From Classroom to Financial Guidance: Carlos Scott's TA Journey

Carlos was what is now called an Educational Assistant, or Paraprofessional. He reflects on how important his role is, and what it means to represent for the students of color who don’t often see a leader in the classroom that looks like them. Carlos has now grown in his career, and works as a financial advisor, helping to guide others in wealth creation.

My name is Carlos Scott. I am a TA teacher assistant at American Indian magnet school. I've honestly, I've never seen myself as a teacher.

You know, growing up in schools, I just. I've always wondered why, you know, teachers were teachers because kids, they're so hard to deal with. And now being in their role, I definitely understand where they're coming from.

It's just a great feeling inside. You're really just giving back to the community. And like I said, these people are the future, and you really want to be that impact in their lives.

It's very rewarding to make a connection with students. Like I said, a lot of these students, they grow up in very bad environments, whatever the case may be. May be on drugs.

They may not even know their parents. Some students are homeless. You know, they're not eating.

So just them seeing me every single day coming down the hall as Mister Scott, Mister Scott, writing me cards and all that thing type of things, you know, it's really great. It's really rewarding for me, and I'm really humbled by the situation that I'm in right now. They don't have many role models, so I am their role model.

And, you know, I think that's very important. I believe teachers of color is necessary for every school simply because, you know, when you want students to kind of grow up and see different walks of life and not just one walk of life, because when you go into the world, the world isn't just one way. It's not just one color.

So if a student goes to a school that happens to be all black, all muslim, or whatever, they're not going to know any other aspect of the world. And I think diversity is very important to have in school and communities because you can learn from different people, and then you'll ultimately realize that we're all alike. You know, we're all alike, which will then hopefully get rid of all the stereotypes that people have for different race, religions, or whatever it may be.

I believe that male teachers are very important to have in schools. Male teachers of color are certainly something very important, especially in a lot of inner city schools, because they don't have a lot of male role models for themselves. Just seeing that a male of color is in these schools, that's going to change.

Thinking of a lot of these younger students, a lot of the older students that may be out in the streets, that may be doing bad things that now they are seeing like, oh, this guy, he looks like me, we're similar, and he's in a successful position now that teacher is able to influence that student into a better direction. I believe that having a male, especially a minority, is very important in schools. I believe teachers change the world.

The reason why I believe teachers change the world is because they have so much impact on students lives. You know, students see teachers literally every Monday through Friday, Monday through Friday until the summer. You're going to see them so much and then just seeing someone so much they're going to have influence.

They're going to have some type of say in kind of how you act and what you do. That's just, that's human nature in general. So with a teacher, a teacher that truly cares and that truly wants someone to learn, like I said, I've been saying this.

Teachers are very impactful in students lives because they can then give them the tools, the knowledge, the resources to help a student fulfill their goals, their dreams or whatever they want to do.