Make a difference by teaching for America

Wednesday, February 25, 1998

Make a difference by teaching for America

TEACHING: Innovative program

lets college graduates

guide children

By Wendy Kopp

Eight years ago, I started Teach For America because I was
convinced that hundreds of talented, motivated graduating seniors
would commit two years to teach students in urban and rural areas.
I felt that a national teacher corps could fundamentally change our
country by providing more educational opportunities for some of our
nations most underserved students, and by shaping the consciousness
of a generation of individuals who will ultimately hold leadership
positions in all sectors of America.

Now, seven years later, having seen firsthand the realities
facing communities everywhere from South Central Los Angeles to the
Mississippi Delta to the South Bronx, I am only more passionate
about the need for Teach For America. I am only more certain that
our nations students and schools demand the attention of its most
talented individuals. I am only more thoughtful in calling upon you
to become part of a movement to build our countrys future.

It is impossible to capture in a short letter what we have
learned about the severity of the challenges facing some of our
nations young people. Suffice it to say that they do not have
anything near an equal opportunity to an excellent education. They
grow up in communities where poverty makes it difficult to focus on
education, and they attend schools which lack basic resources,
suffer from a dearth of extra-curricular activities and dont even
have enough people to fill teaching positions. They live in a
society that too often holds low expectations for them.

These students more than any others need committed and talented
teachers who hold high expectations for them, who are creative in
spite of a lack of resources and committed to doing whatever it
takes to reach them. At the same time, our nation at large needs
leaders who understand the realities facing students in our nations
most under-resourced areas and are committed to changing these
realities.

Over the past seven years, more than 4,000 recent college
graduates from all academic majors and ethnic backgrounds have
taught through Teach For America in 13 areas across the country.
They have brought to their schools a tremendous sense of
possibility, a contagious enthusiasm and most of all, a passionate
commitment to their students.

They have started extra-curricular programs, led school
improvement initiatives and rewritten school curriculum. They have
visited their students homes and communicated regularly with their
parents. They have expanded the horizons of their students by
introducing them to college and by taking them on trips everywhere
from France to Washington, D.C. They have had an incredibly
challenging time, but they have also made a real difference.

I have no doubt that our corps members will soon be the leaders
who are effecting needed systematic changes. Many are still
teaching beyond their two-year commitments and have assumed
significant leadership responsibilities in their schools. Others
are starting schools or working for education reform through other
channels. Those who have moved on to law, medicine and corporate
America have taken with them a rare consciousness of the realities
of our country and a commitment to changing them.

Whether you grew up in an urban or rural community, whether you
attended public school or private, you are now in a position to
help others who dont have the same opportunities you have had.
Whether you are winding down the job search or are still searching
for the right opportunity, I hope you will choose to apply to Teach
For America. The decision you make in the next several weeks can
change the rest of your life and the lives of some of this countrys
most promising children.

If youre interested in pursuing this opportunity, please contact
your career service office, call our national office at
1-800-832-1230 or visit our web site at www.teachforamerica.org for
an application. The deadline for applying is March 2.