Being A Black Teacher Essay

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Teachers are the gatekeepers of the classroom. They control who gets attention, who gets what services and accolades, and who stays and who gets expelled. Teachers have the power to inspire their students or discourage them. Truly they play an important role in shaping the students' beliefs about the academic process and their prospects.

There is a vicious cycle going on that needs attention. Teachers that have low expectations of students rarely take the time to encourage those students. If the teacher has a stereotype of the student, it can cause a harmful emotional response which will effect performance and stigmatize the student further. The student will then potentially disengage from the education system or even conform to the …show more content…

What's more, the study concluded that when a black student has a black teacher, the student is three times more likely to be enrolled into gifted programs. And this brings their statistics up to par with white students with similar characteristics. White students have a same race teacher 95 percent of their student career while black students have a same race teacher only 22 percent of the time. These startling statistics reveal a deeply troubling issue; our black students are being classified by teachers that can't, or choose not to, relate to them or vouch for them.

Why does this matter? Well, we all know what it's like to be completely ignored in the classroom. Perhaps you had a teacher that never gave any feedback to you, positive or negative. You remember how that made you feel. Every person needs positive reinforcement. Having teachers continually look over your academic achievements year after year, can make you feel sub par and could certainly make you lose faith in the education system. Without proper guidance and leadership, it is very hard to

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