Mitchell Robinson, academic editor of Music Educators Journal (MEJ), is conscious of North America’s deficit of minority individuals teaching music. “We need to do a better job,” he says, “of finding, recruiting, and mentoring more persons of color into our profession, and encouraging them to consider music education as a potential career choice.”

Robinson encourages MEJ authors to write about a wide array of topics, and to consider diversity in choices of photos illustrating MEJ articles. “We need to remember that the pictures that go along with the articles in our journals tell a parallel story, and these images should reflect the diversity of the student population in our schools,” he says.

The March 2009 Music Educators Journal contains an article that looks at the numbers of minority students and faculty in higher education institutions’ music ed programs.

Author Allen Clements of Southern Arkansas University concludes that as student populations in the United States become increasingly diverse, college music programs need to reflect this change. His article is "Minority Students and Faculty in Higher Music Education."

When you submit your next article to Music Educators Journal, please consider sending along photographs that represent the diversity of the community in which you work and that would enhance your piece. If you have the photographer’s and the students’ parents’ permission, these images could also go a long ways toward improving your professional journal.

MENC member Mitchell Robinson, Ph.D., is an associate professor of music education at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

--Ella Wilcox, March 4, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)