I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received did not come packaged. It did not have a bow or a box. It did not have a note attached. I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received came from a teacher—perhaps many—who poured love into you in the form of education.
With education, you can see this text and read it. You can interpret my words and re-arrange them to create poetry, prose or perhaps a counter-argument. Because you are literate, you will never confuse a Buckeye with a Badger, even though they both wear red.
Unfortunately, college-preparatory education is a gift reserved for our nation's wealthier classes. Although the CIA cites that 99 percent of U.S. citizens over 15 years old can read and write, the truth is that our nation is educationally polarized. By fourth grade, children who live in low-income communities are already two to three grades behind wealthier peers. Approximately half of the students in low-income neighborhoods will not graduate from high school by 18—those who do will perform on average at an eighth-grade level.
It hurts to recount this reality. It hurts to witness it. These numbers prove the existence of educational injustice, but they understate the heartbreaking affront to humanity. Behind each number is a child whose life has been limited by inadequate instruction. In my own classroom of 28 second-graders, I have seven who began the year below a kindergarten level. Without aggressive academic intervention, what will life hold for them? These children, at seven years old, are already significantly behind their wealthier peers. Statistically speaking, because they live in low-income communities, only one in 10 of my students will graduate from college.
The achievement gap is our nation's greatest injustice—and you can help solve it. I believe this as a teacher and as a member of Teach For America.
I stand as an example to everyone in this nation that educational inequity can end with strong teachers. Politicians can haggle about tax bases and school resources, pundits can lay blame for bad parenting, but neither politicians nor pundits actually stand at the front of the classroom. Teachers do. Teachers hold the power. In my first year, I helped children grow 1.5 years in reading. In my second year, my students are on track to meet or pass this rate of growth. Imagine the impact you could have.
There are many ways to join the fight to end educational inequity, but none parallels the impact of becoming an instructional leader. As a teacher, you will actively change lives and futures. You will encounter students with unexplored brilliance. Their lives will enrich your own. Some days you may feel that injustice has a tangible weight, but the burden will stretch and remold you into a more effective leader for change.
The United States will remain in debt to its potential as a world power unless leaders emerge in education. UW-Madison boasts a student body with strong leaders in all curricular areas. Each graduate represents exponential potential—by giving the gift of literacy to one life, you will enrich another. Help end this injustice. Those who teach lead, and those who lead have the power to change.
Contact the campus recruiter for Teach for America and see how your college education can change our nation's future.
Jill Klosterman is a 2008 graduate of UW-Madison and former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Cardinal. She is a Teach for America second-grade teacher in Chicago. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
