A vast and growing inequality exists in my country. Just this month, Harper’s Index cited a two-fold increase during the past 20 years in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves among the “have-nots.” This epidemic of socio-economic stratification infects all of our democratic institutions, informing, for example, Mississippi’s decision to allocate only 10 percent of its $1.7 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief on programs to help poor residents.
The education system is not immune. Half of the children growing up in low-income communities do not graduate from high school. Of those that do graduate, most, on average, read at the eighth-grade level of students in high-income communities. Children of color are three times more likely than their white peers to grow up in low-income communities, a fact that adds social weight to economic statistics.
This is a national injustice. Children born into low-income communities are being denied their inalienable right to be educated, a right directly correlated with their choices, chances and social agency in life.
If I come across angry, I apologize, but these children are my students. I became the second of two seventh-grade math teachers at Mariana Bracetti Academy Charter School, in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, when an experienced teacher from out of state quit, three weeks into the school year.
I walked into my new class on a Monday half expecting to be greeted by my new students with excitement and applause, for was not I their savior from the chaos and uncertainty of a string of substitute teachers?
I was quickly given a reality check when students seemed to pay no mind as I lectured on fractions, decimals and percents. A couple of them strained to listen. Some slept. Most of them just carried on their conversations as if I were not even there. “Don’t you want to learn?” I thought. I soon realized then even though the answer was a clear, resounding “Yes!” I was asking the wrong question.
The right questions included the following: “What are your strengths and weaknesses in math?” “What motivates you to push yourself to succeed, in school and elsewhere?” and “Who are the important people in your life, and how can I contact them?”
Since those first weeks teaching, I have grown considerably. I have learned that I am capable of pushing my patience, energy, immune system, voice, organizational skills and creativity to levels unimaginable six months ago.
I was placed in a Philadelphia public school by Teach For America, which pursues its mission to close the achievement gap via 5,000 corps members in 26 regions across the United States, as well as an alumni movement comprising 17,000 former corps members.
I joined the movement because it was exactly that: a movement of committed individuals striving toward a common goal of social justice. Few other post-graduation opportunities promised the potential for growth, and the immediate ability to effect change that TFA did. Stepping into a full classroom in which you are responsible for the cognitive, social and emotional development – and safety! – of more than 30 young people is quite the endeavor.
Fifty years ago, a movement of people challenged an unjust system and demanded equality. Today, our public schools, and our neighborhoods, are more segregated than in 1954. Separate but Equal continues unofficially to this day, and it is our responsibility to ensure its complete and permanent destruction. I challenge every ambitious, socially conscious graduating senior to consider giving two years of civil service to Teach For America’s movement to end educational inequity. This is one of the most pressing civil-rights issues of our generation.
Babak Ghafarzade is a University alumnus