THE LACK OF BLACK 1

The Lack of Black

An Overview of the Minimal Amount of Black Teachers in Education
Glenna Stone
EdLd 644: Equity and Education
Minnesota State University - Mankato

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There are approximately 5 million teachers in the United States who are capable, bright,
and eager educators that are committed to the youth of our country, however, few are black. In
fact, of the 5 million teachers, only 2% of the educator population happens to be black (Charite,
2010). I set out to find out more about what I call the lack of black in our education system
today. I investigated statistics of black educators, why there is a lack of black teachers and
finally discovered some profound implications of our students overall educational experiences
having very few black educators.
In Sandra J. Charites article, WANTED: Black male teachers, she explains the
extinction of black teachers, specifically black male teachers in the education system with a 2003
National Educators Association study that states, Black males leave their teaching jobs at a
higher rate than their colleagues and half of Black males leave the profession before retirement
(2010). In fact, in Illinois alone, out of twelve school districts studied, none had any black
teachers in their staff (Aguilar, 2003). Looking back in my own educational experience, I hadnt
had a black teacher until I was in college; I had gone through thirteen years of public school
without experiencing a perspective other than that of my own race. Superintendent Brent Clark
of the Belleville Township District in Illinois states, We are always looking for high-quality
minority applicants. Its critical to have that representation and we realize that (Aguilar, 2003).
However, when you look at the statistics of their high school, their demographics show
otherwise. At Belleville Township High School, 23% of their student population is black, while
only 1.3% of their staff population is black (Aguilar, 2003). Illinois is not alone in this lack of
black, out of 8,954 full-time teachers employed in North Carolinas school system only 184 are
black males (Michaels, 2007). This epidemic is occurring all over the United States with
overwhelming evidence that there is a lack of black teachers in our educational systems.

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Determining the presence of racial discrimination in our educational system is the lesscomplicated part; discovering why there is a lack of black educators is another initiative. In
general, my thought has always been that there is a shortage of teachers due to the lack of
appreciation for the profession, the fact that it costs much more to be educated to teach than you
are paid or that there are just too many hoops to jump through to obtain an educational degree.
That alone did not answer my question as to why, specifically, black men and women were not
entering the field of education. One of the reasons might be that historically, African Americans
have chosen teaching because other fields were not available to them but with those barriers
mostly broken, theyre actually choosing other, more high paying careers (Charite, 2010). Dr.
Mildred E. Berry, Dean and professor of education at Florida Memorial University explained that
on top of these other factors, Black males have records and as a result are weeded out of
educational programs because they are not able to get cleared to work in public schools
(Charite, 2010). Not all black males have records, but I do understand that it would be nearly
impossible for a black man or woman to obtain a degree in teaching with a criminal record. Dr.
Berry goes on to explain that teachers generally do not encourage blacks, specifically, black men,
to become teachers (Charite, 2010). Reflecting on my own teaching, Im embarrassed to say that
I myself have never encouraged a black student to become a teacher. This made me think is a
plethora of white teachers and a lack of black teachers a cyclical, subconscious label? Have we
been conditioned that because we experience more white teachers in our educational journey that
we are trained to believe thats best? This correlates as well with the fact that there is an
unofficial stereotype and when most black males reflect on their own educational experiences,
they too find that they were taught by a majority of white females. They themselves may
believe that they couldnt achieve the same success as teacher simply by being black in a

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predominately white, female profession (Charite, 2010).
What could the implications of all this mean on the educational experience of our black
students? First theres a definite disadvantage to not only black students but also white students
in the fact that there is a lack of exposure to a racially diverse perspective (Bouffard, 2008). As
early as elementary school, black students will feel left out because they dont have one teacher
that looks like them. They are also feeling left out as they celebrate predominately white
holidays such as St. Patricks Day and the lack of solicitation of black teachers means that
suburban and private schools have trouble assimilating African American children (Bouffard,
2008). The disconnect reaches not only students but parents as well, like Rose-Marie Doles, who
pulled her 9 year old son from a white public school. She went on to explain, Often black
parents feel at war with the school, they dont feel welcome and dont feel treated as partners
(Bouffard, 2008). Cash Michaels explains in his article, Lack of Black Teachers Is Alarming,
that African American male teachers can reach out to struggling black students [school]
districts arent focusing on these kids, these black kids need role models and the high dropout
rate is unacceptable in any civilized society (2007). In fact, only 60% of African American
high school students that started 9th grade in 2002, graduated in 2006. Those who dropped out,
many said, overall, they did not feel that the teachers or administrators cared about them
(Michaels, 2007). James Gray, the President of the Illinois NAACP agrees with Michaels saying
that black students need to have someone there in school that can be a role model or the
alternative is dropping out. The high school dropout rate of black students in the United States
is, in my eyes, the biggest implication of the lack of black teachers in our educational system.
Overall, the lack of black teachers affects the success of our black students. The lack of
concern in this subject matter is another entire issue. As an educator myself, I can say that I truly

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thought that I had all the tools and outlets to give each of my students the chance to succeed. It
never once crossed my mind that the skin color of my colleagues and myself could actually
hinder the educational experience of some of my students. Its important to bring light to the
lack of black teachers in the United States. We need to encourage our black students to go into
teaching, administration and the educational profession; we need to support our black students by
hiring black teachers and administrators. We need to focus on truly giving all our students the
tools they need to succeed and that means we nee dto provide them with the opportunity to feel
like they fit in at their school and they have someone to turn to that is like themselves to express
their frustrations. It starts in the classroom and ends with our administrators hiring capable
black employees.

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References
Aguilar, A. (2003, December 22). Many School Districts Lack Black Teachers. St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Bouffard, K. (2008, November 3). Black Teachers in Short Supply. Detroit News, p. A.1.

Charite, S. J. (2010, September 15). WANTED: Black male teachers. The Miami Times, pp. 1A,
10A.

Michaels, C. (2007, April 19). Lack Of Black Teachers Is Alarming. Sacramento Observer.