The Lack of African American Male Teachers in the Classroom

The lack of African American men in the classroom of K-12 public school systems throughout the United States is alarming and shocking. Is there any wonder, why African American young men and women are at times disenfranchised about the prospects of education? This especially troubling for young African American men when those who are teaching are at times “cultures and generations removed from their students. In a society where many women are single parents and positive male presence is lacking in the lives of some urban youth, the lack of male teachers as role models is even more profound” (Okezie, p. 1, 2003).

This dearth of black men in the educational systems throughout America has not gone unnoticed, as several universities and colleges have developed programs aimed to increase the number of African American male teachers. In 2006 it was reported that “Black men made up only 3.2 percent of Florida teachers last fall, about the same percentage as five years earlier. And they were just 2.4 percent of U.S. teachers” (Weaver, p. 1, 2006).

Why have African American men not pursued a career in teaching? The reasons vary, but there are some common themes among many of the scholars who have examined this drag on the African American culture and on America itself. Common themes for the lack of African American male teachers are:

• the watered-down education that minority students receive in elementary and secondary schools;
• strong competition from non-teaching professions that offer higher salaries and better status to top graduates;
• the increase in testing requirements in many states, which effectively discourages some minority men (those adversely affected by tests) from pursuing teaching careers;
• the heavy reliance on loans in college financial aid packages.