Diversity among teachers should be secondary to teaching skills
I read the article on the lack of “diversity” among teachers when compared with their students, and two comments stuck out to me. First, the Center for American Progress (I question which Americans, a select few based on race or all Americans) and the National Education Association (which in my opinion has shown that more times than not they are more interested in preserving teachers’ jobs than in educating students) want the teachers to reflect the racial makeup of the students. That’s well and good, providing that other teachers, equally if not better qualified, are not excluded. It shouldn’t matter to anyone what a teacher is, black, white, male, female, Christian, atheist, homosexual, young, old, whatever, as long as that teacher can and does do his/her job of educating the students without brainwashing or politicizing the course material.
Then, second, a few paragraphs later they bemoan the fact that in a school where the students are almost exclusively white, there are no black teachers. What do they want? Do they even know? It seems like black equals right and white equals wrong, no matter what the situation is.
If — the biggest two-letter word in the English language — these people really want students to respect their teachers, then they need to be sure that the best teachers are in the classrooms, regardless of any other pigeon-hole “qualification.” A teacher doesn’t have to be black in order to inspire black students, or Hispanic to inspire Hispanic students and on an on.
Political correctness and liberalism are destroying America from within. No nation on Earth can defeat America from the outside, but infiltrate our education system and our government, and we are a great big pushover. Teachers, teach your course and don’t worry about anything else. Your students are depending on you.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.