ABSTRACT

Most new teachers enter the profession with little, if any, preparation to address the diverse cultural and economic needs of urban youth (Little, 1989; Gougeon, 1993; Yee, 1990). Many teachers who currently work in inner-city public schools have been poorly selected, trained, and prepared for work in a multicultural context (Darling-Hammond and Sclan, 1996; Goodlad, et al., 1990; Spindler, 1987). In his paper, ‘The “Melting Pot” Revisited’, Wahab (1989) states that despite the flurry of commissions and reports on the shortage of minority teachers, little has been done to alter the way teachers are prepared to work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. These reports include A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, issued by the Carnegie Foundation’s Task Force on Teaching (Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986) and Tomorrow’s Teachers by the Holmes Group (1986), as well as others. The first report articulates the influence that the race and class of teachers have on students’ attitudes toward school, society, and self. The second concludes that one of the main reasons students are not entering teaching is the decline in the professional status of the field. The reports’ remedy is to provide career ladders based on higher degrees and passage of examinations.