To Teach is to Advocate 

A MESSAGE FROM NEA ASPIRING EDUCATORS PROGRAM CHAIR STEPHANIE CHAVEZ 

As a member of the NEA Aspiring Educators (AE) program and a young person who chooses to get involved, the boundaries I’ve pushed and perhaps some of the “good trouble” I make is often met with the question, “I thought you just wanted to be a teacher?” And I do. I dream of being a teacher.  

For me, a teacher is someone who educates, loves, and protects the students in their community. A teacher is a voice and an advocate when students struggle to find theirs. A teacher is an inspiration, a role model, someone to look up to for so many children.

So, when we’re seen on the streets rallying a billionaire tax, protesting immigration raids and the policies that harm students and their families, or calling for paid student teaching at our state capitols, know that being a teacher also means standing up for students and the people who support them. I see no disconnect between wanting to be a teacher and advocating for the students I’ll teach.  Isn’t that what we understand an educator to be? 

But the people who ask the question are right to a certain extent. We shouldn’t have to be on the streets, and we shouldn’t have to be marching through our state capitols. But certain politicians have left us with no other choice. When lawmakers and leaders refuse to step up for our kids, we will. When leaders and lawmakers do their jobs well, we can focus on ours. Until then, the work spreads beyond the four walls of our classrooms.

Aspiring educators, many of us choose to step into the education profession while understanding the attacks it’s undergoing and the challenges we’ll face. That is why we must stay ready and stand up for our students.

So, we will learn to meet this moment together. 

Together, we will enter our classrooms ready to teach and ready to inspire lives. We will be great educators and activists because that is what we’re called to do and what we choose every single day. 

Our students deserve us, united, and stronger than ever. Let’s fight for a future that our students deserve and a profession we can continue to choose to pursue. As the poet June Jordan wrote, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” This is the work we signed up for as future teachers, and together, we can turn our shared commitment into action.