After experiencing a top-notch education in state-of-the-art facilities, some Dartmouth students are choosing to take their education to America's most disadvantaged primary schools.
For Justin May '00, reading "Savage Inequalities" during his senior fall while in professor Andrew Garrod's Education 20 class was an eye-opening experience.
"He is on fire," said May. "He really gets people thinking about the inequities in the public school system."
Not being an education major, May found the Teach For America program to be the quickest way to get involved in teaching. During his first year after graduation, May taught third grade in inner city New Orleans.
Teaching at the William J. Guste Elementary school, whose student body is almost entirely black, May observed that "the color line is a very real part of life here." Almost all the city's white children attended private schools, effectively segregating the school system, he said.
"I'd never been south of Boston or even really been in a major city. I was a little bit scared, honestly. I was just absolutely shocked at the level of poverty," May recalled.
The student population came from three nearby housing projects. Eighty-five percent had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Kids were afraid to do basic things like close their eyes to visualize a story," May said. "Sometimes [they didn't] even know where food was coming from, or if somebody gets sick what doctor [they would] go to."
His school had no air conditioning, no windows, no pens, no paper, he told The Dartmouth. "All those stereotypes about under-resourced schools were true."
May's initial strategy: Go to school armed with a clipboard and a whistle, and try to act tough.
That didn't work.
At one point, he said, the principal was threatening to fire him because he wasn't able to maintain order in his classroom.
"These kids are tougher than anybody I'd ever met," said May.
He changed tactics again, this time deciding to get to know the kids as kids --- meet their parents, enter their communities. He started an after-school project using computers donated from private schools and churches, often the best-equipped resource in the area.
Working with the students, May began to change his focus to basic reading and writing skills, rather than discipline.
"They want to learn, they want to do it, if you provide them the opportunity," he said. "It's not that I'm a great teacher, it's just that there are so many kids waiting for you to give them that opportunity."
May now works as the executive director of the New Mexico Teach for America chapter, and other Dartmouth students are hoping to follow in his footsteps.
Cat McManus '04 is applying for next year, and is hoping to be placed in the San Francisco bay area or another urban setting.
McManus said she recognized her position of as "someone who's had a lot of advantages. I might as well take ... this fantastic education I've got and put it to use," she said. "It's an opportunity to make a difference to a lot of kids."
An English major, McManus attended private high school, but she maintains that it's important to have faith in the public school system.
And Teach For America has faith in its Big Green teachers. During his second year of teaching, May won TFA's Sue Lehmann Award, which the organization gives to one teacher yearly for excellence in the classroom.
Next year, May will return to the classroom, wherever he gets placed.
"No matter what you do, you can improve equity for kids," May said.
