On May 17, 2012 in the Chicago Tribune (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-17/news/sns-rt-us-usa-births-minoritiesbre84g1kt-20120517_1_minority-babies-whites-immigration#.T8Oi28dhhMg.mailto) article an interesting statistic was stated; as of July 1, 2011, 50.4% of babies younger than age 1 were minorities , or were minorities of more than one race, this is up from 49.5% in 2010.
As an educator I have seen the demographic change in my classroom, school and division. There are more minorities in our schools. As an educational leader, I cannot help to question how to effectively lead the changing demographic in my school. Firstly, I tell myself all students are the same and that it makes no difference what my ethnicity, race, socio-economic or gender is because is not relevant to effectively lead. Concomitantly, I do have a greater understanding and more often a deeper relationship with students of the same ethnicity, race, or socioeconomic class as myself.
Finally, this leads me to think, “How important it is that leaders represent the same ethnicity, race, socioeconomic class, or gender as those they lead?” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman, Cesar Estrada Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Gloria Marie Steinem and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela all lead or have led people of the same ethnicity, race, socioeconomic, and/or gender. Would Martin Luther King Jr. had been just as an effective leader if he were white? All of the above leaders are representative of those they lead or have led. I know the struggle for civil rights, worker’s rights, or women’s rights is different from the struggle to effectively educate all students, but the struggle to effectively educate our students is presently a critical struggle for the country. According to the Chicago Tribune article our classroom demographics are changing and will more rapidly change in the future. When the future students look around in their classrooms, schools and divisions will they see leaders of the same ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic class or is this irrelevant?
John,
I believe that this topic that you blog about is significant in that today, we must do a better job in teaching our children interpersonal skills to adapt, remain flexible, and appreciate differences in cultures, problem solving, and opinions. In doing so, minorities and majorities would be better equipped to work together to solve problems effectively in the future.
Interestingly, enough, A book we are reading for graduate class, Leadership Presence, by Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar, is all about improving interpersonal skills using techniques borrowed from the theatrical arts lends itself perfectly to this topic. In the book, one of the major tenets of Leadership Presence is being present and flexible and they describe flexibility as “the willingness and ability to move and adapt freely as circumstances prescribe-right now.(p.51)”
The topic of the book is very interesting and has some great practical ways for improving individual leadership presence. I believe that everyone will have to improve their leadership presene to be able to adapt, remain flexible and appreciate the culture shift that is currently taking place in America.
John, I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I wish I could tell you I have come to some “sure” conclusions. VCU is identified as being an urban university and the School of Education and urban school. My question is, does that mean we are in an urban setting or that we prepare “urban” teachers and administrators. And if it is the latter, exactly what does that mean?
Studies of school districts show that seldom is a person of color hired as the superintendent. That is not true of districts serving predominantly students of color, although that is changing. I was thinking about what a study would look like that explored the assumptions made when hiring a person of color, particularly a person of African descent v a white person (or person of no color?).
I think that we bestow “urban saviness” (whatever that means) on African descent folks and assume that if you have brown skin, you have the qualifications to head an urban school or district.
All this is besides the point that seeing people of your own race and/or sex (not a real thing, but we still use the word) in charge it is useful to students, especially for students who don’t often see those of their own race or ethnicity in positions of power and respect. But is that enough?
What are we looking for when we hire for a school that serves a predominantly black or brown student population? Do we make automatic assumptions about poverty? Is that what we are really talking about when we talk about urban? Is it the intersection of poverty and race discrimination as perpetrated by housing policies and economic opportunities?
I think your questions deserve discussion and thought. And just because a group becomes a minority do they necessarily lose power as another group becomes a majority? For instance, WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Protestants) have been a minority in the population for a long time now. But they still hold a lot of power.
Thanks for the questions.
I’ve given much thought to your entry John. As a person of mixed ethnic background, I am acutely aware of the significance of what I represent to people of all ethnic backgrounds.
I absolutely believe that the demographics of the community being served should be represented by the staff; without that representation, the message is clear that the ideal model does not include those who represent the minority.
To me, the larger issue is the common standard of representation. Of paramount importance is giving kids the skills to survive in the world; that is, thinking, connecting, inventing, collaborating etc., this is universal. At issue, is how best to connect with students of varied backgrounds. My response to that is have we defined what our common ground is?
While we proudly represent varied cultural backgrounds, we live in a country that defines a commonality of being Americans. To me, that means a respect for where we come and an agreement of shared ideals such as behavior,values and, in this case, education. This is not to say that ethnicities should be ignored, rather that we respect our differences, and hold ourselves as a community of teachers and learners to a common standard. In my mind, that common standard includes, but is not limited to, shared educational standards and expectations of achievements, a common language and nationality. This would not disregard individual’s loyalties to native countries instead they would encourage an allegience to country striving for global leadership.