Posted on 08/04/2010 7:00:42 AM PDT by trueamerica
Texas schools need to hire more black and Hispanic teachers, especially as the enrollment of minority students continues to rise, experts said.
The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday that two out of three Texas teachers in the past school year were white, which is a proportion that has not changed much in recent years. The state projects that minority students will make up around 62 percent of the student body in the 2011-12 school year, up more than 10 percent from a decade ago.
"The research shows that if you can match the ethnicity and race of teachers and students, teachers tend to be more effective," said Ed Fuller, associate director of the University Council for Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. "It's important for role modeling and pushing those students to go to college. Of course, you want to make sure teachers are well-qualified and not just thrown into a classroom because of race or ethnicity."
A Harvard University Kennedy School of Government study published in 2004 concluded that white and black students in Tennessee did better on state tests with teachers of their own race.
The findings indicated that recruiting more minority teachers could generate important gains among minority students.
A similar study by the Education Resources Information Center found that Hispanic students had similar benefits. One of the reasons is that minority teachers better understand cultural differences and can "break down the students' stereotypes," according to the study.
Texas school districts hire about 30,000 to 35,000 new teachers every year, but the pool of minorities interested in the profession is small, local officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I can afford a private school. We homeschool because it is better. Don’t suggest that homeschooling is the low rent alternative to govenment schools. We out achieve the private schools by a substantial margin.
Great post.
I’m not sure what your districts look like, but in my area teachers are horribly underpaid compared to the cost of living. I know of three women who live with their parents, because they can’t afford a home in the area. So-called tenured teachers make a sufficient wage, but entry-level teachers can barely stand on their own if they’re single females. Otherwise it’s a job you have to love to stick with.
I agree with you. One friend who went on to teach after college wound up leaving it after just 2 years. He said the environment is very hostile and politicized. That kept me away from teaching as well. Many teachers genuinely want to teach, and they are the men and women who I would want to teach my children (if I intended to send them to public schrools). Incentivising minorities to teach if they aren’t passionate about it is a bad idea.
Homeschooling is not only superior to private schooling,
in many cases it’s actually more expensive to eschew the second income.
However, there are other considerations as well,
which are huge bonuses for the family that has a stay at home mom/teacher.
Otherwise it’s a job you have to love to stick with.”
I would have agreed with you years ago, but today I strongly disagree. Things have changed that radically. For most teachers today - not all - they are there because a government school paycheck is the best paycheck they can get. Of course, they won’t say this publicly...publicly it is “all about the children”, but that simply isn’t true.
“Incentivising minorities to teach if they aren’t passionate about it is a bad idea.”
I couldn’t agree more. The problem is that it (incentivizing minorities) has already been done. In fact, it has been going on for at least 45 years, with predictably bad results. What they want now is more of the jobs for “minorities” - it is simply a fight over getting preference for government employment being camouflaged by rhetoric about learning and children.
I come from a family full of public school teachers, past and present. The system is now so corrupt that it needs to be eliminated. It is far beyond repair, as decades of failed “school reform” efforts” demonstrate.
Hadn’t been involved in the schools around here for quite some time. It’s sad that we’ve devolved that much.
Regarding the second income....when taxes and all costs are factored in, the trade-off on the second income is more appealing in many cases than many assume. In addition, homeschooling doesn’t prevent parents from working from home - or if they have a business - bringing the children to work so they can do their school work there.
You are right, though, that there are some cases where a family would be giving up significant income.
Well said.
Easy answers for the multiculturists are:
1. Promote minorities over whites regardless of capabilities and experience.
2. Hire minorities over white applicants without regard to capabilities or experience.
3. Reduce employment requirements to meet minority goals. If this means non-degree teachers, so be it.
You will soon have reached the goal of minority employment at levels near or exceeding their percentage of population.
I suspect you will also have a migration of white students (who would now be the minority) into private schools where parents are more concerned with education than diversity.
When I lived in Texas, one of my coworkers actually said this to me: “I’m so glad my daughter has a white teacher.” Did I mention that she was black?
Where in the Constitution or Declaration of Independence is it a God-given right to be paid according the standard of living of the area???? WHAT UTTER NONSENCE!!!
Why would it be rational to pay government teachers according the standard of living of the area but not the Home Depot shelf stocker or Wall Mart greeter???
I know of three women who live with their parents, because they can’t afford a home in the area.
And....There are ****PLENTY*** of people, who aren't teachers, working in the private sector in these areas that can't afford to buy a home in the area. TOUGH LUCK!
I have a doctorate. If I worked in Malibu ( and I could)I would NOT be able afford to live in Malibu ( on the beach or otherwise). It would not mean that I was in anyway underpaid.
Where on earth did you learn this Marxist DRIVEL!!! Did you pick it up from the NEA talking points website?
..."Incentivising" minorities...
By the way, normal conservatives would **never** use a phrase such as "incentivizing minorities". Only someone trained in Marxist educrat-speak would use a term like that.
From the poor quality of the posts of some of the government teachers on Free Republic and elsewhere and level of logical thinking, I am convinced that government teachers persist in the government schools because they absolutely could not survive in the free market. They stay in the government schools because they know they'd be eaten alive by the competition anywhere else.
( Not proof read.)
You will also see a migration of ***black*** and ***Hispanic*** students into private schools, as well!
Any parent ( black, white, or Hispanic) that cared about his child's education would seek a better educational setting in a private school.
Our government schools are the **MOST** segregated institutions in America! No other private or public institution of significant size comes even close. Only government could create and maintain such a segregated monstrosity. ( Come to think of it, it took government to create and maintain Jim Crow. Only government could have pulled that off. )
As it is now, private schools are far better integrated than our government schools. And....When studied the white and minority students are far more socially integrated in private schools. For instance, in a private schools white and black children willing choose to eat lunch together. In government schools there is self-segregation in the lunch room.
A little harsh, I’d say....I just thought you might be interested in the latest scam by certain privileged groups to try to claim a larger percentage of jobs for which they are not qualified.
ONY THIS TIME THE BLACK MAN GONNA HAVE THE GOOD SCHOOLS AND THE WHITE MAN GONNA HAVE THE SLUMMY ONES.
Logic and reason is tool of the white oppressor/
*sigh* Ok, I’m being taken somewhat out of context here, winter. I don’t disagree with you that they aren’t owed a wage. They’re not working for 3 months out of the year, for goodness sake! However, they still do it. Why do they still teach? Are they getting any benefits from the teachers unions? Our local schools cry poor every year, but our counties consistently rank among the highest in education around my state; so, where is all of this largesse going?
The article discussed the emergent need for blacks and hispanics to fill the roles at schools in Texas. I wasn’t talking about “incentivising minorities” like it was a good thing. Go back and read my posts about this, and I’m saying that it is obscene to incentivize minorities for any reason; and they’re calling US racist!?
You’re not the first FReeper to tear me a new hole about things I’ve posted, but I do agree with you on one thing wholeheartedly: public schools, and ESPECIALLY graduate school, have and are teaching me the educrat-speak you cite, and I hate it. They’re all very high on excessively compounded words. Just know that I’m on your side of this battle and simply try to relate the issue in terms that the other side uses in order to effect the debate we need on issues like this. I’m tired of being called racist.
I think you might be reading my posts in the wrong light.
What would they expect from a border state, where the conga-line of illegals is endless and supported by our own government....
Texas Has A Whorehouse In It!
Your comment makes me laugh. My husband is a mechanic and you wouldn’t believe how many blacks tell him they don’t trust the black mechanics we have in our small town. LOL
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