Women Who Inspire Us

   By drodriguez  Feb 20, 2007
73

Not many 21 year olds can claim to have gathered 2.5 million dollars to fund an idea that they could just not let go. Talk about inspiring! In her senior year at Princeton University, Wendy Kopp proposed the idea for Teach for America in her undergraduate thesis. She was sure that many of her peers were seeking to do something meaningful in their lives instead of rushing to a 6 figure job. Turns out, she was right.

A year later, in 1990, Kopp initiated Teach For America. That year, she started the program with 500 men and women who began teaching in needy communities. Fast forward to 15 years later and you will find that Teach For America has substantially grown. This organization now boasts 3,500 current members, in addition to, the more than 10,000 alumni.

Kopp shares her story in her book, One Day, All Children, part memoir, part guide book. Read it and perhaps you too will be inspired to follow your dreams.


Do you think our country's children are getting a better education now than they were 10 years ago?

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Ahouston1981 by Ahouston1981 | Alexandria, KY
Nov 06, 2021

Amazing

Khewett91 by Khewett91 | Gibsonville, NC
Oct 30, 2021

Yes, I do believe that our children are getting better education.

helpishere by helpishere | kenitra, OU
Oct 24, 2021

yes because technology is more developped now

imasay by imasay | Romeoville, IL
Sep 16, 2021

The income a teacher receives does not motivate them to teach. They prefer pairing students with devices and letting them figure out what they need to for the day or rant about their unbalanced toxic boring life to them.

KellyLynn9874 by KellyLynn9874 | VIRGINIA BCH, VA
Sep 11, 2021

I work in the public school system and I am amazed with this 21 year old, she is an inspiration.  
With technology today, I think the schools are trying their best to give the children the knowledge they will need to be successful in this world of technology.  However, I think we put emphasis on technology now adays more then the basic fundamentals that they kids are seeming to loose.  We need to do a better job of teaching both, while they need technology they also need to know how to read a map.

KellyLynn9874 by KellyLynn9874 | VIRGINIA BCH, VA
Sep 11, 2021

I work in the public school system and I am amazed with this 21 year old, she is an inspiration.  
With technology today, I think the schools are trying their best to give the children the knowledge they will need to be successful in this world of technology.  However, I think we put emphasis on technology now adays more then the basic fundamentals that they kids are seeming to loose.  We need to do a better job of teaching both, while they need technology they also need to know how to read a map.

theroxannanicole928 by theroxannanicole928 | AMITYVILLE, NY
Aug 30, 2021

As a parent who had to homeschool a 7 year old and a 14 year old last year due to COVID, it's definetly not the same as when I went to school and it's dumbed down a lot. My 14 year old brother didn't know where Washington D.C. was! This is crazy! He couldn't even  name all the continents.

sh3429 by sh3429 | SAN ANTONIO, TX
Jul 17, 2021

This is a very interesting topic to post to get people interested! Props Court!

courtcourt96 by courtcourt96 | COALING, AL
Jul 10, 2021

I'm not an educator, but I have spent a majority of my life (so far) in school. I feel like schooling is better than 10 years ago in some ways, but at the same time, I feel that there are valuable things that are not taught in school, especially the area I grew up in. I feel that school should focus on core classes while helping prepare young adults for real world responsibilities. 

ashapley by ashapley | Nora Springs, IA
Jul 05, 2021

I'm not an educator but I do work with the youth year round at a treatment facility so I see what they are learning as well as how they are learning it. In some aspects I think that yes, education is getting better but also, it is VERY lacking.

One thing the nonprofit facility I work for has started with schools outside our community, is a TIC classroom. (Truama Informed Care) We help teach life skills, emotional regulation skills, coping skills and do aggression replacement trainings with all kids. Not just the ones who end up in treatment. It's very beneficial to young minds to learn simple skills like how to make a complaint or preparing for a difficult conversation even giving and receiving compliments. 

Some may say it's a waste of time and that they need to learn the quadratic formula or what happens when a star goes super nova but also, they could learn all that while building strong, positive character traits. 

Flintstones1 by Flintstones1 | RIVERDALE, GA
Jun 10, 2021

As an educator myself, I'm on the fence. I believe to much emphasis is placed on standardized testing and not enough on what will prepare them for the real world. I believe we as educators have to walk a type rope, constantly being scrutinized, all the while being overworked and underpaid. Teaching in an Urban school district, we're never rewarded with the same materials and supplies as our suburban counterparts. We're constantly having to use our own income to purchase these items. So yeah, I believe they're some awesome educators out there, doing the best they can, with what we have to work with, all while trying to keep our mental health in check.

askeens73 by askeens73 | Raceland, KY
May 25, 2021

I am reminded of the old saying "give a man a fish and he eats for a day-teach a man to fish and when can eat for a lifetime"  our children need to be taught life skills along with the current curriculum taught in most schools.  I would love to see a more of a movement like this that would reach children who may not have all of the amenities some do. It is our job to raise the next generation to be better than ours.

Stephmcl18 by Stephmcl18 | Albuquerque, NM
May 19, 2021

I think society as a whole has begun to stray away from teaching things that are meaningful. I think that now a day's we focus on frivolous subjects that have no actual knowledge begind them instead of teaching things that we need to know to survive in life. For instance how come in public school we are not tonight how to pay bills or how to balance a checkbook or how to establish good credit? Food for thought 
 

Stephmcl18 by Stephmcl18 | Albuquerque, NM
May 19, 2021

I think society as a whole has begun to stray away from teaching things that are meaningful. I think that now a day's we focus on frivolous subjects that have no actual knowledge begind them instead of teaching things that we need to know to survive in life. For instance how come in public school we are not tonight how to pay bills or how to balance a checkbook or how to establish good credit? Food for thought 
 

Azyet610 by Azyet610 | CHARLOTTE, NC
Apr 03, 2021

In some regards, yes...in others, no. Being in this pandemic era I am grateful for the technological accessibility, however, the great disparity that exists within our local school system shows that all education is not created equal