Teaching For America: Life in the Struggle for ‘One Day

Jackson Olsen always thought he’d go to law school and become a lawyer, just like his dad. But as the end of college drew near, he decided to put that plan on hold and pursue another path.

Jackson and his wife joined Teach For America and were placed in schools in Henderson, North Carolina, where they planned to teach for two years. Henderson was crippled by crime, poverty, and unemployment, and its schools were riddled with violence, drugs, and apathy.

Sometimes brutal, sometimes comical, but at all times honest and sincere, Teaching for America paints a vivid picture of the inequities and injustices in our public school system, and tells the powerful stories of the students and teachers who are impacted by them.