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Birds of a Feather

Aaron T. Ruggles

Post University

EDU604 -Diversity Issues, 21st Century Education

Dr. Virginia Metaxas

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Multiethnic teachers (those identified as being more than one race or ethnicity) pave the

way for diverse learning environments. In a time where cultural identity is more pronounced in

young lives, the ability for our teachers to reach more hearts and minds is ever expanding.

Embracing the ethnic considerations of different students is imperative to successful education

for our young students, but does this apply to all diverse groups of students equally? Are there

some advantages and disadvantages to being a Teacher who claims multiple ethnical parties as

their own identity vs. those teachers who identify as one single entity?

History proves to repeat itself time and time again. In recent years, issues like reformed

immigration laws, acts of terrorism (internal and external to the United States) and social

injustices (George Floyd) have only segregated ethnical classes of citizens and residents even

more. On one of the easily influenced group of people, our students fall right into this path of

social bigotry. Think back to classrooms before George Floyd lost his life due to officer

negligence. Now for younger students, this may not have been immediate, but in middle school

and high school, you probably seen an immediate change in behavior and a disregard for

authority began. Pair that with the immigration concerns as experienced during the Trump

Administration and COVID and you’ve just built a recipe for turmoil in the lives of school age

children who strive for acceptance.

For our students, it’s imperative to help navigate this crucial time for our students. Not by

giving them the answers, but by living the example of a unified society. Just as society has

changed, so too has the world of education and those who call themselves Teachers. No longer

are we black and white. We are as diversified as buffet options at a Chinese restaurant. We have

teachers who declare themselves to be African American, Mexicans, White Asians, and most

recently, nonbinary or transgender. But do these teachers hinder or help the education system?
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Does a Teacher declaring themselves as black or white only as opposed to one who claims

multiple ethnical groups have an advantage in the classroom?

Just as in society, you will see a group of student’s flocks towards a bird of same feather.

We tend to think that our place is solely with our own organic people. African Americans tend to

stick together as do Hispanics. Each group will begin to derive their own internal groups of

social class and standards and thus, a cycle of diversity is born within a diversified society. For

example, churches that are all African American. Have a new family of white people or Hispanic

people attend one random Sunday and watch the eyes wonder and avoidance begin. Would you

put money on that same new family attending or not attending the following Sunday? The same

concept is found in our schools. How many times do you see Athletes associate with Athletes

then compartmentalize the interior “cliques” with Black Athletes white athletes and those in

between. Now look inside your campus entirely. More common terms would be jocks, nerds,

band geeks, ROTC, and goths etc. the list goes on. Each one of these groups has been designed

based of the societal stipulation that birds of a feather flock together.

Our question here is, does the teacher claiming to be “diversified” in their cultural

influence have an upper hand in education? Do students relate to respect or work better for that

teacher better than the single entity teacher down the hall? If so, what areas of education

(academic/behavior) does this advantage occur? Recent studies have shown that 47 percent of

African American Teachers will not find African American student’s behavior to be disruptive as

often as white teachers. Almost identical statistics can be displayed across the board regarding

Hispanic students vs. Black, white, and Hispanic teachers in comparison. While on the other had

in the academic spectrum, almost 54 percent of white teachers show consistent growth each year

with academic scores as opposed to African American teachers.

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Teachers that identify as multicultural or multi-ethnic (meaning they identify with more

than one ethnically considered group have shown promising results in education. Behavior issues

have dropped considerably between 2018-2021 fiscal years that were not stipulated from outside

factors such as COVID. So why does this impact differ from each classification of teacher as

previously mentioned?

First off, no one classification of teacher is better than the other. Neither of the

aforementioned groups of educators holds an advantage over the other. Simply put, three

contributing factors play into the daily success of and growth of students. Exposure, education,

and empathy are the driving factors of success in each group’s success. So why does it seem as if

the Multicultural teachers are the leading front in diversified campuses? They are exposed to

more influential matters pertaining to a broader spectrum of people that allow them to elaborate

and explain the impacts on multiple fronts. This does not discredit single entity teachers and their

abilities to also clarify the same message to students, its simply targeting the “bond” formed

amongst teachers and students. Say for example news of a legal stipulation of an African

American person who is also of Puerto Rican heritage has just made national news. The

infringement of his/her civil rights are now in the spotlight as we have seen in actual

circumstances. This same issue has caused controversy amongst different groups of high school

students and teachers of each grade are charged to discuss and inform their class of the

ramifications and implementations of this on their general public. Who are the students more

likely to talk to about their own interpretation of justice and equality? The “only white” teacher,

the “only black” teacher or the multi-cultured teacher who can articulate both sides?

Education in an entirety is providing knowledge to those who seek it. The majority of a

child’s learning opportunities are going to come directly from experience. The lessons they learn
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in and out of the classroom on matters much larger than academics will help develop them into

the next generation of adults and so forth. Part of that experience is the displays of character

inside the classroom. If a teacher displays favoritism or a “fond likeness” for one specific group

of students, that personified image will translate to younger students perceiving that group of

students is either more approved of, more successful, or provided with better opportunities to

succeed, much like society’s view on employment opportunities. You have seen this same

example displayed time after time. The African American athletes congregating around the

African American Coach/Teacher. Or perhaps the Drama Teacher is more widely appreciated by

the LGBTQ or “other category” of students because they find comfort in the provided

understanding of a “creative” educator. Do your Hispanic students seem to always go to the

Spanish teacher? The reason is empathy.

Multiethnic teachers (visually/perceptively) provide more empathy to that specific group

of student’s daily life challenges as opposed to another teacher of lesser ethnical considerations.

It has nothing to do with “who’s a better teacher” but everything to do with the education

provided through experience in parameters of empathy. Students in this day and age want to feel

accepted. They want to have their place in their life. A defined sense of purpose can be made

obvious to a teenager in high school often times by their peers and by their teachers. While many

of this should come from parental influence, think about how many times you yourself have been

viewed as a parental figure to some of your students. Multiethnic teachers pave the way for

diverse learning environments. This builds diversified thinking and enacts diversified solutions.

When our society tries to single out specific groups of people for designated actions, we should

stand true to our nations motto of being “united” rather than divided.
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References:

Eisenberg, R. (2019, July 9). America needs more teachers of color and a more selective

teaching profession. Center for American Progress. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/america-needs-teachers-color-selective-teaching-

profession/

Glenda M. Flores. (2017). Latina Teachers : Creating Careers and Guarding Culture.

NYU Press.

Grütter, J., Meyer, B., Philipp, M., Stegmann, S., & van Dick, R. (1AD, January 1).
Beyond ethnic diversity: The role of teacher care for interethnic relations. Frontiers.
Retrieved June 5, 2022, from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.586709/full

Bourne, J. (2013). I know he can do better than that”: Strategies for teaching and
learning in successful multi-ethnic schools. Herausforderung Bildungssprache–und
wie man sie meistert, 42-54.

Six reasons why multicultural education is essential in our diverse world. Cultural Infusion.
(2021, August 4). Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://culturalinfusion.org.au/6-reasons-
why-multicultural-education-is-essential-in-our-diverse-world/