To the Editor:
“Of course science is more important than reading,” I emphatically, yet incorrectly, stated to a friend of mine as we discussed the state of education. His perspective was one of a principal of a well-to-do elementary school in Connecticut; mine was of an engineering student at Rensselaer obsessed with science, technology, engineering, and math. Little did I know that in a few years, my world would be inverted in a way that profoundly affected me.
In the fall of 1999, I began to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at RPI. Also around that time, I made a choice that would change the course of my entire life. After deciding against being a paper-filing robot for my work-study job, I opted to sign up for America Reads, America Counts. Through this program, I worked in a local public school tutoring students who were falling behind, and I continued to do so for nearly all four years of my undergraduate time at RPI.
As graduation neared, and after a couple of disappointing engineering internships, I desperately searched for something that would mesh with my newly-found passion for helping people. After weighing options, I decided to join Teach For America with the hopes of being trained as a high school science teacher. I thought that this would be a great way to bring two of my interests together. Through a variety of unusual events, in the fall of 2003, I welcomed students to my K-3 special education classroom. I had accepted this position with the highest of hopes. How hard could teaching kids who were ages seven through nine be? It proved more difficult than anything I had done before, or may ever do in the future.
On that first fateful day, I distributed a “get to know you” worksheet. Never had it dawned on me that students who were technically in the third grade would be unable to complete this. After a few days I came to a heart-breaking conclusion—they didn’t know how to read. These socio-economically disadvantaged young ones were not exposed to reading regularly. They were also the victims of low expectations. It had been expected that special education students were incapable of doing “real work” and that inner-city kids from “the projects” fought all the time. It was then that I realized I had been given the most amazing opportunity to dispel some of the fallout from those circumstances.
I quickly came to realize that my students had virtually no foundation in science, technology, engineering, or mathematical ideas. Without reading, there was no way they could successfully tackle math word problems or communicate the hypothesis and theory of an experiment.
As my students and I finally fell into a groove with the reading program I purchased and modified extensively, I began to see true progress. I regularly assessed my students and celebrated the success most people would have deemed impossible. As their reading skills soared, so many other things fell into place. One day, right before math, many of my kids said, “I’m bored. Can we do math now?” By the end of that second year, my students had made an average of one year’s worth of reading growth. This success is seldom duplicated in the “regular” classrooms of disadvantaged schools across the country.
At the end of my two-year commitment with Teach For America, I felt confident that I laid a strong foundation within my students for future success. Of course, they learned about the solar system, mathematical operations, and other scientific and mathematic ideas, but it would have been impossible had they not achieved so much in terms of reading.
For me, not only was I able to positively affect students for two years, but I have gained a new perspective that forces me to consider what is truly important. After working at two other educationally-related jobs since completing my commitment, I have decided to return to school to work toward a degree in human factors. Building from my background in engineering and psychology, and considering the inequities that are this generation’s responsibility to tackle, I have dedicated myself to a field that brings people and technology together. It is with my students in mind that I wish to pursue this path with the hopes of realizing a country where all children have the opportunity to decide their future, whether it be as a physicist, mathematician, or author.
Keith R. Bujak
ALUM ’03
