Education Alert: Minorities Still Lacking In Teaching Programs

People training to be teachers are still predominantly white, study finds

Know a young, black male studying to become a teacher? If so, you might want to ask him to take a few friends or cousins along with him. According to a study released Wednesday by the American Association of College for Teacher Education, 82 percent of candidates who received a bachelor’s degree in education in 2009-10 and 2010-11 were white. This as census figures show that almost half of all children under 5 in 2008 were members of a racial or ethnic minority. So what’s the problem? Why aren’t we attracting more people of color to the teaching profession? Sharon P. Robinson, president of the association that did the study, says the recruitment problem stems from the fact that minority students in general were simply not enrolling in college at as high a rate as white students. (Her assertion, by the way, is heavily disputed in some circles.) Robinson’s study surveyed close to 700 colleges and universities that rain nearly two-thirds of new teachers. (New York Times)

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