The Teach for America chapter at CU hosted events in an effort to bring greater publicity and understanding to the challenges faced by low-income students trying to graduate college.
A Teach for America display in the UMC. Teach for America is trying to raise awareness of the graduation rates of low-income students. (CU Independent/Amy Leder)
Teach for America is a non-profit organization that recruits college students to teach and provide leadership in low-income areas, aiming to promote educational equality and increase opportunity. Last year, 33 Teach for America participants entered the classroom from CU.
A rally on Jan. 23, titled “Now More Than Ever” spread the message that only eight percent of students in the United States coming from low-income backgrounds graduate from college by the age of 24.
Participants at the rally shared their concerns about education equality and gave out t-shirts—92 percent orange, the remaining eight percent blue to symbolize the graduation statistics—which were worn throughout the week. A march from Norlin library to the UMC was held on Jan. 27.
Camille Paige, a December 2011 graduate of CU and the campus campaign coordinator for Teach for America, considered the rally a success.
“Eight percent represents how many students from low-income communities will graduate from college this year,” Paige said. “We’re trying to raise awareness on campus that this is an injustice.”
CU has three full-time Teach for America interns who, along with student volunteers, have given class presentations, set up a table regularly at the UMC and sponsored several education-themed events throughout the semester.
Megan Morton, a Teach for America recruitment manager for universities throughout Colorado, said that these are some of many ways CU students are helping low-income students access higher education.
“They help make people aware of not only education equity, but also what we believe is one of the possible solutions—joining Teach for America and being involved as a corps member after you graduate,” Morton said.
Students in the U.S. from the top quarter of incomes are eight times more likely to attain a Bachelor’s degree than those from the bottom 25 percent.
“Educational equity really is the civil rights issue of our nation today,” Genevieve Smith, a 22-year old senior international affairs major and Teach for America intern, said.
“You come across these disparities that are stemming largely from an education system that’s failing today’s youth,” Smith continued. “In the United States, with the largest economy in the entire world, we can’t even have an educational system which can give equal opportunity for all.”
Teach for America’s efforts align with CU’s Flagship 2030 plan, a blueprint for maintaining and improving CU’s status as a premiere research university and academic institution.
One core initiative of this plan is to ensure that “special attention will be given to assessing retention programs for first-generation college students and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.”
First-generation college students at CU, many of whom are from low-income families, are less likely to graduate within six years, compared to non-first-generation students and those from higher-income backgrounds. From 2001-2005, the average graduation for first-generation and non-first-generation students was 59 percent and 69 percent, respectively.
“Right now, there’s a huge educational inequity in the United States,” Smith said. “Fifty percent of students in low-income communities will not be graduating high school.”
“What Teach for America does is work with some of our nation’s top college graduates and commit to making that 52 percent into 85 percent.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Thomas Cuffe at Thomas.cuffe@colorado.edu.
