Contrary to popular sentiment, the chapter of our nation's history known as the civil rights movement has yet to be complete.
The pages of history will describe the women's suffrage movement, the end of Jim Crow, de jure segregation and the election of the first African-American president among the achievements of the past century.
However, there still exists an injustice in the U.S. so significant that it deserves the same attention, public outrage and commitment from our generation. This injustice is the prevalence of educational inequity within the U.S. education system.
Currently, factors such as race, economics and a child's background play an influential role in determining whether or not a student receives a quality education in the U.S.
Only 8 percent of students from low-income communities graduate college by the age of 24.
In comparison, their peers in more affluent communities graduate at a rate of 80 percent by the same age, according to research conducted by postsecondary.org.
Simply put, these achievement gaps are unacceptable in a nation that prides itself on equality and equal access.
Our generation must take up this cause and consider educational inequity a chapter of the civil rights movement that has yet to be written. Just like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., we too must articulate a dream for our nation's future. This dream should include the belief that all children, regardless of their background or life circumstances, deserve a high-quality education.
Though much debate exists on how to make this dream a reality, it is almost universally accepted that teachers will play an integral role in eradicating educational inequity.
Therefore, providing all students with motivated, talented and inspiring teachers must be a major goal of our nation's education system. This belief is central to the mission of Teach For America.
Since Teach For America's founding in 1989, the national nonprofit organization has sent hundreds of Gators into the nation's highest-need schools to work as full-time teachers.
This year, 63 Gators have already been accepted into the corps, according to Caity Hickey, the recruitment manager at UF. I myself will be among this group and in the fall will begin teaching middle school socials studies in Miami-Dade County. I know the challenges ahead will be immense, but in speaking of his generation's civil rights movement, King once stated, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle."
Teaching in our nation's highest need schools will undoubtedly be a struggle for all those accepted into the corps, but I could not think of a more important issue worth struggling for.
Will Teach For America members solve all the problems at the heart of our nation's education system? Absolutely not.
Structural changes to education must ultimately occur if we are to eradicate educational inequity in the U.S. However, until these changes are made, our generation must act on the behalf of the millions of young students who are in need of positive role models and inspirational teachers.
Moreover, I hope that the classroom experience I gain as a corps member will contribute to my ability to fight for structural changes within our education system in the future.
I urge more Gators to join me in this cause and to apply for Teach For America by the final application deadline on Feb. 10.
More information about Teach For America and its application process can be found at teachforamerica.org.
Andrew Hecht is a political science and history senior at UF.
