Racial Make-Up of College Professors of Aviation

My field of specialization is aviation. It is a highly contested field in terms of racial and ethnic representation. The area of aviation shows a somewhat inclination to the side of the whites and the minorities are not very well represented. Since the time that aviation studies were introduced in the United States, they were highly spoken of in the perception that they were courses that were just introduced for the whites and had no room for the minority races inclusive of the African-American, Asian and Hispanic Population.  The aviation profession is, therefore, one where racial representation is not that moderated amongst all the races in the United States.

The inclination of the field of aviation towards the side of the Whites in the nation is explicated by the number of practicing professionals who are inclusive of pilots, flight attendants, and engineers.  A report released by the DATA USA showed an astonishing racial composition for aircraft pilots and flight engineers. About 73% of the aircraft and flight engineers were whites. 14% of them were Black-Americans, 6% were Asians and the rest were comprised of other races inclusive of the Hispanics (“Aircraft pilots & flight engineers,” n.d.). It, therefore, means that even in the professional scope of the aviation empire, the whites hold an unimaginable majority. Though whites are the majority race in the United States, their composition is still not that high concerning the general racial view. The other minority races representation in a way need to be higher than the current statistics. Therefore, there is such an astounding racial disparity in the field of aviation where even the racial compositions of the professionals seem to be uneven. 

The racial composition of higher education students in the United States is still on the rise. The current general growth rates depict an increased absorption of more than 30% since the year 2000. The increased absorption in higher education institutions is however not still reflected in the aviation field. With increased growth in the number of students who are absorbed in institutions of higher learning, an increased number of minorities learning aviation would have also increased. More than 70% of the students in aviation are still whites according to a 2011 study. About 7% are African-American while 13% are Asians and the Hispanics and other races living in the nation account for the other 10% (Ison, Herron & Weiland, 2016).  Racial compositions in the aviation courses from the undergraduate programs up to the doctorate studies are still dominated by the majority of whites, and very little of the minorities are seen in the picture.

The United States is a multiracial community where the racial diversity ought to be represented across. Gollnick & Chinn, (2013), state that a pluralistic society is one where multicultural education is established. Multicultural education is one that shows an equal or at least a moderated representation of all cultural disparities that could be caused by social classes, ethnicity, race, gender, religion or even age. The field of aviation is, therefore, one that deserves to be observed in a wide range of manners (Gollnick & Chinn, 2013). One of the issues is in the consideration of the existence of inequality in the training of aviation courses. Also, there is a need to observe the cultural inhibitors that make people from the minority races not to be that interested in aviation even when they have the capacity. It is necessary to view the aviation field in school that one that is also dominated by the white majority which possibly scares some of the oncoming minority races students and professionals. Therefore, an aspect of multicultural education that enhances pluralism in the aviation field would, therefore, be necessary.

Because of the racial disparity in the aviation field, I believe that one aspect of culture that I am going to share with my students is that the aviation field is a peculiar field where more concentration should be put in ability and competence. Most of the students of aviation regardless of their racial origin are students who are competent. I will, therefore, seek to make them feel that they are all qualified to make good aviation professionals. At the same time, however, I believe that I will not subscribe to their belief that the reason that whites dominate the aviation field is that they are better than the other minority races. I will seek to create a stable learning environment for all students, and hence I will concentrate on deconstructing the cultural view of racial superiority that is said to favor any race in the field. 

In conclusion, the aviation profession is one that lacks to show pluralism of the races that exist in the United States. The white majority still dominates in the professional practice and still in the class environment. The probable reasons are that multicultural education that makes the profession accessible to all races among some other cultural beliefs of racial inferiority among the minorities have been the reason. Approaching it in the future career, I will try to concentrate more on making the field one that makes use of multicultural education with regard to all races.  

References

Aircraft pilots & flight engineers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/soc/532010/#demographics

Gollnick, D. M., & Chinn, P. C. (2013). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society. Pearson Higher Ed.

Ison, D. C., Herron, R., & Weiland, L. (2016). Two decades of progress for minorities in aviation. Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering, 6(1), 4.