Jen Fong is a 1993 Echoing Green Fellow. She received her Fellowship for her work teaching environmental education and building community gardens in the Bronx. She has degrees from Yale, Stanford and UC Berkeley. She is a District Administrator in San Francisco Unified School District. In 2001, Jen earned the nation’s highest teaching honor—the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, presented by President George W. Bush.
Why did I become a teacher? During my junior year at Yale, my medical school advisor offered special assistance with my personal statement, “because English isn’t your first language.” Born and raised in the Bronx, I was shocked at his clear racism. That comment prompted me to leave his office and walk to the Teacher Preparation Program. Then, on graduation day, my mother said, “I’m disappointed in you” for choosing education over medicine—the gold standard preferred by Asian-American parents everywhere. For me, the choice to become a teacher meant overcoming two decades of Asian family expectations.
I was a three-sport athlete at the Bronx High School of Science, an elite NYC public high school. Each team had a stereotypical group personality that offers insight into the career choices that my teammates and I took.
My basketball teammates were Black, Puerto Rican or Dominican and rode the subway from the South Bronx or Harlem. My volleyball teammates were Asian and White, chartering a bus from Queens or taking the train from affluent Manhattan neighborhoods. My softball teammates were an ethnic mix.
When the basketball team socialized, we paid a quarter to see the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry and watched the Knicks from a TV at an electronics store. To join the volleyball team at dinner in Little Italy and a Broadway show, I would save up my Chinese New Year lucky money. With our differences, the softball team didn’t socialize as a group.
Whenever we discussed our career choices, my Black and Hispanic basketball teammates said they were absolutely going to choose high-paying professions to lift themselves and their moms out of poverty and move from the projects. Most of my White and Asian volleyball teammates were children of businessmen, doctors, and lawyers, so of course they would follow in their parents’ footsteps.
I rode two buses home with my White softball teammate through poor South Bronx barrios and regularly witnessed social inequity. We knew from an early age that we wanted to contribute to social change; both of us eventually became teachers.
During inevitable career exploration discussions in high school classes, I have seen countless teachers undermine rather than promote teaching as a viable career choice due to the profession’s low pay and status in our society. Most professions requiring a Master’s degree pay at least double that of a teacher, particularly starting salary.
If a prospective teacher is African-American or Latino, and grew up poor, like my basketball teammates, would such a person choose to ‘give back’ and barely survive economically? Highly educated people of color are being recruited into every profession, why not choose the one that pays more?
I hold out hope for a system to recruit the next generation of would-be teachers of color, perhaps born out of the nation’s current social climate or from compelling personal experiences with inequity. Now that my friends and I are middle class, having achieved the promise of working hard with our JDs, MDs, MAs, EdDs, maybe our children will consider careers in education? I have spent my career as a leader in education working to understand and solve this challenge. But would I wish my children to join a profession where they’ll earn less than I do?
This article is part of a series that features voices of trailblazers from Echoing Green’s community who work in education in the United States. As part of an Echoing Green Community of Practice experience, eight Fellows working in education across the U.S. are working together on solutions to diversify the leadership talent pipeline in education with a focus on ecosystems that support diversity development, best practices, and changing attitudes and perceptions of those going into education today. This series explores these Fellows’ experiences and progress towards this end. The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author(s). Echoing Green provides Fellows with financial and strategic support and leadership development. Learn more at echoinggreen.org.