Are your kids' teachers almost all white women?

[Anonymous]

For my rising 5th grader:
KG: yes
1: yes
2: yes
3: no
4: no

For my rising 2nd grader
KG: yes
1: yes

(Rockville)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

Why is it a problem that your teachers are mostly white women?

+1

Why don't the justice warriors care that most elementary school teachers are women?

[Anonymous]

Yes, ES in Fairfax County, the teachers are white or Asian women, except maybe a few men.

[Anonymous]

Yes, with the exception of one white man (FCPS ES). It’s weird, because my public school in the South had a mix of black and white teachers, men, etc. Why does it matter? Because black students who have black teachers have better long term academic outcomes. Because it is good for kids of all colors to see teachers from every race and gender. And, aside from the diversity, when a profession is predominantly female, it is less likely to be well paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

Why is it a problem that your teachers are mostly white women?

Any person in any marginalized group can tell you that representation is important. Having role models that you identify with gives you a vision of success. In my own experience as an openly gay teacher I have had more LGBT students than you could imagine write me letters or communicate in some other way, telling me explicitly that they thought they had no future because that’s what their family told them. They had me and realized that being lgbt didn’t prevent them from having a future and a happy and fulfilled adult life.

Not only do my personal experiences show that representation matters, but it is supported by research. Black students who have one black teacher before 3rd grade are 13% more likely to graduate from college. Black students that have two black teachers are 32% more likely. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2018-11-23/black-teachers-improve-outcomes-for-black-students?context=amp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, with the exception of one white man (FCPS ES). It’s weird, because my public school in the South had a mix of black and white teachers, men, etc. Why does it matter? Because black students who have black teachers have better long term academic outcomes. Because it is good for kids of all colors to see teachers from every race and gender. And, aside from the diversity, when a profession is predominantly female, it is less likely to be well paid.

Citation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.
Most teachers are middle aged, black females and a few younger white women, and a couple of men.

+1

[Anonymous]

Nope. None of the have been/are. It’s one of the perks of being in DC.

[Anonymous]

You cannot force black women, men of any race, whatever gender identification, etc into a profession. It is not something to be solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

Why is it a problem that your teachers are mostly white women?

DP. It’s an extremely limited range of experiences.

Even if the student body was all little white girls, kids need to be exposed to a much wider variety of role models.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

OP - use your head. The demographics of each generation is changing. Since teachers come from an older demographic, whites are still the majority. It will change in the future. But you should also understand that people can learn from someone who doesn't share their skin color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

I think if you asked yhis qiestion but changed the race people would say u are racist. Are you saying white women cant teach Black, Asian or Brown people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You cannot force black women, men of any race, whatever gender identification, etc into a profession. It is not something to be solved.

No, but you can create pull factors like really offering full student loan forgiveness, not these scam programs that exist today. You can also recruit in places like churches, mosques, braiding salons, and barber shops where you might encounter teens and twenty-somethings who want to make a difference. When my oldest was a recent college grad, many of her friends struggled to find full-time work outside of retail. Offer them alt-cert.

Run a really vigorous recruitment program for military vets and you will get a lot of black men. DH had a full career with the Marines and then decided to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my child's ES, which is 60% minorities, almost all the teachers are caucasian women. She's been through three grades there. All 5 K teachers were white women. 4/5 of the 1st grade teachers were white women. All 5 2nd grade teachers were white women. And I know this is the same across the country. How can we, as a nation, change this?

OP - use your head. The demographics of each generation is changing. Since teachers come from an older demographic, whites are still the majority. It will change in the future. But you should also understand that people can learn from someone who doesn't share their skin color.

Teaching is lagging behind in this.

My kids had a black pediatrician, black pediatric dentist, and Latina allergist but most white ES teachers. It’s harder to become a doctor than a teacher, but more minorities are chose medicine.

[Anonymous]

This is very interesting question.

There are many educators in my family, both male and female. We are also Caucasian.

All the women work in the preschool/ early elementary age group and men in high school.

As a 40 something who grew up in NoVa I had an Asian woman teacher and a white male PE teacher, in elementary school. Every other teacher (or administrator) was a white female. There were many male teachers after that, but I honestly do not think I had a single Black teacher, male or female, until I was in college.

Definitely something to think about.

OP Thanks for the food for thought.