ching profession on the part of minority students;
(5) more lucrative and prestigious career fields now being open to minorities;
(6) reductions in available financial aid; and
(7) the establishment, in most states, of teacher certification testing.
On the other hand, Hawkins (1991) reports that America has traditionally suffered from low numbers of minority teachers. The only thing that is new is that now the media is focusing attention on it. One of the reasons that Hawkins cites for the continuing shortage is that when, during the late 1960s and 1970s, there were numerous requests from Northern public schools for minority teachers, these requests were not focused on the benefits to be gained by having black instructors instruct black students.
Rather, they were requests designed to fulfill quotas mandated by affirmative action legislation and policy; and these quotas were filled. However, what has happened is that there has been an increase in the number of minority students in public schools but there has not been an increase in the number of minority teachers. What Hawkins appears to be saying is that there is not only a shortage but also a need to update the numbers of black teachers which public schools are required to hire by law and policy. In other words, there is a need to re-think quotas but this re-thinking needs to involve an awareness of the benefits to be gained in classes where black teachers instruct black students.
Garibaldi (1988) also discusses the upsurge of black teachers in the late 1960s and 1970s. He feels that what happened was that as a result of affirmative action legislation, the first profession to offer career opportunities, job security, decent wages, and a lowered level of discrimination was the teaching profession. However, over the years, the benefits afforded by affirmative action have been more widespread in the nation's labor force. The result is that blacks are pur...