21st Century teaching opportunities: Are you ready?

Black Collegian, Oct 2001 by Lockhart, James H

The wise, old philosopher, Confucius, once said, "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day of your life." From all indications, teaching fits into that category. Through the information derived from recent, national studies, and as the result of interviews with a national cross-section of teachers, this writer is convinced that teaching is one of the most rewarding and personally gratifying professions of them all. Sure, we have all seen and heard the media reports of shocking incidents such as that which occurred at Columbine High School near Denver. And, yes, we are all too familiar with the movies that depict schools, particularly urban schools as "Blackboard Jungles." But, let me make it very clear that the Columbine High School and the "Blackboard Jungles" of this nation are very much the exception, not the rule! This point is very effectively illustrated in the massive "Year 2000 Report on Safe Schools," jointly published by the U.S. Department of Education and the Justice Department. After conducting intensive research in hundreds of schools throughout the country, the report concludes "The vast majority of our nation's schools are safe, secure, and enjoyable places for both teachers and students."

Even more convincing are the results of personal interviews, with a cross-section of teachers, conducted by this writer in preparation for this article. Over 20 teachers provided enthusiastic responses to such questions as:

1. What motivated you to go into teaching?

2. What do you like best about teaching?

3. What advice would you give a young person, who is considering teaching as his/her career choice?

Here are some examples of the teacher's comments:

Iris Ellis, a graduate of Virginia State, has taught elementary school in Montgomery County, Maryland, for 30 years. She indicates, "What I have enjoyed most as a teacher is the opportunity to be a role model, particularly for African-American children."

Ava McClenton Penny of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a graduate of Tennessee State University. She points out that throughout her extensive 35-year experience as a teacher, she has always been most gratified "when I see the expression on children's faces that they have discovered the information that I have been attempting to impart to them."

Angela Lockhart Fisher is a graduate of Hunter College, New York. Although a relatively young teacher, she has enjoyed 12 years of success in such diverse geographical locations as New York City; Bel Aire, California; and Bethesda, Maryland. She states, "I was motivated to go into teaching by the notion that I could help children discover new things, and to develop their potential. What a joy I have in doing just that!"

From Grover, North Carolina near Charlotte, we received these insightful comments from Addieleen ("beanie") G. Crocker, an honors graduate of North Carolina A & T University. "Through 14 years as an educator, I learned that the successful and effective teacher must be willing to accept each student as an individual with different wants, needs and abilities."

This writer commenced his career as one of two male teachers in an inner-city junior high school in Albany, New York. As the only male assigned to teach core subjects in English and social studies, and as the only AfricanAmerican member of the faculty, there were special challenges to face. However, I came to love teaching. For, despite the challenges, I found that I could make a positive difference in the lives of young people. That made it all worthwhile!

Opportunities Abound

As Wayne Jones reported in an earlier edition of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN:

The demand for teachers has never been greater. Increased birth rates and immigration have resulted in explosive growth in elementary and secondary school student enrollments. By 2006, the nation's schools will enroll more than 54 million students, roughly 3 million more students than today. School districts across the country are scrambling to identify, recruit and hire more than two hundred thousand new teachers each year.

"The need for Black and Hispanic teachers has reached a critical stage," as indicated by The National Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC). In the 1999-2000 ERIC Clearinghouse Report on TeacherEducation, it is reported that minority teachers now make up only 10.3 percent of the current 2.3 million public school teachers. It is projected that in the next few years, the numbers of this nation's minority students will increase tremendously. When one considers that our students represent "the future of America," it behooves us, as concerned African-American adults, to step in and see to it that our kids are educated in the most effective manner. And yet, the ERIC Clearinghouse further reports, "The number of new recruits to teaching is insufficient to meet the present and future needs, particularly among minorities." In 1994, over 12 percent of full-time public school teachers were African American. By 1999, the total of all minority teachers had decreased to 10.3 percent, despite widespread affirmative action "outreach" recruitment in all corners of the United States. This trend has increased the possibility that a student could complete 12 years of public education without coming into contact with an African-American teacher. Such a trend could distort social realities for African-American children by denying these children successful African-American role models, and suggesting, perhaps, that teaching is off limits to AfricanAmerican people.