Wendy Kopp on The Colbert Report!

Wendy Kopp, President and Founder of Teach For America, did a great job last night on The Colbert Report.  You can check out the short segment here:

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=81626

Will Funding Close the Gap?

I recently read an article on TruthDig.com that named insufficient funding as the greatest challenge facing our school systems. Something about the argument bothered me on a deep level. It has taken me a week of occasional pondering to articulate my annoyance. Although I would love to see more money funneled into our struggling education system, I do not think funding can be called a panacea.

It is my belief that leadership, ingenuity, and high expectations can trump inadequate funding and faulty, bureaucratic budgeting. After their two-year commitments, corps members cite teacher quality and high student expectations as the single most important factors in educational success. According to a Teach For America document titled “Equity Within Reach,” one high school physics teacher from Oakland says:

“I think the public would see the poverty, violence, drug abuse, and lack of funding as the primary reasons, when, despite all that, the best teachers can still make gains with their students by bringing rigor into the curriculum and setting high expectations, and having the skill and experience to back up those expectations and demand performance from the students.”

Throwing money at an already inadequate system will not offer long-term solutions. There must be fundamental change on several levels. No Child Left Behind, in theory, is a great program. In practice, it has become laden with complicated means to a seemingly unreachable end. Even its proponents agree that the finished product is far from the original intent. I am in the process of researching the policy and don’t feel entirely comfortable participating in a debate of its merits. I can only express my current, modestly informed opinion.

In addition, I think there needs to be a change of mindset among the general public. If we as a people raise our expectations for all children, I think we will begin to see a healthier, more diverse nation. This could spread to all sectors: health, politics, environment, and business. An educated nation with high expectations and personal integrity—what a novel, and admittedly idealistic, thought.

I wish that all will hold on to some sort of foolish, hopelessly idealistic vision of a perfect America. Our country was founded on sentiments that seemed incredibly foolish at the time. There is a spirit of possibility here, but I think we have succumbed to a belief of powerlessness. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and inadequately funded schools are not hopeless. With leadership, high expectations, and a healthy dose of youthful idealism, they can achieve at and beyond levels expected of more privileged kids.