Free Relentless Pursuit by Donna Foote

stood Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp. Fifteen years before, she had presided at the first TFA institute just miles away. Corps members were clapping and chanting “TFA!…TFA!…TFA!” then, too. She had found the spontaneous enthusiasm disconcerting in 1990; the eardrum-piercing cheers and the near hysteria of 2005 were no less unsettling. She knew there was a fine line between exuberance and disillusionment. If she were a new CM, she mused, she would have been turned off. She wondered if others here felt the same way.
    She might as well have been reading Hrag’s mind. He didn’t feel plugged in to the crazy energy that emanated from the hall. He did absolutely believe in the central TFA dogma—that all children deserve an opportunity to attain an excellent education—and he was impressed with Wendy Kopp’s welcoming speech. When she stepped up to the podium, dressed in her customary well-tailored pantsuit, her long, light brown hair parted down the middle like a schoolgirl’s, the hall was dead quiet.
    Kopp’s remarks could have been mistaken for those of a commanding officer sending troops off to battle. She started by saluting the corps members for choosing to dedicate the next two years of their lives to teaching in underserved schools. “This has to be the road less traveled,” she said. “There had to be other options for you that were supported by family and friends.” Kopp went on to recite the dreary statistics underscoring the achievement gap between the richest and poorest students in the nation all along the education continuum. Among children in low-performing American schools, she said:

    â€¢ Fourth-graders read at a first-grade level.
    â€¢ Once they reach high school, there is only a 50 percent chance that they will graduate.
    â€¢ If they do graduate, they will leave school with the same skills as an eighth-grader.

    â€œEducation is the key to having choices, well-paying jobs, and participating in a democracy,” Kopp said to a sea of upturned faces. “Our success depends on your remembering our fundamental purpose: to eliminate educational inequity. Your success depends on retaining a sense of
outrage
over those inequities. When you encounter your biggest challenges, remember the high stakes for your students. Remain centered on the fundamental purpose of Teach For America. Retaining a sense of purpose, outrage, and urgency is the foundation of creating a successful classroom.”
    Kopp reminded the recruits that the organization talks about teaching as leadership; that successful teachers possess the same skills and attributes as any effective leader. Then she suggested three things to help CMs center themselves in the coming months: “Really get to know your kids. Remind yourself constantly of the stakes. And take care of yourself.”
    Kopp’s address was the final speech of the evening. Earlier, Jason Kamras, a 1996 TFA alum who had just been named National Teacher of the Year, spoke of his transformative experience as a corps member. Next up was a patented TFA production in which five institute staff members stood in a row across a darkened stage, heads bowed. Suddenly, a single speaker stepped forward into a spotlight, head now raised, and began to read from a diary chronicling the personal travails and triumphs of a TFA recruit. The short but moving presentation, called a “spark” in TFA-speak, concluded with the refrain “Why I Teach For America.” When finished, the speaker faded back into the darkness and the light was trained on the next teacher, whose equally stirring testimonial also ended with the words “Why I Teach For America.” On it went until each bowed and darkened head had been illuminated, and each person had shared a personal epiphany that underscored the need and urgency of the battle—not to mention the quiet satisfaction attained from joining it.
    Hrag had found