As I finish my first year as a Teach for America corps member, it saddens me that such attacks are being made on the organization that works so tirelessly on behalf of so many students here in Chicago and all over the US. I would, however, like to issue some apologies:
I'm sorry, for graduating with honors from a top 50 liberal arts school and choosing to do a program like Teach for America. I'm ashamed that I did not take my ignorance and my diploma to a graduate school that would have likely propelled me to a desk job for the next forty years of my life. If there's anything that cities like Chicago needs, it's more white male yuppies like me moving to Lincoln Park.
I'm sorry, for accepting a position at a charter school that fights to get African-American young men out of the south side of Chicago and into colleges and universities across the nation. Without my getting in the way, these young men could have had another teacher that isn't passionate about teaching mathematics and its relevance in the real world. Besides, we have to keep jobs aside for teachers that are "veterans", because they are usually more skilled, efficient, and driven teachers.
I'm sorry, that I didn't spend four years of college at $40K per year on a degree that most of society denounces as useless, at least in the way that it is compensated. My deepest condolences go out to you for the hours, days, weeks, months, and now years that I spent learning how to be a better teacher for my students' sake. Shame on me for trying to learn in "five weeks" what it took you four years to learn.
I'm sorry, that my students asked me to come back next year, because I have been one of e few stable male figures in their lives this year. Unfortunately for you, I care about them enough to fight the battle again and again, day after day, with only "five weeks" of training or experience.
I'm sorry, that I gave up living close to my family in the suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky to come to a city like Chicago. Lord knows that the children of suburban Lexington need me more than my current students. I mean, they live in dangerous neighborhoods sometimes too.
And lastly, I'm sorry that my students grew 3 points on their EXPLORE tests this year.
Actually, I'm #notsorry.
I'm sorry, for graduating with honors from a top 50 liberal arts school and choosing to do a program like Teach for America. I'm ashamed that I did not take my ignorance and my diploma to a graduate school that would have likely propelled me to a desk job for the next forty years of my life. If there's anything that cities like Chicago needs, it's more white male yuppies like me moving to Lincoln Park.
I'm sorry, for accepting a position at a charter school that fights to get African-American young men out of the south side of Chicago and into colleges and universities across the nation. Without my getting in the way, these young men could have had another teacher that isn't passionate about teaching mathematics and its relevance in the real world. Besides, we have to keep jobs aside for teachers that are "veterans", because they are usually more skilled, efficient, and driven teachers.
I'm sorry, that I didn't spend four years of college at $40K per year on a degree that most of society denounces as useless, at least in the way that it is compensated. My deepest condolences go out to you for the hours, days, weeks, months, and now years that I spent learning how to be a better teacher for my students' sake. Shame on me for trying to learn in "five weeks" what it took you four years to learn.
I'm sorry, that my students asked me to come back next year, because I have been one of e few stable male figures in their lives this year. Unfortunately for you, I care about them enough to fight the battle again and again, day after day, with only "five weeks" of training or experience.
I'm sorry, that I gave up living close to my family in the suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky to come to a city like Chicago. Lord knows that the children of suburban Lexington need me more than my current students. I mean, they live in dangerous neighborhoods sometimes too.
And lastly, I'm sorry that my students grew 3 points on their EXPLORE tests this year.
Actually, I'm #notsorry.
