The Big Short

Black Teachers Are Leaving the Profession in Droves. New Research Confirms That Students of Color Are Paying the Highest Price for This Disparity.

- Chandra Thomas Whitfield

STEP INTO JASON JARROD DUNNING’S “LABORATORY,” and you’ll witness life science spring to life before your eyes.

His preteen pupils hang onto his every word, their eyes transfixed on him and the signature white lab coat that he wears to class every day. The students dip and twist their hips while belting out rhythmic chants that “Dr. Dunning,” as they call him, taught them in order to better understand complex scientific processes– such as reverse osmosis and aquaponics.

It’s like a party’s going on in their cozy and colorful classroom inside Birmingham, Alabama’s Wilkerson Middle School, a virtually all-Black urban public school. And if you ask the revered life science teacher, a married father of two, it’s a party with a purpose. The lively classroom vibe is intentional; his mad cool, scientist persona, by design. He insists it’s all about bonding with his students.

“On the first day of class, I have them draw a picture of a scientist and most of them draw someone who looks like [Albert] Einstein,” says Dunning, who commutes two hours daily to work from a rural nearby town. “Then I say, ‘Now, draw a picture of me.’ Many of them can’t believe they’re drawing a picture of a Black man [as a scientist]. It’s like their whole mindset changes. For a lot of them, me standing there wearing a bow tie and a lab coat is a big deal. For many, I’m the first Black man they’ve ever had as a teacher, outside of P.E. or as a coach.”