’ we must come to terms with the role of racial identity in the selection, recruitment, and retention of the teachers desperately needed for the students of urban America in all of their cultural diversity, economic deprivation, and subjugation to the racial myths ingrained in American life.
Note:
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Resume Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8: Recommendations for Recruiting Students of Color into the Profession
As we look at recommendations for increasing the actual numbers of minority youth choosing careers in teaching, we must identify solutions for all aspects of the problems facing students of color as they move through schooling and compete for careers. After all, professional careers are going to continue to be available only on a competitive basis. The skills needed for eventual success must be acquired early in their educational lives, along with the motivation to face the often inhospitable confines of college and graduate study. Clearly, we need to increase the levels of achievement for African American, Latino, and Native American students beginning in the early grades and continuing through college (Vegas, et al., 1998). We also need, however, to seek ways to make the teaching profession attractive to students of color so that all groups are eventually more represented in future classrooms.
There are several recommendations for recruiting students of color into the profession:
1. Improve school education
2. Improve the image of teachers
3. Encourage students
4. Involve parents
5. Stress the importance of education
6. Provide early teaching-like experiences and bring in role models
7. Recruit in the community
8. Enhance financial aid options
9. Increase salary of teachers
Resume Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7: Reforming Teacher Education
- Criticism of Teacher Education Programs
According to the majority of informants, traditional methods of training teachers are no longer adequate for the needs of today’s children. Teacher education programs and their faculties were heavily criticized for a lack of awareness of, and detachment from, public schools. Many informants considered their training in colleges of education as a waste of time; some even saw it as detrimental. A recurring criticism of teacher education programs was that they were too theoretical and did not relate to the reality of the classrooms. The typical program of a year of theory prior to a few weeks of student teaching was seen as a farce.
- Recommendations for Changes in Teacher Education
Over half of the informants recommended that the major change needed in teacher education programs was to involve students in a variety of school and community settings early in their undergraduate experience. Other suggestions included:
1. Involve parents
2. Prepare teachers to work with diversity
3. Prepare educators to train teachers
4. Increase the range of pedagogical skills to work with diverse student populations
5. Increase understanding of the social, economic, and political realities of the profession
6. Require seminar-style lab classes
7. Increase access to and support in college.
Resume Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6: On Race-matched Teaching
The basic belief underlying race-based role modeling is that ‘Minority teachers can relate better to minority children.’ (20/AFm) If we follow this contention, there is an even greater urgency to increase the number of teachers of color. Such an assumption, however, leaves us with numerous questions: Do children learn better from people most like themselves? If so, should Latino teachers be expected to teach only Latino children? Are African American teachers less able to teach European American kids? Do we select and train teachers differently depending on the clientele? Do students of one skin color learn differently from students with another color within the meanings of color provided by a culture? Or are there other issues involved that at times can override coloration? According to the teachers of color interviewed, socioeconomic status and exposure to inner-city kids deeply inform teacher attitudes as to whom they want to teach and how they teach. The educational and professional background of family, type of schooling received, immigrant status, time in country, regionalism, and even age further complicate the shaping of these teacher attitudes.
Resume Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5: Asian American Teachers
- Immigration and a New History for Asian Americans
As one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in America, Asian Americans provide a unique challenge to our understanding of diversity. The influx of Asian immigrants since 1965 has led many urban schools to reconsider stereotypes not only of the so-called ‘model minority’ Asian American but also of who in fact makes up the socially constructed and ill-conceived term ‘Asian’ (Hartman and Askounia, 1989; Nakanishi and Nishida, 1995).
- The Image of Teaching and Asian American Teachers
The Asian American viewpoint, and this is defined here by interviews with teachers of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Pilipino and Vietnamese backgrounds, was frequently explained in terms of cultural background. Traditionally, the status of teachers in East Asia has been very high (Baruth and Manning, 1992; S.J.Lee, 1994; Y.Lee, 1991). Based primarily on Confucian values that dictate respect for relationships and hierarchy, Asian cultures have placed teachers in the educated, if not ruling, elite (Smith, 1994). Although this is gradually being eroded by materialist influences that tie status to accumulated wealth (Goodman, 1990), the teachers interviewed had been raised under the more traditional system.
- Asian American Resistance to Teaching as a Career
As of 1994, Asian American teachers constituted less than two percent of all K-12 teachers with a mean of only eight Asian Americans each enrolled in pre-service teacher education programs in the United States (AACTE, 1994). Low involvement in teacher preparation is not because of any lack of success in education generally. Given that Asian Americans, in the aggregate, enjoy relatively high academic success through to the level of graduate study, reasons for their lack of involvement in teacher education must be found that vary from the reasons for other minority groups whose low college attendance and graduation levels provide the most obvious explanation for lack of participation in the teaching profession.
