To say Kopp is not the typical East coast trustie because she attended a public school in Dallas is less disingenuous that it is ill-informed.The public school in Dallas Kopp attended can hardly be characterized as the norm. She attended Highland Park high School, located in the city of Highland Park which is surrounded by the rest of Dallas. It is where the very wealthy reside and where "W" will make his residence after his tenure ends. It's more lie Greenwich Connecticut than Dallas, Texas. A place where lawn work can only be done during working hours and not on weekends. Don't even try joggin gdown the street if you're anything other than white.

Where the graduates go on to attend institutions like Princeton and Swathmore and Harvard at a higher rate than many private schools. Post-graduation, it guarantees interviews and employment with very prestigious firms that would never consider a public school slug like myself, MBA and PhD not withstanding. No Kopp is a product of an elite system that is likely unfamiliar to the coastal dwellers but nevertheless exists. The system provides a conduit for the continuance of this country's elite and contacts.

No Kopp is just as much of the elite as if she had attended Groton, and owned a closet filled with Lilly Pulitzer.

...and the point is?

I don't see what Kopp's schooling has to do with the merits, or lack thereof, of TFA. FDR was an elite, yet did more for the disadvantaged than any political leader in the history of the nation.

I'm not saying I'm a believer in TFA. I just believe that the organization should be judged on its results, not on the background of the person who founded it. You don't need to come from a non-elite background to have good ideas on how to improve education.

I'd say Kopp's background borders on irrelevant to this discussion; the original article probably shouldn't have brought it up to begin with.

I would say that it does matter if she or anyone writing about her is trying to establish some sort of street cred for her by saying she went to "public school in Dallas."

The city of DALLAS (not the rich suburbs) is pretty poor and has suffered from a lot of white flight since racial integration. As a consequence, Dallas Independent School District is majority minority (mostly black in those days, now more Hispanic). At the University of Texas at Austin with students from all over Texas, I never met a single Asian or white person who was actually from the city of Dallas or went to a public Dallas ISD school.

Being from Texas myself, Highland Park is KNOWN for being one of the richest, if not THE richest area of Texas (see this article on spendthrift Highland Park high society). Highland Park ISD is the richest school district in Texas. Telling a Texan you went to public school in Dallas when you really went to school in Highland Park versus Dallas means a wooooorld of difference. She is a lot more susceptible to charges of "wooly-headed elitism" or "white man's burden" with this tidbit.

And this is as speaking as someone who went to public school in a majority minority school district in a (basically) residentially segregated town.

not to at all say she is doing a bad thing with TFA. I just don't know enough about that to comment.

My name is Jeri Hallberg. I live in El Paso Texas. I have over 300 hours in college and have worked in El Paso for 21 years as a substitute teacher. for 3 school districts. I speak English and Spanish fluently. I have 2 degrees and am completing a third. I am still waiting to be hired as a full time teacher, which I have been eligible for since 2000. I am biracial, articulate, professional and can pass an FBI background check. I am Anglo and of Mexican descent, with fair skin, gold hair and green eyes.
I have a 3.6 gpa at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Why haven't I been hired for TFA?????????
Are they located here in El Paso? And if not why not?? This city if BOOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!