n Jennifer Page, in her letter (“Education equality needed,” Nov. 20. p. 5), encouraged Teach For America to “go for the jugular” in its efforts to attract new participants and publicize core issues.

I know Page to be an unhypocritical supporter of TFA, and her claim that, in her capacity as a TFA recruiter, she was willing to acknowledge the organization’s flaws as well as its advantages is not an exaggeration. I would like to say, not as a disclaimer, but as a preface, that I admire her commitment to the TFA program despite her awareness of these flaws.

TFA wages an awareness campaign. The recent college graduates whom it sends to America’s underprivileged areas are there not only to teach, but because TFA hopes they will use their personal experiences to inspire further campaigns against educational inequality. This is a somewhat indirect approach. Awareness requires context.

This is aptly illustrated by the misunderstanding over TFA’s flyer. It aimed to spread awareness; however, its message was lost because it did not provide a context, allowing people to assume the worst.

This is emblematic of what I consider to be a point where TFA falls short: It provides awareness without context. It aims to combat educational inequality without addressing it as a symptom of more general inequality, and it relies too heavily on awareness alone to provide momentum for change.

It is a difficult task for middle-to-upper class white Americans to understand how underprivileged minorities — who feel the brunt of inequality, educational or otherwise — view life, everyday life, differently. My only comparable experience comes from living abroad, where awareness of my otherness — and, increasingly, awareness of my American-ness specifically — is a factor in every interaction. It is quite a feeling to know that everyone you meet is making serious judgments about you based on an accident of your birth.

I was driven home recently by a batty old man in Auckland City Hospital who told me repeatedly that Uncle Sam was coming to put me in the army. I can only imagine what it must be like to approach every situation with the same knowledge but without the ameliorating caveat that you are a foreigner. It is only through attempting to understand that fundamental difference in experience, though, that the roots of educational inequality can be addressed. Awareness of it isn’t enough.

I do not mean to launch a polemic against TFA. It is attacking a nearly intractable problem and cannot be expected to have a perfect plan for doing so. Because of this, I admire people like Page who undertake such work with full knowledge of its flaws and without a corresponding dampening of enthusiasm.

I encourage more people to participate in TFA, but I also encourage them to strive for more than simple awareness. TFA should go for the jugular, but not just because it’s there.

Joseph Martin

UNI ’06