Graduating students have the option to teach
Graduating USU students are being offered the opportunity to apply to teach a subject of their choice to grades K-12 in cities, such as Phoenix and New York City, and the Bay Area as part of the Teach for America program.
According to an informational brochure produced by Teach For America, about 50 percent of students growing up in poverty will not graduate from school by the time they are 18 years old, and most who do graduate will function only on an eighth grade level. The goal for Teach for America is to end what it calls the “educational inequity.”
Rosemary Rogers, a representative of Teach for America who has personally been through the program, said the program is looking for graduating seniors of any major to commit two years to teach in the schools of low income communities.
“We need education and non-education majors to join the fight together,” Rogers said. “Students aren’t hitting their potential just because of where they were born. It has nothing to with their intellectual abilities.”
Rogers said Teach for America is a good place for people to start who want to make something of their lives in the business world because it gives them experience in leadership positions, so much that Business Week Magazine named Teach for America one of the top 10 places to launch a career.
“Teach for America is known for making leaders,” Rogers said. “The amount of management experience you receive is unparalleled. You get to be a part of a network that can help candidates find jobs. One of my friends is now a corporate trainer, and she says there is no way she could have gotten that job without Teach for America.”
Rogers said she thinks it is important for people to launch their career using Teach for America because it will change what things happen in the future.
“We need leaders who know about the problems first-hand so we can get rid of education inequity,” Rogers said. “I worked with 30 students my first year and only five of them were reading on grade level.”
Rogers said one of the misconceptions about Teach for America is that it is volunteer work. Students working in the program are actually full-time, paid employees of the school system, Rogers said, and by the end of the two-year commitment, they are a fully certified teacher. Another misconception is that students have to be education majors to join the program.
“I was a business major, and when I graduated I realized I wasn’t passionate about it,” Rogers said. “When I heard about the program and I really saw the disparity, I was compelled to apply.”
Rogers said students applying for the program are able to list their preferences as to where and what they want to teach, but the program does require a two-year commitment.
“Two years seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of life it is not too long,” Rogers said. “You will be able to say that you took those two years to make a difference.”
Rogers said Teach for America is a program that benefits both the students who go into the program and the students in the districts they work in, making it a worthwhile program all around.
“When you look back on your life and ask yourself if you made a difference, you’ll know that Teach for America helped you to,” Rogers said.
This year’s deadline for applying for Teach for America is Feb. 15. Teach for America will be holding an information session in Business 215 on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 5:30 p.m.
-debrajoy.h@aggiemail.usu.edu