Last Thursday, I went to bed in Harlem, N.Y. with my pride as a native Tar Heel diminished by the news that North Carolina was attempting to ban gay marriage with a constitutional amendment. Sadly, the decision to exile myself from my native state was the right one.
I spent 22 years being educated by the public schools of Edgecombe County, N.C, and later Duke University. And then, degree in hand, energetic and ready to change the world, I left for New York City. I became a public high school English teacher. I’m beginning my 10th year there. I’ve never looked back.
When I return home to visit, frequently, friends will ask “Why don’t you teach in North Carolina? You know, we can always use good teachers here,” they say.
I dissemble. I say “Well, New York is an exciting place to live in!” True. But it’s also an easier place to live. As an out homosexual teacher, New York is more accepting. Though I have not made my sexual orientation an issue in class with students or hung a rainbow flag from the chalkboard, it is nice to know that I can be honest with my colleagues and supervisor and be accepted. It is assuring to know I am protected by city and state laws. It took New York, birthplace of the gay rights movement, a frustratingly long time to legalize same-sex marriage, but it happened. And there isn’t a pending referendum for a constitutional amendment trying to ban it, as there is in North Carolina.
Yes, the pay is better in New York. But just as importantly, I don’t fear being fired for being gay, which is still possible in North Carolina, with the consistent failure to pass a state non-discrimination act that includes sexual orientation. In the Bronx, I don’t fear being called in to the principal’s office and being told: “Your services are no longer needed here.”
I’m sure many citizens of North Carolina, while reading this, will say, as in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, “We don’t want his kind around here anyhow.” I understand that sentiment. Gays and lesbians are often less than visible, and many people feel they can survive without them. But they are there and many of them wake up at dawn, like so many North Carolina teachers, and are ready in the classroom at 8:00 a.m. for that most essential job, preparing young people for an adult world. But many of these educators teach and go home, unable to fully participate in their community.
And what about all of those who decided never to come—or in my case, to stay? The lack of acceptance of homosexuality in North Carolina has serious consequences. It is a small part of a larger problem. Simply put, if there exist barriers to entry for qualified teachers, including discrimination, a less qualified teacher must be found to take their place. According to a 2010 McKinsey & Company study “Buffeted by a chaotic mix of labor market trends... and local school district and budget dynamics, we have failed to attract, develop, reward or retain outstanding professional teaching talent on a consistent basis.”
According to recent research, cited by McKinsey, student outcomes are directly linked with a teacher’s cognitive ability. The study states: “Top performing nations recruit 100 percent of their new teachers from the top third [of their college classes]. In the U.S., it’s 23 percent—and 14 percent in high poverty schools.”
Can North Carolina afford to maintain barriers to qualified teachers? How many of those teachers recruited by Teach for America to teach in rural North Carolina—some of whom happen to be gay or lesbian—will stay if they can’t make a life for themselves there? Just as protections against racial and religious discrimination have been included in North Carolina law, sexual orientation should be added. And, if civil unions were sanctioned in more North Carolina communities than Chapel Hill and Orange County (take a look at their average SAT scores), we might find an uptick in teacher quality. This small policy change will not cure all educational ills, but at least our children will not be handicapped by a legacy of intolerance.
I love North Carolina and hope that someday I can make a life there. But, I, like thousands of internal expatriates choose the liberal clime of New York. I bring knowledge and expertise to the students of the Bronx, not the students of Wilmington or Raleigh. I teach students to read and write well. I teach them not what to think, but how to think. I’m not perfect and I’m still learning, but I’ve worked hard and my students have benefitted.
In this time of uncertainty the strongest defense a child, a citizen and a family can attain is a great education. And the best policy that a government can make is by creating an educational system of excellent teachers.
Removing barriers to those goals should happen without hesitation.
Jason Wagner, Trinity ’00, is a former features editor of The Chronicle and a high school English teacher in the Bronx, N.Y. This piece is running in the place of Antonio Segalini’s regularly scheduled column.
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