Minority Teachers Are Few and Far Between.

Minority Teachers Are Few and Far Between. America's teaching force is not representative of our studentpopulation. While general school enrollments are growing at a fast but steadyrate, the minority student population is soaring all across the UnitedStates United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , especially in urban areas. The overall teacher shortage isworrisome for educators and administrators, but the shortage of minorityteachers is of grave concern. The dwindling dwin��dle?v. dwin��dled, dwin��dling, dwin��dlesv.intr.To become gradually less until little remains.v.tr.To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. numbers of minority teachersmeans that our minority students will be hard pressed to find rolemodels of their same background leading their classrooms. Minority students make up about 40 percent of the studentpopulation throughout the U.S., but they account for about 69 percent ofthe student population in urban school districts. However, minorityteachers only make up about 36 percent of the teaching force in urbanareas and about five percent across the country. An overwhelmingmajority of America's teachers are white females. African-American,Hispanic, Asian, and Native American--and even male--teachers aredangerously underrepresented un��der��rep��re��sent��ed?adj.Insufficiently or inadequately represented: the underrepresented minority groups, ignored by the government.in our schools. Last year, Grammy-winning rock musician Carlos Santana Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20 1947), is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician and guitarist.He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, the Santana Blues Band, going mostly under the title "Santana", which teamed upwith the National Education Association (NEA NEAabbr.1. National Education Association2. National Endowment for the ArtsNEA(US) n abbr (= National Education Association) → Verband f��r das Erziehungswesen ) to encourage minorities toenter into teaching. In a 30-second television spot, he said, "Doyou love music? Do you love art, books, science? We all love something.Whatever you love, think about teaching it." He said that helping to recruit teachers of color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed.See also: Color was important tohim because, "Teachers of color can be valuable role models andsupport systems for those kids because they've been there, theyknow what it feels like to be in their shoes." "It is important that when a kid looks up from his or herdesk, no matter what color, that kid sees someone who looks like them,someone who understands where they're coming from," Santanaadded. A lack of minority role models inside our school buildings is justone consequence of this shortage. With fewer minority teachers at thehead of the class, fewer minorities are looking to teaching as apotential career. Certainly, some of the lack of interest in teachingcomes from the wealth of job opportunities available today, for everyoneacross the board. But, many minorities simply do not see themselvesjoining, or have never considered, a profession that is dominated bywhite females. In response to this, many programs are emerging all across thecountry through state departments of education to support and recruitminority teachers. Below are just a few examples of what states aredoing to recruit minority teachers. * Connecticut: Teaching Opportunity for Para-professionals (TOP)allows minority students to go to college full time on an alternatingsemester basis while teaching to receive paid tuition, full salary, andbenefits. * Maryland: Project CHOICE recruits future minority teachers whilethey are still in high school. The Resident Teacher Program recruitsretiring military personnel and retirees from government and industry. * Michigan: Michigan Teacher Corps offers scholarships of up to$5,000 to minority students, particularly males, seeking a degree ineducation with the intent of entering a teaching career. * New Jersey: Minority Teacher Education Program recruits 25 highschool juniors each year to take part in college prep courses for twosummers and then receive loans and participate in work-study programs Noun 1. work-study program - an educational plan in which students alternate between paid employment and formal studydidactics, education, educational activity, instruction, pedagogy, teaching - the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart during college. If the student signs on to teach in an urban area forfour years or in a nonsuburban school for six years, the Years, Thethe seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109]See : Time loans areforgiven. * New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Teacher Opportunity Corp looks to four-year collegesand universities that have state-approved public or independent degreeprograms approved by the state's Board of Regents An independent governing body that oversees a state's public Colleges and Universities.All 50 states have governing bodies that oversee the administration of public education. and trainsparticipants to teach high-risk students and receive counseling,academic advising, and summer research experiences. Other incentivesinclude supplemental field experience and pairing with a mentor duringthe first year of teaching. * North Carolina North Carolina,state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N).Facts and FiguresArea, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. : The Public School Forum recruits African-Americanand Native American students to teaching by offering state teachingfellowships to finance their education, which in turn are forgiven inexchange for teaching in the state. The Consortium to Improve TeacherEducation helps historically Black colleges purchase software to helpminority students pass the standardized teacher examination. TheProspective Teacher Scholarship Loan offers loans of up to $2,000 peryear at a state institution of higher learning higher learningn.Education or academic accomplishment at the college or university level. . In exchange, recipientsmust teach for one year in the state for each year a loan has beengranted. The lack of minority teachers is a problem that many professionalorganizations such as the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers American Federation of Teachers(AFT), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. It was formed (1916) out of the belief that the organizing of teachers should follow the model of a labor union, rather than that of a professional association. have seen coming for some time. With swelling ranks of minoritystudents, every school district must step up their efforts to create ateaching force that is representative of their student population andpresent teaching as a viable profession for everyone, regardless oftheir gender or race.