Education in Action

Education is one of the cornerstones of this great country. It can become an equalizer or it can be the great divider. Over the last 25 years, we have seen more and more high school graduates opt to further their education at an accredited university or community college. And in our tough economic times, not even that bachelors degree even means what it used to. The job market is a continued competition and the better your education record the better chance you have of landing a good job. Studies continually show a greater earning potential for individuals with a college degree versus a high school degree. Even finishing high school at least helps than dropping out and settling for a GED. Unless you have great sports ability, you need education and academia to advance in your life.

As we have seen with No Child Left Behind and the Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan's education reform initiatives, work still needs to be done to improve our schools. I was lucky to attend a Catholic school for 8 years where I knew I was getting an overall good education. That continued when I went to high school. My high school is one of the biggest in the state of New Jersey and that allowed for excellent programs and a staff dedicated to students' futures. However, that is not the norm especially in this country's inner cities. I see in articles and news of failing schools in nearby New York City. Then came along a great idea in 1990. Teach for America was founded with the premise of taking recent college graduates and young intellectuals and putting them in struggling classrooms and schools to reverse the course of students losing out on a better future.

The young men and women chosen to serve as corps members come with energy and commitment to not giving up on young children that are the future. Often some of the "professional" teachers do not take a hands on approach to their students and sometimes put their own interests over their students. That is not the case with the Teach for America corps teachers. They are not making a lot of money, but are rewarded by seeing a student who might be in sixth grade, but is reading at a third grade level. Then after two months, they are now reading at a seventh grade level. Or you have a student struggling with multiplication or division, but was ignored in the past. Now that a corps member is there, they are given the proper attention that they understand and even master that skill.

Getting into the teaching profession is not always the smoothest transition and Teach for America allows many who are interested in education to get their feet wet. As someone who is in the age group of many Teach for America corps members, I know that I always am willing to work hard and am not unfamiliar to adversity. So many corps members can relate to these students and thus take a personal interest in them. The "trouble children" or "slow students" or "ignored students" do not exist in these classrooms. The corps members judge their success by the success of their students.

Problems cannot be solved overnight. Students will continue to struggle. But with education reform on many legislators minds and more importantly with Teach for America in our schools; we might finally be reversing a bad trend in America. I have often considered possibly getting involved myself. It has an extra special meaning as I am a Brother of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity. Our national philanthropy is Teach for America. For three winters now, a group of Brothers have gone to schools in states like Arizona and Georgia. I have donated money and supplies to the cause and know a few corps members. Teach for America is not as known as could be, but it is education in action. What better way to help our nation's children.

Michael Gerson recently wrote an article in the Washington Post about Teach for America. Certainly worth the read. Here it is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/08/AR2010060803740.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions