|
|
| Educators |
| “According to
U.S. Department of Commerce data, more than one-third of students
in today's public schools are people of color. By the year 2025,
at least half will be. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of their teachers
are minority. More than 40 percent of schools across America don’t
have any teachers of color on staff. Research shows that when minority
teachers of color are missing, minority students land more frequently
in special education classes, have higher absentee rates and tend
to be involved less in school activities. Other experts say a lack
of minority teachers hampers staff’s ability to relate to a
diverse student body and boost parental involvement”(National
Education Association).
There are more minority students attending public schools today,
but yet only a small percentage of public schools have minority
teachers. We have to wonder that if there were more minority teachers
working in the profession then maybe more minority students will
have a higher success rate and will get more involved. Public schools
need to realize a diversified teaching staff will better prepare
students for their future in higher education. Public schools already
have more minority students today than they did 20 years ago. What
is going to happen to these students by the year 2025 when half
of the student population will be minority? What will the learning
atmosphere be like if public schools still have a low percentage
of minority teachers?
With an increase in the number of minority students attending
public schools today, there is an apparent need for more minority
teachers in the profession. The Teacher Education/Early Childhood
program offered at Broome Community College is building a more
diversified program that will hopefully improve these statistics.
We welcome and encourage students from minority populations to
consider education as a career choice. Students can earn their
2-year degree in teacher education at BCC, but then must transfer
to a 4-year school that offers education. For more information
on the Broome Community College Teacher Education/Early Childhood
program please check out our website at www.sunybroome.edu or contact
Dr. Barbara Nilsen at 778-5029 or nilsen_b@sunybroome.edu.
|
|
Famous African Americans that changed education |
|
|
Marva Collins
is an African
American icon who changed the education system in 1975. She took
her $5,000 pension along with her 2 children and 4 neighborhood
youngsters and developed a school for “unteachable” students.
During that first year at Westside Preparatory School she also
enrolled learning disabled children and a student who was borderline
retarded. By the end of that year those students scored five grades
higher, proving the label “unteachable” to be a misguided
one. Marva Collins believes, “effective teaching requires
making daily deposits of knowledge so that every child can become
a lifetime achiever…” (http://marvacollins.com./biography.html).
|
Mary
McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in Maysville, South Carolina.
Her goal was to give female
minority students an equal opportunity education. She founded the
Daytona Normal and Institute for African-American females. Today
that place is known as the Bethune-Cookman College. Mary Mcleod Bethune
served as President from 1904-1942 and 1946-47. She stated, “From
the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way
I could”
(http://www.lkwdpl.org/whoio/berth-mar.htm). |
| Arturo
Schomburg was born in San Juan Porto Rico on January 24, 1874.
He studied reading, penmanship,
sacred history, church history, arithmetic, Spanish grammar, history,
agriculture and commerce. Arturo's fifth-grade teacher is said to
have told him "Black people have no history, no heroes, no great
moments." Because of this and his participation in a history
club, Schomburg developed a thirst for knowledge about people of
African descent and began his lifelong quest studying the history
and collecting the books and artifacts that made up the core of his
unique library”(http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/text/aschomburg.html). |
|
