By: Alex Robinson (’19), Staff Writer
LaDarian Smith wasn’t trying to be a teacher.
A Georgia native with an English major, LaDarian had a completely different profession in mind. Straight out of Carolina’s Writing for the Screen and Stage program, he had every intention of moving to Los Angeles post-grad and Starbucks-running his way to the proverbial finish line: a successful career in screenwriting. All of the signs were pointed in the right direction- he had the storytelling acumen, a natural, easy-going communication style, and he even had the post Chem 101 come-to-Jesus testimony to back it up. His plans not only seemed possible, but inevitable, and LaDarian was ready to embrace his Hollywood destiny.
But his plans did what plans do best: they changed, and LaDarian wound up over 1,500 miles from LA teaching in front of a Dallas high school classroom. Teach for America altered his destination, but it aligned him in his purpose, and he was able to directly take on issues he’d always been passionate about such as education inequity, poverty and racism.
“I think I took this job because it allowed me to be something for somebody that I never had,” said LaDarian. “I wanted to go in a classroom and inspire young black boys to believe in the validity of their dreams.”
After spending two years in the program, which he cited as being “the most transformative two years” he had ever had, LaDarian opted to become a recruitment manager for the program at UNC. Since 2016, he has helped transform Carolina’s Teach for America cohorts into some of the most diverse in the program. This is especially notable, as one of TFA’s most strident criticisms is its lack of diversity. Although Teach for America serves some of the poorest and blackest schools in the country, its participants are predominately white and middle-class. This can create a culture of white saviorhood within classrooms and this, coupled with the program’s low retention rates and poor reception to critique, has created a healthy skepticism towards TFA among black educators.
“I felt like it was bringing people into the classroom that didn’t want to make a difference the same way that I wanted to,” said Jada Weathers (’18), a Kentucky native with deeply rooted teaching aspirations. Prior to meeting LaDarian, the criticisms levelled against TFA by older black educators deterred Jada from applying to the program altogether.
LaDarian was no stranger to these critiques; in fact, he had even shared some of them himself. But instead of negating these critiques and concerns, he leveraged these concerns and his own experiences as a black man within the program to create a more honest recruiting process. To put it in colloquial terms: he kept it real with people and it has paid off in spades.
“I don’t believe in putting the burden of liberating our kids on those that have been oppressed. That is where a lot of my dissonance has come from with Teach for America,” said LaDarian. “While I am a recruiter, I like to be honest in my recruitment meetings and that is something that I have been very vocal and upfront about.”
LaDarian may not be your typical recruiter, but if his results serve as any indication, that is a positive thing. His unconventional approach to recruitment has inspired multiple black students at Carolina to start their post-grad journey with Teach for America, impacting the future classrooms of countless black students across the country.
This Black History Month, when well-meaning white classmates and Fox News commentators attempt to convince you that representation does not matter in this “post-racial society,” remember LaDarian. He serves as a reminder that the impact of diversity extends farther than just seasoned movie soundtracks and Wakandan themed sweatshirts. Representation is not just an aesthetic; it holds the power to change the state of our world from what it is to what it should be.
Now run and tell that.
