It gets to whether we're a teacher-education model or a movement for social justice. I would say we're about the latter.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Teaching has always been, for me, linked to issues of social justice. I've never considered it a neutral or passive profession.
The role of the teacher remains the highest calling of a free people. To the teacher, America entrusts her most precious resource, her children; and asks that they be prepared... to face the rigors of individual participation in a democratic society.
Education promotes equality and lifts people out of poverty. It teaches children how to become good citizens. Education is not just for a privileged few, it is for everyone. It is a fundamental human right.
Our experience at Teach For America has been that the more people understand educational inequity, the more they want to do something about it.
Education for all seems to be the product of a type of distributive justice that is in no way related to the individual.
Now, we believe that the majority of teachers in America know our system must be reformed, to put students first so that America can compete, that teachers don't teach to become rich or famous. They teach because they love children.
Teachers are our greatest public servants; they spend their lives educating our young people and shaping our Nation for tomorrow.
I see education in the U.K. as a civil rights struggle.
I do think we know that a teacher who knows what he or she is doing, knows their subject matter, and knows how to impart knowledge to kids is a critical piece of closing the achievement gap.
I think the way to understand Teach for America is as a leadership development program.