One Day...

Teach For America has a vision statement: One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

It's a simple idea. Equal opportunity. Yet, the more entrenched I became in TFA, the more insurmountable it seemed. It seemed that everything in American politics and society competed with this idea. It seemed that many in education even didn't believe this was possible.

But why shouldn't it be? Why can't huge, nation-changing ideas come to be? I've come to realize that they can happen. Big things can happen. But it takes people committing their lives to it. The great thing about this nation-changing idea is it's taking hold. The nation's best and brightest are clamoring to join TFA, according to yet another article on the program. (Thanks for the link, Amie) And these applicants are not stupid people. They are not the type to just join a "movement" that they believe isn't moving. And from the way Wendy Kopp (Teach For America's founder) talks in her bookOne Day, All Children (which I just finished reading), the program's staff members believe it can happen as well and are committing themselves to moving the mission along.

So, yes, I'm inspired again. I do believe in educational equity. And I even wrote Wendy an e-mail thanking her for starting Teach For America. I'm not as disillusioned with Teach For America as I had been a week ago. And I hope that I will eventually make big changes toward equity. But tomorrow I'll go to work and make no changes. Soon, though, soon...