Have you ever had a same-race teacher that made you feel more confident? Students and teachers at Carver E&S High School show this to be true.
By: Lana Martinez & Moriah Smith
April 3, 2024
George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, located in north Philadelphia has a large Hispanic and black student population. However, the diversity of the teachers does not match, with only 15% of its teachers being black and 6% Hispanic.
Having a greater population of Black and Hispanic teachers improves the school experience for many students in the Philadelphia District.
According to Carver teacher Daniel Rivera, it is beneficial for students to have someone to look up to who looks like them. It can allow students to feel better connected and comfortable.
"I mean, it's always a big impact when in the front of the classroom, you are able to see someone that is similar to you. Representation matters, including in the classroom" said Rivera.
With the ratio of student-to-teacher diversity being off, there are less opportunities for students to connect with teachers and build community. Janel Moore-Almond, another Carver HSES teacher, believes that having a community of people similar to you is important.
"Having a community is important, just so that you one feels supported, but you also feel like you have people that you can grow with and learn with and lean on" said Moore-Almond.
According to the Philly Voice, over the past 20 years, the percentage of black teachers within the district has dropped more than 10%. While in the past many people may have had teachers of the same race, this doesn't apply to many current Philadelphia high school students. Some students have not even had a teacher who shares the same racial background.
"I didn't realize when I was growing up that I was lucky to have as many black teachers as I did,” said Moore-Almond. “I've had students tell me I was their first black teacher, or they've never had a black teacher. I mean, they're students in this building that have rosters that have no teachers of color period.”
Moore-Almond, a teacher at E&S high school expresses how her own success as a teacher relates to having a teacher of the same race.
"Ms. Watson, I had her here. She was my French teacher" said Ms. Moore-Almond. “She was the teacher that told me that I should apply to Harvard. I wouldn't have applied. No, absolutely not. I still don't know if I would have if anybody else. No one ever mentioned that to me, even though I was always like a top student. So yeah, it's absolutely made a difference.”
Anthony Farfan, a Carver student, remembers the conversations well between his similarly Hispanic teacher Ms. Maestra Olga. Once a month after leaving Carver high school, he would make his way towards Independence Charter School by bus. Conversations ranged from school experiences to personal identity which helped Anthony navigate his adolescent life.
“I had a pretty deep connection with her because she was like, we could kind of relate to our stories in a way" Farfan said. "I was happy to go to advisory like I was happy to go to school, because it's like it would start off well. Like it would start off with me being able to joke around with a teacher. Like we would relate about certain things. Or we would also like have differences like different ways to say different foods or things like that. So we just we had a lot to talk about."
Carver E&S High School students greatly benefit by having a greater percentage of black and Hispanic teachers as it would push them to reach their full potential in all fields when they feel they have someone who makes a difference. Leading them to have greater confidence in what they can achieve.
“A black woman told me that this black girl could and I did. Teachers have absolutely made a difference” said Moore-Almond.