- The Problematic Issue of High Standards Set by Chinese Traditions of Schooling
So what is the source of these attitudes that apparently cause the hesitancy toward, if not resistance to, teaching as a career? Ironically, the answer seemed to reside in Chinese culture itself, more specifically in the high regard for teaching and the standards set by Chinese culture for teachers. As one informant said: ‘You have to think of yourself as a great person to be a teacher.’ (188/ASf) In Japanese, the term erai hito explains this concept. This was not simply hesitancy on the part of youth who have not had adequate experience educating others; rather, informants claimed that the title of teacher had to be reserved for those who neared perfection. ‘If there are ten qualities that a teacher needs and Chinese people do not meet all ten of those qualities, they will consider themselves not qualified to be a teacher’ (156/ASf) or ‘Young Asian people do not see themselves as good enough to be a teacher’ (182/ASm) were comments sprinkled throughout the interviews. To tell others that you were interested in becoming a teacher verged on arrogance, not only because of the assumption that you were qualified beyond reproach, but also that you had the audacity to assume that you could teach other people’s children to a standard that would be acceptable to Asian parents.
Resume Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4: Native American Teachers
- Native Americans and Their Struggle to Survive Schools
Native Americans have a long tradition of educating their own children whereby many ‘teachers’ participate in the training (Marashio, 1982). Elders serve as guides for the younger members of the tribe. Children watch, listen, and follow long before they act. Ironically, for many Native peoples it is not even a question of choosing between acquiring the skills, knowledge, and lifestyle of mainstream middle-class society or retaining one’s cultural identity and traditions. Native peoples struggle to understand how they can gain self-sufficiency, free of dependence on the ‘outside’ world of federal agencies, which are often flawed with bureaucratic and political agendas, a dependence paradoxically created as a legacy from federally provided government schooling guaranteed by treaty.
- Native Americans: The Image of Teaching and Respect for the Profession
Part of the difficulty in establishing a positive image of teaching or imagining oneself in the profession of educating others is that much of what is taught can seem irrelevant to the needs of traditional and/or working-class families (Stiegelbauer, 1992). For Native people, negative images of schooling have been passed down for generations. Even though students themselves may not have gone through boarding schools, young people have heard the stories and internalized the messages.
- Native Americans Address the Low Participation of Indian Students in Teaching
Native American informants were more cautious in identifying the reasons for low participation of their people in the field of teaching. For many Native youth, the prospects of continuing on to college in order to acquire a teaching credential were thwarted not only by their family’s traditional views but more significantly by poor academic preparation and, hence, low graduation rates from high school and college (Wilds and Wilson, 1998).
Resume Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3: Latino Teachers
- The Construction of a Latino History with American Schooling
The history of the Latino educational experience in the United States, although different from the African American, is one fraught with similar hostility, misunderstanding, and distrust (San Miguel and Valencia, 1998; Moore and Pachon, 1985). Basic to an understanding of educational opportunities for Latinos is the importance placed politically on bilingual education (Fernandez and Guskin, 1981). Although African Americans saw the main battle to be fought on the field of integration with the hope of increased resources, Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans, have sought improved educational access and success through bilingual education. The ironic result has been that, in tandem with residential discrimination, ‘bilingual education,’ as it has been traditionally administered rather than as it is imagined to operate, has tended to reinforce segregated schooling. Latino students are more segregated today than at any other time in the past (Orfield and Eaton, 1996).
- The Image of Teaching and Latino Teachers
Many of the Latino informants were convinced that respect for teachers would increase if teachers themselves honored the culture and traditions of their students. At times this appeared to go against the American concept of compulsory schooling as a right not a privilege. They claimed that if teachers understood that in many Latin countries education is reserved for the elite and that working-class youth are often expected to assist the family financially after a certain age, they would be less inclined to misinterpret students’ actions. If students left school early to work (dropped out) or took time off to take care of their family or return home for holidays or celebrations, this should not be seen as disrespectful of teachers but rather respectful of family needs and priorities.
