Opinion
Equity & Diversity Letter to the Editor

In Ending Racial Discrimination, Teachers Should Be Role Models

December 11, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Unfortunately, racial discrimination is still an embedded part of our society. Laws on affirmative action and nondiscrimination in employment were created in an attempt to eliminate such discrimination, but have not been effective in reaching the goal of ending it (“Racial Equity in Schools,” OpEducation blog, Oct. 9, 2013).

The only sustainable solution to effectively eliminate racial discrimination must be through education. More than ever before, teachers have the potential to be huge role models for their students. When teachers provide the spark or drive for their students’ learning experiences, they have more influence than they know. What better way to be that role model than to educate about problems of discrimination?

As a camp counselor and young educator myself, I try to educate and be a positive role model for my campers. Because of this impact on young lives, teachers and educators have a moral responsibility to educate students in a way that looks critically at racial discrimination and instead promotes dialogue, diversity, and understanding in the classroom.

Schools need to devote more resources and effort to providing teachers with a safe and comfortable space to teach values of acceptance, love, and inclusiveness between students in the classroom.

Educating kids about discrimination can be as simple as telling a kid that some words are hurtful to others. But because this sort of education can seem easy, it gets overlooked. If we stress these values and education to stop racial discrimination at an early age, in the future we will not have to worry about our kids being mistreated, or not being hired because of their race.

Zak Newbart

Beloit, Wis.

The author is a freshman at Beloit College.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the December 11, 2013 edition of Education Week as In Ending Racial Discrimination, Teachers Should Be Role Models

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Opinion How to Keep Supporting Students in a Hostile Political Environment
Protecting kids outside of school may be beyond educators' means, but here are ways we can help them.
10 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Opinion It’s Been 5 Years Since the George Floyd Protests. Where Are We Now?
Promises of equality and justice languished and then under Trump, were declared void.
Tyrone C. Howard
5 min read
Demonstrators kneel in a moment of silence outside the Long Beach Police Department on May 31, 2020, in Long Beach, Cali., during a protest over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer earlier that month.
Demonstrators kneel in a moment of silence outside the Long Beach Police Department on May 31, 2020, in Long Beach, Cali., during a protest over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer earlier that month.
Ashley Landis/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion Let DEI Practices Die. Replace Them With Something Better
Individual student agency enabled by strong families and schools can lead students to success, writes a researcher.
Robert Maranto
5 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon meets with students during a visit to Vertex Partnership Academies in New York on March 7, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon meets with students during a visit to Vertex Partnership Academies in New York City on March 7, 2025.
Courtesy of U.S. Department of Education
Equity & Diversity Opinion Boys Are Struggling in School. What Can Be Done?
Girls outpace boys at nearly every level of academic achievement. Author Richard Reeves shares his thoughts.
6 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week