#WhyTeach: Our Chance to Push Back
Over the past several years the narrative around public education has grown increasingly negative, and young people are often discouraged from going into the profession at all. One of the main goals of the Young Teachers Collective is to amplify the voices of new and future teachers. We started the #WhyTeach campaign to provide new and future teachers with the opportunity to share their reasons for becoming a teacher despite all of the negative rhetoric. It is a way to reassert our place in the conversation around education and the teaching profession by allowing us the chance to share our thoughts, experiences and visions for the future of education. Because quite frankly we are the future of education.
So are you a new or future teacher that has decided to go into teaching regardless of all of the voices telling us to find another profession? We would love for you to join our campaign! First, write down your reasons for going into the profession and tag it with #WhyTeach. Next, take a photo of yourself with your reason. And lastly, send it to us along with your name to youngteacherscollective@gmail.com. We’ll be sharing images on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all day and will continue sharing throughout the following week. And don’t forget to follow the #WhyTeach hashtag. We can’t wait to hear from you.
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Alicia Johal – 2nd year teacher: 8th grade science, STEAM science, AVID (middle school)
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Daniel Bergerson, sophomore at Barnard Ed Program at Columbia University, future Secondary Social Studies Teacher
“I teach to grow students’ creative power. We need both imagination and skepticism to transform our world.
When students are treated solely as objects to be tested, assimilated, and subjugated, schooling not only serves the interests of oppressors but destroys the creative power of children. We can ultimately transcend such a system when young teachers collectively take radical action to ensure the only function of a classroom is to liberate everyone. #WhyTeach
— Daniel Bergerson, 20 – Secondary Social Studies Teacher
Barnard Education Program – New York, NY
Barnard Education Program – New York, NY
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Conor Pierson – Bucknell University Senior
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Meg King – Rutgers Graduate School of Ed Student
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Hajra Syed – Rutgers University Senior
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Mel Katz – The College of New Jersey Sophomore
“”I teach because I have a vision for the future of public education and a voice to fight for the change I want to see. My students deserve no less.
As future teachers, it is our duty to use our voices and fight to create policies, inside and outside of the classroom, that #WhyTeach: Our Chance to Push Back | Young Teachers Collective: