To the Editor:
As a Brown alum, Asian American woman, and executive director of Teach For America Rhode Island, I want to share my perspective on an article in Friday’s Herald, “Number of Brown grads entering TFA drops sharply,” Oct. 24. I appreciate that the article shares Teach For America’s long-time focus on recruiting a diverse teaching corps, but was surprised to see this positioned as a new focus. Additionally, while the story seems to take issue with our organization’s focus on diversity, we see this as a critical aspect of our work recruiting and training educators.
We believe that effective teachers come from all backgrounds and academic interests, and that students thrive when they have access to diverse perspectives and experiences. I saw this firsthand as a teacher in New York, when I had the opportunity to debunk stereotypes and myths about my culture as one of the few Asian Americans that my students had the opportunity to know well, while also sharing stories with them about my home state of Rhode Island. As a humanities teacher, I found many opportunities to celebrate the identities and cultures of my students.
I was also surprised that the story was insularly focused on the number of Brown students accepted to TFA in the past few years, rather than the incredibly powerful broader trend in which an increasingly diverse pool of leaders are becoming teachers through our program. Whether through our program or others, when leaders from across the country, from a diversity of schools, economic and professional backgrounds, ages and races, see teaching as the incredibly valuable and important profession it is, our kids win.
I hope the Brown community is as excited as I am to see that some of TFA’s long-term sources of diverse talent — like Brown — continue to be among our top contributors, now standing alongside additions that reflect our effort to attract the top talent that our country has to offer. When kids are taught by highly effective teachers, no matter their alma mater, everyone benefits.
Our students need role models and guides as teachers. I would be more than happy to talk personally with any member of the Brown community who is interested in joining our corps and take pride in seeing so many amazing Brown alums contribute meaningfully to the profession and advocacy of public education.
Heather Tow-Yick ’98
Executive Director, Teach for America Rhode Island
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