Me and TFA.

It's a little strange to say this, but during the year it's very easy to forget that I'm part of Teach for America, and that I came to do my part in bringing about  educational equity. My experience in school has painted "education reform" in a thousand shades of gray instead of the old black and white. Similarly, this year has modified my understanding of TFA's and my role in "education reform."

I came in to TFA because I wanted to do more for the kids that I fell in love with at camp. I knew that I didn't want to teach forever, and that I wanted to do something positive while I figured out my next steps. A lot of people believe this is exactly what's wrong with TFA and people like myself. Teaching is difficult, and it takes one or two years just to get good at it. Then, once you actually start figuring it out, you leave the kids and waste the system's time and resources.

There is nothing I can argue with in the first part of that argument. Teaching is extremely difficult. I wonder if I'll ever get good at it... to say nothing of "getting good" two years. But I don't think TFA was meant to create a generation of excellent teachers. I've come to understand its underlying goal as exposing as many different people from different backgrounds to the inequity that permeates our society's public education system.

I'm going to leave my two-year commitment with a very different understanding of the issues. I'm going to leave with the lessons I learned, the relationships I've built with the kids and their families, and the experience burned in my memory. No matter what I do after this, there is no way that I could ever truly leave the school by cutting myself off from caring or working toward a more equitable educational system.

Teach for America does not want, I don't think, for everyone to stay in the classroom. If all the people who saw the problems stayed in the classroom, no one would listen to the teachers complain. But when thousands of people from all across the nation, from all walks of life have been exposed to and understand that there is a problem, then the case for reform is much stronger. There are many of my friends in TFA who want to stay in the classroom, and I admire them so much for their dedication. I don't think I can do that; it's not my role. But, I can take my experience and let it color whatever I do in the future. Perhaps I will also be able to share the experience so others can see the problems too.