Comments about ‘Study: Recruitment of more minority teachers is not the answer’

Sound more like an argument that I've propounded for the last quarter of a century and that's local autonomy in the form of strengthening the existing local school community councils in this state. Teachers and parents still need more voice in running their own schools and offered the resources to do so. The state legislature keeps micro-managing how our schools are to be run. The conservative Republican legislature needs to practice what the preach about government intrusion into local school affairs.

Go and watch the documentary "Waiting for Superman".

If a person is blind how do they know when they are speaking to a minority? Some people will argue that it is OK to hire someone because of their skin color but most of us think the wise employer should hire the person with the best qualifications for the job even if, gasp, they are white.

Pagen: what jobs do these people in the study have? Are you comparing apples to oranges?

Minorities will be under represented in teaching and most other professional jobs for many years to come.

The drop out rates for minorities in high school are astonishingly high, so a disproportionate number will never get to college. Those who do are often poorly prepared due to attending under-performing big city schools, so they will have a lower graduation rate. Finally, there is a strong demand for well qualified and well educated minorities to fill jobs in the private sector, as well as affirmative action opportunities in government jobs who want their racial makeup to reflect society as a whole, not just the percentages of people actually qualified for a certain type of job.

The major problem with minority performance in schools stems from the cultural attitudes downplaying the importance of education, and harassing those who attempt to do well for "acting white." Until this attitude is changed, the race of teachers does not make a bit of difference.

And, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's proven performance running schools in Chicago should warn us to totally disregard any recommendation he makes.

I've seen Waiting for Superman and I know that while it was good at asking questions it was not very good with solutions. Charter schools are not the answer. We need to fund and improve our public schools. Charter schools will never reach all students and we need all students getting a high quality instructional experience not just a select few. I think part of the reason minority teachers leave the profession is because the profession is under attack in our society and it effects every new teacher.

Re: Pagen | 1:19 p.m. Sept. 6, 2011
"It shows that minorities typically make 30% LESS THAN a white male in SLC"

Thank you for making my point! Brain surgeons in Salt Lake City will all be in approximately the same salary range ..... regardless of color, but the black brain surgeon will make much more than the white nurse.

Like I said earlier, most of us think the wise employer should hire the person with the best qualifications for the job even if, gasp, they are white.

Re: Pagen | 9:37 a.m. Sept. 7, 2011

You're really honestly going to question whether a black brain surgeon brings home more money than a white nurse?

Since August 2011 was the first time since 1945 that the USA had zero job growth your comment about Bush losing 700,000 jobs can't be true. You'd better start double checking your sources.