Minority students learn best from minority instructors
Ethnic minority college students may perform better academically in classrooms with teachers who are also minorities, according to a recent study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
When taught by an instructor of the same race or ethnicity, minority students were 2.9 percent more likely to pass a course, 3.2 percent more likely to get a B or higher and 2.9 percent less likely to drop the class, the study states.
The report states that the effect teachers had as role models is probably what led to performance increases.
Liang Peng, a computer science doctoral student, said as a Chinese student studying in the U.S., Chinese instructors motivated him, especially as he tried to balance learning English with doing coursework.
Freshman Gracia Botello, a Mexican-American, said she has never had a Hispanic instructor but believes having one would help her feel more included.
“Personally as a Mexican,” Botello said, “if I had a Mexican teacher, then I wouldn’t feel so left out because I am the minority in every one of my classes. There are some classes where I’m the only Mexican.”
She said she thinks most instructors have a hard time relating to Hispanic students.
While the majority of USU students are white, Hispanics comprise the university’s second-largest student ethnic group.
According to fall enrollment numbers released by the Office of Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation, nearly one of every 20 students is Hispanic. In 2010, the office listed 33 of the total 880 USU faculty members as Hispanic — roughly one out of every 27.
Sandra Menjivar, a Salvadoran-American, said it was a USU professor from Costa Rica who most inspired her as a student.
“She’s up there, and she’s not from here. She doesn’t care if she has an accent, she’s still doing what she wants to do,” Menjivar said.
Another Hispanic student Jonathan Gonzalez said he doesn’t think he would gain more by having a Hispanic instructor.
“The race or background of a teacher doesn’t matter to me as long as they can educate me properly,” Gonzalez said.
When USU hires an instructor, the individual’s qualifications are the deciding factor and not race or gender, said David Ottley, university director for Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity.
“We’re always looking for the most qualified candidate,” he said.
To help USU comply with federal law, Ottley said his office examines whether the number of minorities employed by the university in a particular field reflects the number of minorities in that field who have graduated in recent years.
Ottley said if the numbers are beyond a certain statistical measure, the university must make a good-faith effort to attract minorities to any open positions it has in the field.
Diversity is important at USU because it prepares students for real-world experiences, Ottley said, and not so much because it provides minorities with role models.
Fawn Groves said beside providing role models and experience for students, there are other reasons a college could have to hire minorities. Groves is a lecturer in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership.
When minorities, women and those with disabilities aren’t participating in a school’s administration, Groves said, the whole community misses the benefit these types of individuals can provide.
“I think the most important thing we need to do is look around at who is making the rules, and who is brainstorming the next idea,” she said. “And what is the diversity of thought that went into that? If we don’t have a lot of diversity of thought at that brainstorming phase, it’s going to be really hard to get to an excellent outcome.”
Groves said providing a good place for all students to learn can be tricky because of the ways different people view diversity.
“Any time that we think of adding something into our system in order to accommodate a group,” she said, “we’ve already skipped maybe the most important first step, which is not to consider our university as a place that serves white individuals. And now we want to add some other people, too.”
If the people making the rules see themselves as a diverse group, accommodation won’t be an afterthought, she added.
Existing data show a disparity between white students and minority students of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. According to the Bureau of Economic Research, while hiring more minorities might help to close that achievement gap, the solution may not be so simple.
“Students appear to react positively when matched to instructors of a similar race or ethnicity but negatively when not,” the report states. “Hiring more instructors of one type may also lead to greater student sorting and changes to classroom composition, which may also impact academic achievement.”
– steve.kent@aggiemail.usu.edu