Vice Fashion - New York Teachers

Photos: Richard Kern
Photo Assistant: Kris Yenbamroong
Stylist: Lizzie McChesney
Printing: Pochron Studios

Black dress by Balenciaga; Just Nina earrings

Stefanie Smolinski teaches ninth grade English in Queens. "When I started, I didn't get a curriculum for English at all. It made me look at the subject in a different way for myself. I was like, ‘I could teach them metaphor now, but do they need to know this?' You know? You don't need to know what symbolism is to survive in the world."

Black sweatshirt by Eduardo Inagaki; underwear by American Apparel Rebecca Beers teaches art as part of Smartwork, an arts and education organization that focuses on grand-scale artworks like murals. She works with public schools in all five boroughs. "The hardest thing to deal with is the dysfunctional New York City school system bureaucracy. The overcrowding, the budget cuts and—as a result—the disgruntled teachers."

Button-down striped shirt and black jacket by Oliver Spencer 

Andy Fish teaches computer classes at Friends Seminary in Manhattan. "It's great when the kids know more than you about something and you end up learning from each other."

Judi Rosen overalls; Brendan Donnelly T-shirt 

Viviana Benitez has taught English and Language Arts in New York public schools in Rochester and East Flatbush. She's currently a reading specialist with sixth through eighth grade public school students in East New York, Brooklyn. Viviana has kind of a lot to say. Look here if you don't believe us.

British Colony yellow rain jacket; Platform plaid shorts 

Michelle La Rocca taught ninth grade Math and Biology, and now runs an after-school program called Downtown After 3:00 at two New York public schools: the High School for Leadership and Public Service and the High School of Economics and Finance. "It's a problem that the kids who are the least interested in school end up getting the most attention, and the ones who really want to be there and are interested and motivated suffer as a result."

Tefar gray tank top; white hoodie by Rachel Comey; necklaces, stylist's own 

Trudy Miller is a design teacher at Katharine Gibbs High School in Manhattan. "It's great to have 20 or 30 people thinking about the same things I'm thinking about and working on the same problems. I end up learning as much from them as they do from me."

Lyell shirt; Vans sneakers; Seven jeans

Thomasin Franken (Al Franken's daughter) teaches third grade in the Bronx. "I just love the funny things that kids are always saying and doing."

T-shirt by Tefar; Mark Jacobs jeans 

Karen Patwa teaches physics at Friends Seminary in Manhattan. "We don't need to dumb down curricula, but we do need to invent curriculums that are intellectual and engaging. There needs to be more work on that, but there isn't enough funding in education for sweeping curriculum reform."