TikTok Teacher Highlighting Importance Of Black Male Teachers

Deirnesa Jefferson,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —For many of his students,Β  Aaron Bowen has earned the title of favorite science teacher.Β 

WithΒ  more than 700,000 followers on TikTok he might be your favorite science teacher too.

” That’s one of the reasons why I love education. They encourage me to be who I am. I don’t have to put on a facade when I’m teaching in the classroom,” Bowen said.Β 

Bowen saidΒ  his students encouraged him to get on TikTokΒ  during the pandemic and from there his videos took off –  some getting as many as 8 million views.Β 

“I’m comfortable in the classroom. I feel like I’m in my element and whenever it’s not forced and it’s genuine, I feel like that’s when the real connections are made,” Bowen said.Β 

Β He’s also using his platform to highlight an important topic – the need for more black men in the classroom.Β 

“In my school, 45 percent of the student population is African american. So I have a lot of young black men in my class. When they look up to me whether it’s because of who I am, what I do in the classroom or how I carry myself it’s a lot easier for them to reach that role model,” Bowen said.Β 

Black teachers represent only 7 percent of the teacher workforce and black men make up only 2 percent of teachers nationwide.Β 

Bowen saidΒ  that’s why representation is so important.Β 

“It makes it real. I can count on one hand how many black teachers I had growing up, let alone black male teachers and those black male teachers that I did have became role models,”

Bowen said being a young black man in the classroom allows him to connect with his students on a different level.Β 

“It does turn into that big brother role, especially being that I’m younger in age. some of them look at me like the cooler uncle or whatever it may be,” 

It’sΒ  those connectionsΒ  that not only make an impact in his students lives…. but in his life too.Β 

“It makes me feel honored. It makes me feel emotional. IΒ  get letters from students every year talking about how appreciative they were of me and to be in my class, but the appreciation is 100 percent mutual. I learn from them everyday. I grow just like they do everyday and I feel like that’s one of the main things that IΒ  get out of the job.”Β