To the Editor:

In her recent piece providing suggestions for Teach For America applicants, the author mentions her perspective on the mindset of TFA corps members. The idea that TFA corps members fail to consider or oversimplify the socioeconomic and racial inequalities causing and reinforcing the educational opportunity gap is a misguided generalization. If anything, corps members become so grossly aware of the uphill battle they face that it becomes discouraging and incredibly motivating at the same time.

Dropping “Tyler” off after soccer practice to a trailer home without electricity and water was not the first time I thought, “These kids and families have other struggles beyond the academic skill deficits.” I was fully aware of these additional circumstances even before my experience with “Tyler” as much as I understand today that when “Sarah” walks into the building with her head down, dragging her bag, I need to give her a snack, school supplies and a hug.

Building relationships with students like “Tyler” and “Sarah” fuels the conversations I have with other corps members and alums who turn those emboldened thoughts of educational equality and idealism into waves of awareness, realism and relentless action. This TFA “mindset” is something that was just as prevalent among my cohort of corps members in Houston, Texas, as it is with the corps members, alumni and non-corps staff members I interact with on a daily basis in my current Washington, D.C. school. It is not a failure to consider the dire circumstances all too many of our students live in, but, rather, failure to succumb to inaction and allow these circumstances to decide the educational opportunity of a child. These barriers need to be addressed, and during that process we are still obligated to provide all students an excellent education.

After fulfilling my initial corps commitment, I continued in my placement school two more years. I am completing my second year as a school administrator, and will return for the 2014-2015 academic year. I am aware of the difficult “entrenched socioeconomic and racial inequalities” facing my students, as are most TFA corps members. I have decided, for now, my place in the long battle of solving educational inequality resides in a school building. That may change, and I know it has for other corps members. But I would prefer individuals who are tackling educational inequity on any level have experience teaching the students of those communities they ultimately wish to change.

Philip James Cimbak

COL ’08