role of the African-American teacher: Why it's essential in the school system, The

Black Collegian, Oct 2000 by Brown, Gilbert

CAREER REPORTS

Like most in her field, Sandra DeLaney didn't become a teacher because of the pay. The average salary for elementary and secondary educators is $40,574, which at first glance seems like a decent bit of change. That is until you consider that the average is tens of thousands of dollars less per year than professionals in other fields are paid, according to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Factor in the hours spent in and outside the classroom, the physical and emotional exertion required to handle two children, let alone 25, and the stress associated with shaping one's future, and you quickly come to the conclusion that teachers are underpaid.

"If you're entering the field for monetary rewards, you're in the wrong profession," says DeLaney, a seventhgrade teacher at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg, Florida. "Teaching, however, is filled with many other intangible rewards. When you have the opportunity to see your students become productive members of society or prosper in lucrative careers, their accomplishments are compensation for the pay you're lacking."

In her 20 years of teaching countless seventh graders, and at one time eighth graders, the long-time educator has been enriched by the many success stories that once sat in her classroom. Terrence Crawford, a young man whom she recalls having big deer eyes and a kind smile, recently graduated from dental school and was featured in an article in the local newspaper. Sonya Thompson is a lawyer. Professional football player William Floyd, her most notable pupil, won a Super Bowl ring during his stint with the 49ers. And there are others, doctors, educators (four of whom work with her at Bay Point), etc.

"Sometimes you're not aware of the impact you have on their lives," says DeLaney, who was shocked to learn a few years back that Clara Beckford, one of her quieter students, had nominated her in the teacher's category of Who's Who in America.

Making a difference in the lives of the Beckfords' of the world is what attracted her to the profession two decades ago. What has kept her coming back year after year-- even though many of her colleagues have left to pursue more profitable endeavors-is the fact that she is one of a lopsided percentage of African-American teachers in her district. Today, roughly 30 percent of the educators in her school are minorities. According to an annual study, Bay Point Middle School is not the only institution lacking in teachers of color. The "1998 Digest of Educational Statistics" reported that out of a public school teaching population of 2,561,294 teachers, 2,216,605 were White; 188,371 Black; 108,744 Hispanic; 27,510 Asian or Pacific Islander; and 20,064 American Indian or Alaskan, indicating that the teaching profession is becoming more racially homogeneous due to the influx of more white educators and the decline of educators of color.

The statistics are troubling to DeLaney and other educators such as Nicole Rose, an art teacher at Fishback Creek Public Academy, Indianapolis, Indiana. "A school climate is created by the individuals that make up that school," she says. "A homogeneous teaching staff creates a school climate that is substandard, especially if the student population is multicultural. Lack of diversity cripples learning opportunities for students and repeatedly presents education from a single perspective. "Typically, the rest of our lives are homogeneous and a culturally balanced school is one opportunity to interact with adults of different backgrounds."

Cheryl Snorgrass, a public school teacher in the Kansas City area prior to becoming an augmentative and alternative communication specialist, concurs. "A teaching cadre composed primarily of white females can be very limiting," she says. "Teachers from this population come from a cultural background that is diametrically opposed to African-American students. There are so many cultural issues and differences that are never acknowledged or studied that they can't possibly understand what it means to grow up as an African American in this country, in this day and time. "Failure to recognize and accept that differences do exist, and the inability to rise above this by taking the time to understand these differences, sets up the situation for failure. If what is being taught and the strategies for teaching don't align with my background and experiences as a young, developing African American, it will be difficult for me to see the value in what's being taught." The imbalance of minorities in the classroom, attributed by many to low salaries and the lackluster prestige of the profession, is troubling to AfricanAmerican professionals who believe their presence is crucial to the development and success of AfricanAmerican youth, particularly those in grades 5-8, a critical stage in which students can either be turned on to learning or turned off.

"During the elementary and secondary years, a child is going through the process of shaping the person he or she will be," says Dr. Kate Conway-Turner, the chairperson of the Department of Individual and Family Studies at the University of Delaware. "All the foundation is laid there-not just the academic foundation, but the child's sense of self. That's why it's so important for kids to see models of people like themselves in the school system. It's very difficult, but not impossible, when you're trying to figure out who you are and the kinds of things that you aspire to do when you don't see reflections of yourself."