Gwinnett Technical College has a diversity problem that needs solving. Gwinnett Technical College opened its doors back in 1984. At that time, Gwinnett County schools were predominantly populated and attended by Caucasian individuals. Tyler Estep of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution pulled statistical data from Gwinnett county public schools. In 1995, 11 years after Gwinnett Technical college introduced its doors to the public, 80 percent of Gwinnett’s students enrolled in public schooling were white.
Gwinnett improved by diversifying their student demographic.
As of 2015, they dropped that 80 percent white student population to 26 percent. This change, however, has failed to radiate through Gwinnett Technical College’s staff. Gwinnett Tech is Georgia’s second-largest college, serving 21,000 students annually. Of those 21,000, on average, 63 percent of their student body comprises individuals from minority groups, and most of that percentage is African American.
They’ve implemented the changes necessary to make their school more appealing. But they haven’t administered the appropriate adjustments to accommodate their ethnic students’ needs fully. After 38 years of serving and educating Gwinnett County’s youth, they’ve still failed to create more diversity for their faculty. How are their students supposed to relate to and fully be engaged with a professor they share no commonalities with? The majority of the college’s teachers are Caucasian.
This doesn’t diminish the quality of schooling or education in any capacity. These teachers are very gifted in their fields. But representation is essential, and the lack thereof present in Gwinnett Technical College could perpetuate negative or unsavory thoughts among minority students. This could also add a negative stigma to Gwinnett County Schools as a collective. Does your campus lack teacher representation?
Zada Luby is a first-year student at Gwinnett Technical college; she’s a nursing major who loves art, nature and helping her community grow. Follow her interests and more here.
