A previous article “Racial Group Staff Disparities in NJ School Districts” published in February 2007 in this website (see “Archived Pol/Soc Commentary” page) presented our initial analysis of racial group (RG) staff disparities in NJ school districts. That analysis showed that there is significant under-representation of minority RGs at the certificated staff level for the six school districts analyzed. The article ended with the statement “it seems that the under-representation of minority RGs at the certificated staff level is a systemic issue in NJ, and is not limited to just a few school districts in NJ.”
Because of the interest generated on this issue, the current article discusses additional analysis done for 10 more school districts, and presents the results for all 16 school districts in a more easily readable format. Our additional analysis confirms the above statement that the under-representation of minority RGs at the certificated staff level is a systemic issue in NJ.
Should Public High Schools Require Mandatory Community Involvement?
In many private schools, especially church-sponsored private schools, community involvement is part of the required curriculum. The rationale is that when young people provide a helping hand to others in the community, it helps to foster their moral and ethical values. It allows them to see the lives of the less fortunate, e.g., low income senior citizens, people with disabilities, children from broken families. Furthermore, if the students come from a background of middle class or above, community involvement can help them gain a better understanding of another part of society that they normally might not see. Community involvement could reinforce the importance of working hard and getting a good education in order to move ahead in life.
This last point is something that immigrants to this country from less developed countries can resonate with. Children of first generation immigrants still can remember how tough life was in their old countries, and how hard work by their parents and themselves can significantly improve their livelihood. On the other hand, children of second generation immigrants might already be brought up in a middle-class environment with the corresponding comforts, and relatively speaking may have less incentive to study and work hard.
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