The Big Picture: An Inquiry Into the Motivations of African-American Teacher Education Students to Be or Not to Be Teachers

Abstract

The current study investigates the motivations of African Americans with regard to precollege teaching as a career. The study’s participants are one female and one male Afican American, both of whom had strongly considered pursuing secondary certification at the graduate level but decided instead to pursue doctorates in order to teach at the college level. The study, which extended over the course of nearly a year, is narrative life history and as such situates the lives of the individual participants within broader societal and cultural contexts. This article presents condensed versions of Vera’s and Van’s life stories from childhood up until they decided to forego precollege teaching. Their reasons for initially considering and ultimately deciding against teaching are discussed, as are their views about the reasons for the scarcity of African Americans entering teaching. The article continues with an interpretation of the study’s findings in light of relevant research and theory. Finally, building on this interpretation, a tentative explanation of possible attractions and deterrents to teaching for African Americans is developed. Central to this explanation are reinterpretations of Lortie’s (1975) themes of service and continuation and the addition of a new theme: social, political, and historical forces which may operate at an individual, psychological level.