WHITEY NEED NOT APPLY: Minority teachers needed to increase diversity in Minn. schools.

Finding new ways to recruit and license teachers of various ethnicities could help close the achievement gap between white and non-white students, said former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, executive director of Generation Next, which aims to improve outcomes for students of color in Twin Cities districts.

“The ability to look at the person who is the role model in that room and have at least every once in a while it be someone who looks more like you, is not only about common sense,” Rybak said. “It is backed by data: having a teacher of color helps a kid of color achieve better.”

If it helps to have a teacher “who looks more like you,” then why not divide students and teachers by race and sex? Why not push for more male teachers where they are currently lacking, namely primary school? And why not push for more white teachers in gentrifying districts?