Two black counselors, one black teacher, two black hall monitors and three black janitors. Throughout high school I had never been taught by a teacher who looks like me. One Filipino, two Hispanic, and the rest of my teachers were Caucasian. This was all the way in Las Vegas, and as I’ve transferred to MU, nothing has changed. Outside of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, I’ve only seen a black teacher or TA once, and that was in passing — he wasn’t in any of my classrooms.
Teachers are responsible for molding the next generation of leaders, workers, and voters. Besides parents, teachers are some of the biggest influences on your life. Now what if the majority of large influences in your life never looked like you, never understood you, and were never privy to your culture. There is a barrier between black and whites in some situations, making it hard to understand each other. In order to teach someone, it helps to understand them.
During the Brown v. Board of Education case, there was a test: The Doll Test, conducted by Kenneth Clark, given to children in order to prove that separate but equal was damaging to the black student. Two dolls were set in front of the children, one white and one black, and the children were asked questions that required them to the identify the doll they thought was the correct answer. Questions included are similar to: Which one is the nice doll? Which one is the bad doll? Which one is the smart doll? Which one is the pretty doll? Among most children, all the positive attributes belonged to the white doll, while the negative attributes belonged to the black doll. Although the Doll Test served its purpose in proving that separate but equal was damaging, it’s still given today. Young black and white students alike still produce the same test results as when the original test was given in 1954, the results being that the vast majority of children believe the white doll is better in every way then the black doll.
Black students in black schools being taught by black teachers are proven to have a low self-worth because of the fact that they are not given the same opportunities as white students. But of the same token, black students, in white schools, taught by white teachers still have the same low self-worth. Maybe the problem is that black students are still being taught that black isn’t good enough. In 1954, blacks were not good enough to attend the same schools as whites. While it’s the 21st century, blacks may be good enough to attend the same schools as whites, but blacks are not good enough to teach at the same school as whites. This being said, there is still an absence of positive black self image examples within our schools. This is not to say that a white teacher is not able to influence a black student as much as they may influence a white student, but it is to say that the absence of black teachers is duly noted and reflected onto black students.
In 1969, just 46 years ago, MU hired its first black faculty member, Arvarh Strickland. Professor Strickland was hired 19 years after the first nine black MU students were admitted. As of 2014 there are 2,553 black students enrolled at MU out of 35,441 students. Out of a total of 2,895 professors at MU 96 are black compared to the 2,200 white professors. The odds of a student being taught by a black professor is approximately 3 percent at MU, not taking into consideration their major and other factors that may dwindle the chances even further.
Although the student population is only 7 percent black and the population of black professors is 3 percent, the goal should be at the very least to match the amount of black professors to the amount by percentage of black students. MU places a strong emphasis on the need for diversity on their campus, but there is something to say about the fact that there are not enough examples of successful blacks among the black population at MU. This may not affect collegiate-level blacks as much as it affects elementary school blacks taking the Doll Test, but the absence of the proper black student to black professor ratio is noted.
