Students seek role models
Marlisha Wilbourn, a senior at La Follette High School who is black, suspects one reason few black students pursue teaching careers: “We don’t have anyone to look up to.”
Only five of the two dozen students at a recent La Follette Black Student Union meeting recalled ever having a black teacher in Madison.
“When you come into our schools, you see your white principal, and your white teachers. For some students, that can make them feel like those positions are only meant for those kinds of people,” said Teanna Brisco, 17.
Brisco, Wilbourn and other La Follette students said they feel there are lower academic expectations for them.