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Chapter 3 Becoming a MISTER

Matthew Rasmussen

Perhaps it goes without saying that teaching is no longer a profession of choice, that the disincentives far outweigh the benefits, that there are questions about whether it is even a profession. Why would anyone do this?

The evidence, accumulated over the last several decades, has been clear and abundant: education is falling to the wayside. That doesn’t mean that the education of American children is seen as unimportant. Rather, I fear the true purpose of education is being lost, and the ability of those who educate is being hindered by the regulations placed on them. Teachers have less freedom in how they teach nowadays, and educators are no longer the facilitators of what they teach, being delegated, instead, to simply pass on what has been deemed important by some distant others. Despite the lip-service given to the importance of respecting educators, teachers are increasingly considered to be like blue-collar workers of a distant age: clock-punchers, directive followers, data recorders. Too often, teachers are provided with a ready-made curriculum from which they must not deviate, even if stepping off the well-worn path would help their charges explore their own passions and interests. In short, teachers are losing their voice, a worrisome prospect for someone like me looking to enter the field of education.

It is perhaps also important to mention here that if one’s focus in life is on social or financial status, teaching is clearly not the right path. One only need sample from a wide variety of recent media offerings to see how teachers are portrayed in the popular culture. They are rarely portrayed in a positive light; oftentimes they are the villain of the story (think about Severus Snape or Matilda’s Miss Trunchbull). Yet many continue to pursue teaching anyway, often for the wrong reasons.

Source: © Matthew Rasmussen. Reprinted with permission.

For example, one should never teach as a mere stepping-stone to another goal. If you just want to teach to create a stronger résumé and do not see it as a calling, then it is not the path for you. In fact, I would urge you to take your talents elsewhere where they can truly blossom. Being a teacher can almost be akin to a calling for some. It requires care and dedication to help your students, and yourself, to blossom. Without proper care, a garden will wither instead of bloom.

I know there are some people who see becoming a teacher as simply a necessary step to being some form of a sports coach. There’s nothing wrong with wearing two hats—but you must bring equal passion and energy to the classroom and to the championship game. In the early days of teaching in America, many men would teach in order to climb the ladder and become a lawyer or some other similar goal. No doubt there were those who found themselves in the classroom with no educational training or interest in learning how to teach. How many students didn’t get the education they could have because their teacher wasn’t fully present? It’s perfectly okay to have other goals and aspirations, but when you are in the classroom, it is crucial for you to put in your all. Because you as the teacher are a very significant contributing factor to your students’ development and education, and you are largely responsible for their growth for an entire school year.

Now, I don’t say all of this to scare you away from working with children and young people. My point is that you know you can have other goals in life but that when you teach you need to be fully present and ready to give your all to the children who are with you. Little in life can compare to the moment when you realize just how much you mean to a child and the impact you have had, no matter how big or small. It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had, and I hope you will have the opportunity to feel the same way.

Why do you want to teach? What draws you to step into the classroom and the lives of the students that enter the door? I cannot answer that question for you, but perhaps through explaining my answer to this question, I can help you start to explore the question for yourself. Or maybe you already know, but there is a lot more to consider than one might first think. Focusing on what drove you to the field is extremely important, and getting in touch with this motivation will serve you well in hurdling the many obstacles you will soon face. Because those like me, with a drive to teach, aspire to be in the classroom for larger reasons than following a prescribed curriculum or teaching students isolated academic skills so that they will be prepared for the next round of standardized tests. Being a teacher, for me, means learning creative ways to maneuver in increasingly narrow spaces in order to reach students, to get them as excited about learning as I am.

Actually, I came to teaching because of reading, one of the biggest loves in my life. For as long as I can remember, books have held a very special place in my heart. When you really fall into a book, it springs to life inside your mind. Not only can books open new worlds to people, but they open up new ideas, show new perspectives, and allow the reader to explore possibilities for the future. Books are more than paper and words; they are windows to other lives and possibilities and they underscore for me the importance of stories. I want my students to experience this magic, to go places they might otherwise never travel. If someone has a unique and fascinating story to tell, I can truly fall deep, explore, and come to appreciate the words and images, each one a portal into a new world. Truthfully, I feel sometimes like I’ve learned more through stories than any classroom has taught me.

