To The Editor,
When I think about my time here at Ohio University, I think about a whirlwind of incredible experiences: winning awards at the annual Leadership Awards Gala, sledding on pizza boxes during study breaks and joining a sorority. But I also think about that gnawing question that always lurked: What in the world am I going to do after I leave here?
Although the question is the quickest way to get any senior’s heart pounding and palms sweating, I actually have several ways I could answer it. I could look for a job in psychology, attend graduate school, or complete research in South Africa. I have choices.
But the question of what I could do after graduation actually has a second part — what should I do? And as I turned each choice over in my head, none of them felt quite right.
The truth is, as an African-American woman with a college degree, I now have access to opportunities that many other children that grew up like me didn’t. I think of my friends and classmates in junior high school, whose ambitions were just as great as mine, and their intelligence often greater, now back home in Dayton raising children and working two part-time jobs rather than worrying about exams or picking classes. I worked hard to not only get into college, but through it as well. I faced struggles along the way, but I also know that it was the hard work of others that got me to this point. If just a few things were different — a different teacher or a different group of friends — I might not be an OU student.
But I also know this isn’t just true for families like mine growing up in Dayton. Too many kids growing up in diverse communities across the country lack the opportunity to imagine this future for themselves. For students growing up in our lowest-income communities, just 6 percent will graduate from college by the time they’re 25. Knowing the disparities that exist, I can be a part of combating them.
I applied to Teach For America because I believe that all kids, regardless of their socioeconomic status, should have a fair chance to obtain a high-quality education. I didn’t have the incredible experiences I’ve had at OU because I was exclusively entitled to them. I had them because I was born into the resources and support I needed to secure them. But I didn’t ask for that privilege any more than the youth at Adventure Central, an afterschool program for underserved youth and families in Dayton, asked to struggle every day to scrape by. When I think about what I can and should do with my privilege, working to ensure that those kids and so many others facing the same challenge feel inspired and motivated is the answer that fits.
I didn’t decide to teach because I think I’m going to be a hero. This work will be incredibly challenging and humbling, and I will have to push myself harder than I ever have to give my students the education they deserve. I will need to work in close partnership with the parents, teachers and community members who have been working towards justice and equity long before I arrived. But I don’t want a job that lets me turn a blind eye to the injustice kid’s face every day. I want one that forces me to look injustice in the face and fight it with all my heart. I want one that holds me accountable for the injustices that plague our communities — because, although I did not create them, I’d still bear responsibility if I chose not to address them.
As I become a Teach For America corps member after graduation, I’ll be joining a network of more than 47,000 people working relentlessly to make access to opportunity equitable. It’s a network of leaders that is vastly diverse in background, experience and work, working across sectors to create change. But we are all united around the fundamental belief that a quality education is not a privilege, it is a right. We can fight to ensure all students get to enjoy that right. As you think about what you’re going to do after you leave here, I hope you’ll join us.
Tiarra Comer is a senior studying psychology and African American Studies with a minor in Social Services. She is also the president of the Ohio University Recruiting Society, research scholar for the Voinovich School and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Delta Phi Chapter.
