This paper was written about five years ago during my first year of college. I was lucky to find it saved and decided that I would post it just as it was written then. The state of education in Oregon and throughtout this country is still the same if not worse and desperately needs aggressive addressing. I’m grateful to professor Ray Nowak for allowing to and actually forcing me to express myself as I processed the world around me at that time.
Where are All the Minorities?
I can’t believe it. I live in a town that boasts itself as being liberal, diverse, and multicultural. But three years ago when at a future educator’s seminar, I was asked the question: “What percentage of Oregon’s teaching workforce do minorities make up?” I must admit I was startled at the results. At this point, I hadn’t seriously thought about the disparity in diversity I grew up with in Oregon, especially with relation to my teachers. For example, how many Latino teachers have you had? How many African-American, Asian, Russian, or Puerto Rican, etc.? So I ask the question: “Where’s all the minorities?” I now believe that Oregon has very little diversity among its teachers, this has come through an analysis of statistics and personal experiences.
When looking at numbers, it’s almost impossible for anyone to gainsay the fact of America’s lack of diversity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1999, 87 percent of America’s teachers were white (Double 1). Contrary to popular belief, we Oregonians aren’t exempt from this type of disparity either; in fact, the numbers in Oregon are even worse. The Oregon Minority Teachers Report of 2001 showed that the number of white teachers in Oregon were roughly at 96 percent (9). These are just a few fairly recent statistics that made it easy to formulate my belief. Another form of a statistic is called a projection. Projections are statistics that help analyze and prepare for the future.
Recent projections in the area of education not only show that we have a large mountain to climb, but that the mountain is getting larger. Our students, who are projected by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 56 percent minority by the year 2020, will need more teachers of color, much more than today, if we plan to accurately represent our population (Educating 6). Although projections aren’t facts, they’re generally reliable (especially coming from the U.S. Census Bureau). Today, students of color represent about 21 percent of Oregon classrooms, versus teachers of color which is at 4 percent (Oregon 13). Statistics, whether past facts or future projections, helped change my mind about Oregon’s diversity; moreover, they coincide with my personal experiences that were instrumental in shaping my belief.
America has a variety of cultures, but many Americans seldom experience this variety. For instance, I know a college professor, who just two weeks ago mentioned she hadn’t physically seen an African-American person until she was 18 years old. Her first experience happened to be in a prison when she moved to Oregon as a corrections officer. Without doubt, her perspective if not skewed must be limited. Granted, this is an extreme case, it endorses the lack of diversity belief. Here we have a college professor, who has very little cultural awareness, who teaches hundreds of college students every year from her limited perspective. Unfortunately, this is a part of Oregon’s teaching structure and is a situation that helped solidify my belief. I must say that I’m a product of this same structure, thus my cross-cultural awareness is also limited.
Growing up in Oregon was culturally challenging. Most of my educational history I was one of a few if not the only African-American in my classes. Right now I’m a sophomore in college and I can count on one hand the African-American teachers I’ve had in my entire educational history. I’ve had two Asian teachers, three Latino teachers, no Russian, Native American, or any other minority teachers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out I don’t know much about the cultures around me; in fact, I don’t think many of my contemporaries do either. How could you? One would have to get experiential knowledge from being around these cultures for a substantial amount of time. Besides that, you’d have to read a great number of books to get the vast history behind these cultures. On the contrary, if Oregon was diverse among its teachers, students would grow up with this knowledge. This would supply an opportunity for all students to have a well-rounded education, not simply being educated to succeed financially, but also being educated to racial understanding and harmony. I experienced an education that lacked diversity; however, future students shouldn’t be subject to this type of disadvantaged learning experience.
I think we owe it to our students, all of our students, to have teachers in the classroom that look like them. Teachers from the same ethnic backgrounds are often unable to educate students about other cultures. We all benefit from diversity. In a report to the Oregon Board of Education, on July 21, 2001, the Chancellor’s Office summed up some of the benefits by reporting:
Recent research supports the assertion that benefits from diversity are experienced by individuals (minority and nonminority alike), educational institutions, and organizations, as well as society as a whole”. The report went on to say that “students generally show greater active-thinking processes and demonstrating higher levels of intellectual engagement and motivation. Faculties are also affected; they are more likely to utilize active-learning methods in the classroom, and engage in research on race/ethnicity. They also possess an increased racial and cultural awareness. Society also benefits by having an educated citizenry with greater cross-cultural awareness” (Oregon 3).
Works Cited
Double Degree, School of Education, Oregon State University.23 Feb. 2003.16
March 2004.
<http://oregonstate.edu/education/doubledegree/rationale.html>
“Educating the Emerging Majority”. The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education.
Sept. 2000. 16 March 2004
<http://www.ihep.org/Pubs/PDF/FinalTeacherED.pdf>
Oregon Minority Teacher Report. 28 Feb. 2001. 23 Feb. 2004
<http://www.ous.edu/aca/MTR/2001.htm>