Children have their own stories to tell, stories unique from anyone else’s, stories that will never be repeated again. I want to teach because I believe everyone has a truly fascinating and unique story to tell, and if as a teacher I can be a positive chapter in children’s lives that makes their story a shining light for others—only then can I claim success as a teacher. Today, students are, more often than not, being pushed to simply know, in the narrowest ways, how to pass an exam or master a skill. But without stories, without a focus on their stories and the connection of their stories to the stories of other children in whose presence they find themselves, or the stories of the children who came before them, we limit their understanding of the world. It is these stories, those lived and those between the covers of books, that have the potential to light up our students’ imagination. Even students with limited exposure to books and stories seem to know this.

I saw this recently when I had the opportunity to distribute books to children at an elementary school on St. Helena, one of the historic Sea Islands of South Carolina. The communities of the Sea Islands are largely rural and poor, the students are often thought to be less than; worse things are said about their teachers. None of this was foremost on my mind as I began passing out books to eager children. There was a contagious elation among the children; it was indescribable. I met them once, and they had no way of knowing if I would ever see them again, but they called me by name and hugged me on their way out. In a small way, I helped create a lot of happiness that afternoon about . . . books! Because students know, even students with limited exposure, that there is power in stories and the written word. For me, this experience also confirmed my drive to become a teacher.

It also validated my decision to become a MISTER. The Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) program was established to diversify the population of educators in South Carolina by providing support for minority males pursuing education. It brings together groups of individuals from similar backgrounds to support each other in a field traditionally made up of people very different from themselves (i.e., white, middle-class women). I believe it’s a very important goal—for some people it is the reason why they teach. Cultural diversity is severely lacking in a significant number of schools and classrooms today. It’s important for children to see people like themselves in schools; just as much as representation in the media is important to kids, so too is it important in everyday life and in the classroom. Seeing people that look like them succeed in all kinds of ways inspires kids to do the same. Diversity is not often thought about as a core motivation to teach.

While the core of why I want to teach is firmly rooted in my belief that children need stories to expand their minds and spark their passions, I also strongly identify with the goal of the Call Me MISTER program to bring diversity into the classroom. I joined the program to become part of a community that shares my aspirations about teaching and emphasizes the importance of diversifying the teaching force. I didn’t have a male classroom teacher until the sixth grade; I never had a Hispanic male teacher. I had, and have, a wonderfully supportive family that taught me how important education is, how valuable teachers are. But I wonder how different the experience is for children who look like me but do not have the supports I had growing up.

I joined the MISTERS not only to build relationships with others like me but because I now realize the impact I can have on children to see someone who looks like them in the classroom. As numerous studies continue to demonstrate, white children—and perhaps more distressingly, even children of color—associate lighter skin tones with positive traits and negative traits with darker skin. It broke my heart to hear one little girl, no more than six or maybe seven years of age, declare on an Anderson Cooper special (CNN, 2012) in no uncertain terms that her dark skin was “nasty.” I have come to see how incorporating diversity in my classroom—just by my presence—is an integral part of educating students. But if nothing else, I want to make certain I never hear one of my students say they or anyone else is anything less than unique and valued; I want them to understand the power, importance, and contributions of the stories they have to tell, not in spite of their skin tone and situations but because of them.

In the end, the central question that must be grappled with, the one I think is most important when one considers entering this field is this: Why teach? No teacher, no system can ever be perfect, can ever meet the goals the question elicits. And I understand how and why our education system is the way that it is, how it often does not appear to have our students’ best interests in mind. But I am not writing here to argue about politics. This is more personal, and it requires personal commitments. You must be able to understand and articulate why you want to teach. That answer helps to guide you and can be an anchor in the storms life will bring.

Teaching is, in many ways, a sacred duty. Choosing to teach means that you must be willing to assume the responsibility for your students’ well-being and how their stories will unfold. And you must keep in mind too that as many stories as have been told, many remain untold or, worse, have been squelched because of the color of a student’s skin or the background he or she brings with them to the classroom.

I want to teach because I love stories and I want to become a positive influence on the stories my students will tell, stories that will feature their unique and wonderful contributions, stories that represent people who look like me.

For Further Exploration

Barnett, K. (2013). The spark. New York, NY: Random House.

Jones, R., & Jenkins, A. (2012). Call me mister: The re-emergence of African American male teachers in South Carolina. Charleston, SC: Advantage.

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2018). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York, NY: Pearson.

Wolk, R. A. (2011). Wasting minds: Why our education system is failing and what we can do about it. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Reference

CNN. (2012, April 2). Black or white: Kids on race. Anderson Cooper 360°.