On The Job | From Mr. Vassar to Mr. Teacher

Mike Alberti Assistant Life Editor

During the weekend of Mr. Vassar, former competition winner Phil Clark ’05 returned to Vassar to speak to students and recruit for Teach For America (TFA), the non-profit organization he has worked for since graduating from Vassar. TFA trains and places top college graduates of all academic majors and interests in low-income school districts around the country. Clark, now in his second year of teaching, was placed at a school in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he teaches sixth grade science and health.

The Miscellany News: What motivated you to join [TFA]?

Phil Clark: I really believe that the education gap is one of the most significant issues that faces our country, the fact that there are kids who are not going to have the same opportunities that I had because they were born in a low-income area, which isn’t their fault. The quality of education between Brooklyn and, say, Portland is so different.

MN: How did your experience at Vassar prepare you for your teaching job?

PC: My real value as a teacher comes from my ability to think critically, and the idea that whatever you want to achieve you can make happen, which is the idea behind a liberal arts education. Also, the opportunities on campus to work with other students and faculty in different ways are invaluable opportunities to practice leadership skills and to practice how to communicate effectively, and those are skills that I draw upon the most.

MN: What has been your biggest challenge on the job so far?

PC: My biggest challenge was a student named Richard Miller. He was a very likable, sociable student, who just couldn’t read at all. We worked hard everyday and by the end of the year, everyone had made at least a year’s worth of growth, and Richard was reading at an early second grade level.

MN: What do you want to do after your two years of teaching are up?

PC: I think that my two years in the classroom have been amazing and I will have directly impacted over 200 children, but I think that personally I am going to be able to have a greater impact by working for Teach For America on the staff or working from a top-down approach, looking at what effective policy looks like and how do we make those decisions.