Boring v. interesting.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills - Brief Article

"Since 1975, South Carolina has lost nearly half of its African-American teachers," reports Gina Smith of Columbia's The State. "The downward spiral flies in the face of a growing body of research that says minority students do better in class when taught by teachers from their same racial or ethnic group." Smith illustrates the point with an African American named Quincy Samuel, who teaches his fifth grade students with rhymes about Juneau, Alaska, Dover, Del., and other capitals set "to a thumping beat."

The reason for the decline in the number of black teachers is, of course, the same reason many brilliant women who taught when I was young do not teach today: Educated blacks have many other opportunities. There are two answers to this problem. One is...