Saturday, March 3, 2007
Job Offerings
This past Tuesday I went to the Educators' Job Fair, and I was just being nosey and looking around seeing if my elementary or high school was there. But I ended up leaving prematurely because I was constantly annoyed by recruiters. They would as me questions about what I want to teach and what grade level, and there were dozens that would come up to me at once. Okay I understand that there is a great need for male teachers in the elementary grades and even more need for colored males in education in general. This is a question or more of a testimony for my other males and colored folks, do you ever feel that you are being hired or getting a lot of attention due to the need to fill a quota? I may be tripping but I am really nervous that I might not be qualified for the accolades that I receive but I receive them because the color of my skin not the content of character. I know this was brought up in class once, but I just figured out how to start my own topic!!!
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8 comments:
I can't say I know what it feels like to be in your shoes, because obviously I am a woman and white. But stories like yours worry me, too. Not only because it raises the question of WHY are you getting the job, but because it means I have to work that much harder to get the job I want. This is definitely one of those instances when Affirmative Action is being abused. I think abusing it in the process of selecting future teachers is the worst abuse of the system because we are cheating our students out of the best teachers. We are passing up some of the most highly qualified teachers that are white, and giving the positions to lesser qualified, but non-white teachers. By no means am I saying that the white teachers are more qualified. Not at all. I am just saying it is tragic that the race of a teacher may matter more than the quality and character of the teacher. On the other hand, I think it's a great idea to have teachers from a variety of (racial) backgrounds. This way, more students are able to make connections with their teacher and visa versa. It's a tough decision to make, and I'm sure I feel as you do today in the future when I am applying for administrative positions.
I too understand what its like to be a male in a female dominated profession. Not only are people surprised when I say that I will one day be a teacher, but some ask "Why? You could do something so much better with your life?" Even when applying for scholarships, I feel like I recieve special treatment because of my gender.
It's an interesting thing though. Even though it is annoying, and it really causes us to ask ourselves if were qualified or not, without this concept (Affirmative Action) so much more injustice would prevail. Were in a huge cycle.
I have often considered myself in a good position as a male wanting to teach the middle grades. I think that it would be different for a male wanting to teach high school, but there is a need for male teachers in the elementary and middle grades. Think about the first time you had a male teacher and when you did was he also a coach?
In the original post, because I am white I can not comment on that the race issue; I think that males do get extra attention when applying for a job or attending job fairs. I do not think that just because I am a male that I will be hired over a female. The fact that I attend ISU and the reputation that this school has created for teacher development will surely help me. I am not sure that I would ever say that "I might not be qualified for the accolades," that is like saying I may not be a good teacher, it is likely to happen if you think it than it can happen.
I find that when Shannon says that "we are cheating our students out of the best teachers" is a dangerous statement. That comment when taken for what it says means that teachers hired because they are male or black are not as good as teachers that are white females; though, I know that that is not what you say is meant by it, but if you have to justify it then you think you may be in the wrong. I also think that it is shaky ground when you bring up a generalization about a person's character. That statement could be taken in a light that if you are not white and female your character is not as good.
One question I have is how as college students with little classroom experience determine that we are more qualified than the next person in the same situation? If you go by GPA, sure a person may have better grades through their college career but that does not mean that they will be a better teacher. In all reality it does not matter how smart you are if you can not explain the information in a way that people can understand and learn. Without that ability then you will not make a good teacher.
Now in response to Shannon,you may have misunderstood what I was saying. Colored teachers are not taking away jobs from from white female teachers. These recruiters were just very actively recruiting me for a position in their school district. Like Philicia said in a previous post on a different topic, "black teacher are hired because they are highly qualified while others are sometimes picked because that is who is wanted" not because of their skin color. Eventhough Affirmative Action has attempted to even the playing field, blacks and other disdvantaged minorities are still trying to play soccer in a valley. In this instance, I was simply annoyed by the numerous questions and may have just been nervous and needed a venue to vent to like minded individuals but not in any way was I saying that AA is being abused.
I do feel that the job that i have now there may have been a slight chance that i was picked due to the fact that i am black. Don't get me wrong i am a show stopper and i am the bomb at what i do. But the question is did they see my potential when they interviewed me? Looking at the company that i am in i would say probably not. There are not that many people in VonMaur that are black that are upper management. Even though times are changing i don't think that they will get a person that is black in a position of upper management for a while. My job is a job that deals with a lot of politics. It is all about who you know and who's ass you can kiss. I looked around my store not to long ago and there are only 2 black people at my store and they just hired one more last week so now we are up to three. When i recieved my job i only had 2 months of retail experience but they placed me in the top selling department in my store. But to get back to the question that was asked. I do feel like there may have been a slight chance that i recieved my job due to the color of my skin.
I for one have not seen the favoritism of being a white male for anything in my entire life. What I have heard from other people about the education system is that that issue for me is about to change because I am one of the few males that is in elementary education. For some people there would be a big concern whether or not they received their job because of affirmative action or just because they are the minority. For me personally, this has no effect on my pride or my conscious of whether I should have the job I received, especially when it comes down to hiring teachers who will bring in a very diverse educational background so that at least one faculty member can relate to a particular student. If the entire faculty were similar in race and the same gender then the school would not provide the diversity of today’s society.
When it comes to other jobs in our society I think affirmative action can be bad or good depending on the situation. Obviously for anybody none white to get ahead in our society, affirmative action is needed to narrow the gap of race and sex in the work force. Affirmative action is taking in account that the person really wants the job and is qualified to fill the position which is not true in all cases. So in conclusion I do believe that affirmative action is needed in our society so that every one has a fair shot to being financially stable. The only way this would not work is if the person is not totally committed to the job or is not quite qualified for the job which I have seen and been effected personally. Affirmative action should work in our country but it needs work to be effective in our society.
I see that my one sentence got a lot of feedback and I just wanted to point that, a few sentences later I made this statement:
By no means am I saying that the white teachers are more qualified. Not at all.
I don't know if some of you skipped over that or what, but I just wanted to clarify. I absolutely do not think that white teachers or female teachers are better. I do not think they make better teachers.
I just think it does our students a great disadvantage if a principal decides to hire a nonwhite or male teacher (who happens to be less qualified) over a white or female teacher (who happens to be more qualified) because he gets his points for diversity / affirmative action. I think school districts should ALWAYS hire the more qualified teacher, regardless of gender, race, religious background, anything...
I think that's all. I just really don't want people thinking that I'm racist or a feminist or that I have some belief that females and whites are always better teachers.
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