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Isabelle Senn

Professor Saladino

EDU 201

24 October 2021

Elementary Education: Predominantly Caucasian Females

The student population in elementary education continues to become more diverse, yet

the ethnicity and gender of those teaching elementary education continues to be predominantly

Caucasian females, why? I have done a lot of research and asked both friends and family why

they think that elementary school teachers are predominantly Caucasian females. The fact that

they are mostly white females is the more concerning part.

For me, I feel that they are mostly female because they have a form of “motherly love”

and mother-like instincts that guys do not exactly have. As for why they are mostly white, it is

likely due to discrimination on a lower profile. However, I also feel based on what I have studied

in the past, that males typically do not want anything to do with children until their 30’s and up.

Because of this, I feel that is why they are not often found teaching in elementary education.

Also, according to statistics, men do not fully mature until their 40’s which is a lot later than

women; lack of maturity is a probable reason they do not teach younger children.

This week I had read a short story or article by Kris Gutierrez called “From Teaching

Toward Possibility: Building Cultural Supports for Robust Learning” in my English 102 class. It

talks about racism and in a sense stereotyping (which is sort of the same) when it comes to

education. She mentions, “The key issue here is that learning styles approaches are grounded in

reductive notions of culture that conflate ethnicity/race with culture a practice that often leads to

one-size-fits-all approaches and understandings of the learning process of students from non-
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dominate communities.” (Gutierrez, pg. 179) She continues providing examples like, “my Latino

students learn this way” or “I need to teach to the cultural background of my African American

students” and even, “Asian students are good at math” (Gutierrez, pg. 179) Therefore, I feel that

teachers play a big part in the influence of education.

Statistics show that students of minority ethnic backgrounds or otherwise non-Caucasian

students often struggle in school and do not receive the highest potential of education. They are

often students who were born and raised in poverty and do not have many opportunities to reach

for. Both the school and the district play a sizeable part in that I feel. Schools do not have a lot

of money to go around usually, and a lot of schools across the country are in a bind. However,

schools will often hold programs that are not really needed or beneficial to students. These

programs could receive less funds or even be shut down, to supply programs that will help

students in need, like minority students.

I do not feel that a predominantly Caucasian female faculty will affect much in regard to

learning or how the students develop as individuals. I do feel there needs to be more opportunity

for women of other ethnic backgrounds, and I feel the schools, districts, and teachers can all help

make that change. I feel it could help students feel more comfortable even if there is, let us say, a

teacher who is their race. There is not a whole lot we know about the topic, since there are few

teachers of color or opposite sex working in elementary education.