The Fight of a Lifetime

After college graduation, some students decide to continue their education. Others choose to join the workforce. Still others take a gap year to travel abroad. Last year, 2,500 college grads chose yet another path- they chose Teach for America.

Teach For America is a national organization for college graduates who wish to commit two years to teaching in underprivileged rural and urban areas to help fight against educational inequality.

“This is our generation’s social justice issue,” said Lindsey Dickerson, Ithaca College campus campaign manager for Teach For America. “We have the ability to solve [the achievement gap].”

Students in low-income communities are seven times less likely to attend college, and by third grade, most of them are already three grade levels behind their peers in higher-income communities, according to teachforamerica.org.

“Socioeconomic background has nothing to do with a child’s potential to succeed in the classroom,” said Dickerson.

Another IC campus campaign manager, Kurtis Indorf, was recently accepted for the Teach For America Corps in Phoenix.

“I want to empower my students with the knowledge that they can achieve,” he said. “Teach For America has shown that when given an equal opportunity, [lower-income students] can succeed as much as their higher-income peers.”

Founded by Wendy Kopp in 1990, Teach For America has reached out to 2.5 million students and now serves 25 underprivileged regions of the country.

Today, Teach For America has over 4,000 corps members, according to the website. Soon, these corps members will become part of the Teach For America alumni network.

“Arguably more than half of our impact lies in the work of our alumni,” said Justin Meli, the New York recruitment director for Teach For America.

After the two-year commitment, some teachers continue teaching, others go on to graduate school, still others pursue their careers, but usually corps members continue to work towards ending the achievement gap in all of society’s sectors.

Corps members can become doctors who practice in low-income areas to ensure that the children there are healthy and can go to school and learn. They have become politicians who are influencing public policy to help end inequality.