- Why the Shortage of Latino Students in Teaching
According to the informants, the issue of Latino youth not entering teaching as a profession has less to do with resistance to the idea of becoming a teacher because of low status or meager income than it does with lack of success in moving through the academic pipeline. Latino teachers were overwhelmingly preoccupied with the poor academic achievement of Latino students and scoffed at the concern for more Latino teachers. Many of them lamented the low graduation rates from high school and the lack of rigor presented in coursework in many predominantly Latino schools.
- Negative experience in school
Only a few of the Latino teachers mentioned negative school experiences as a cause for student resistance to entering teaching. In contrast to this, research with Latino college students reflected a much stronger awareness of the many problematic relationships that Latino youth have experienced with the educational system. Their stories relate to misplacement in ESL/LED language classes, inability to use their primary language, ostracization by peers who do not see them as authentically Latino, and frustration with teachers who were unprepared to work with them
- Access to career options
As mentioned earlier, Latino teachers were less concerned about which career their students selected than they were about getting them through high school. The suggestion that perhaps increased access to more job opportunities might be one of the reasons Latino students are not considering teaching as a viable profession left some of the teachers laughing at the thought: ‘My students [Latino] don’t even think about becoming doctors and lawyers. Teaching would be the last profession that they would choose. They do not see themselves as professionals.’
- Accent discrimination and racism
Discrimination based on accent caused rancor among both Latino and Asian American informants. Some of the Latino teachers who came as immigrants to this country were professionals in their respective fields ‘back home.’ One teacher who holds several advanced degrees in science was a chemist in Honduras but has not been permitted to teach chemistry in America because of her accent.
- Lack of encouragement
Beyond the lack of information is the reality that many parents have limited formal schooling themselves. It became clear in the interviews, particularly in Long Beach, that many Mexican American and Southeast Asian immigrant students were sitting in classrooms for the first time in their lives.
- Low pay
Latino teachers did not see money as a consideration in attracting Latino youth into the teaching profession. Most of them believed that they were well paid and that the benefits that came with the job in terms of security, time off, ease of work load, etc. were bountiful.
- Concluding Remarks
In comparison to most of the African American teachers interviewed, most of those teachers who self-identified as Latino did not see their job as low status with low pay. It was amazing to see the pride in the profession and the numerous stories that reflected gratitude for a job with good income, security, benefits, and an opportunity to help others.
Resume Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2: African American Teachers
- The Changing Historical Context for African American Teachers
- African American Teachers Speak to the Image of Teaching
- African American Teachers’ Perceptions of Why Students of Color Resist Teaching as a Profession
- Economic reasons: Low pay
- Economic reasons: Too much education for the return
- Economic reasons: More opportunities elsewhere
- Educational reasons: Inadequate and negative experience in K-12 schooling
- Educational reasons: Lack of support in college
- Social/cultural reasons: Racism
- Social I cultural reasons: Lack of encouragement and racelessness
- Do African American Teachers Recommend Teaching?
Resume Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1: The Issues and Research
- Crisis in Urban Schools
According to Education Secretary Riley, he said "The need for more teachers will pressure school districts to hire individuals who are not certified. Twenty-seven percent of newly hired teachers failed to meet state licensing requirements and nearly one-third of all teachers are teaching in a field they did not study as either a major or a minor subject in college. If hiring patterns remain as they are now, one-half to two-thirds of the millions of teachers hired in the next ten years will be first-time teachers. Clearly, the shortage of teachers for urban youth verges on a national crisis. Although colleges of education continue to produce capable teachers, few of them are able or willing to work with the diversity demanded in urban school districts, regardless of their own ethnicity." (Gordon, page 1)
- The Need for Competent and Caring Teacher
One of the major educational concerns of our lifetime is the search for qualified and caring teachers for low-income immigrant and minority children who have become the majority population in American urban schools. Although the need for teachers of color is embedded in a context of school desegregation, higher education elitism, racism, poverty, and urban decay, these societal and structural impediments cannot account fully for the resistance, hesitancy, or inability among students of color to pursue teaching as a career.
- The Image of Teaching
- The language of color
- The Research Process
- Three urban school districts and their teachers of color
- The sites
- The researcher
- Communities of Color and the Teaching Profession
- The Historical Context
The Color of Taeching Contents
Contents
Foreword
JOHN U.OGBU vi
Acknowledgements ix
1 The Issues and the Research 1
2 African American Teachers 15
3 Latino Teachers 30
4 Native American Teachers 42
5 Asian American Teachers 49
6 On Race-matched Teaching 58
7 Reforming Teacher Education 68
8 Recommendations for Recruiting Students of Color into the Profession 77
9 Interpretations 87
A Note on Sources 93
References 95
Index 108
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