Teaching for little more than your resume
By: Keith Chapman
Issue date: 8/28/09 Section: Opinion
As seniors start the school year this fall, we also inevitably think about our entrance into the real world. We plod through graduate school brochures, read up on obscure career paths on the internet and maybe even start a LinkedIn account. Some of us, no doubt, will be tempted by one of the trendiest programs that attracts recent graduates: Teach For America.
Teach For America is enticing for many reasons. The program boasts that they seek to eliminate the gaps in educational opportunity by employing the most capable and qualified young men and women to teach in low income communities. Those admitted are assigned teaching within a poor school district, where they work for two years-ideally building constructive relationships with their students and giving them a better shot at a quality education, all the while securing a job for two years. What could be nobler?
Another appeal is that those working for Teach For America will be getting paid instead of having to pay for graduate school and then they get to stamp "Teach For America" on their resumes.
According to a 2005 USA Today article, one out of every eight graduates of Yale's senior class applied to join the Teach For America corps.
The program's goals are noble, but that is not the problem. It is how the program goes about trying to reach those goals that is so dumbfounding.
Teach For America says in its mission statement that it tries to give better opportunities to low-income schools by inserting extremely qualified college graduates into these school districts. According to its Web site, the program takes students "from all career goals and professional backgrounds." There is no preference for those who actually have an education background, or to those who want to continue working in education.
In essence, it takes students who are not fully qualified to teach and puts them into the most difficult teaching situations in America. Out of 10,000 Teach For America alumni, less than one-third are still in education. So what is their incentive to work hard and try to improve their teaching skills?
Teach For America is enticing for many reasons. The program boasts that they seek to eliminate the gaps in educational opportunity by employing the most capable and qualified young men and women to teach in low income communities. Those admitted are assigned teaching within a poor school district, where they work for two years-ideally building constructive relationships with their students and giving them a better shot at a quality education, all the while securing a job for two years. What could be nobler?
Another appeal is that those working for Teach For America will be getting paid instead of having to pay for graduate school and then they get to stamp "Teach For America" on their resumes.
According to a 2005 USA Today article, one out of every eight graduates of Yale's senior class applied to join the Teach For America corps.
The program's goals are noble, but that is not the problem. It is how the program goes about trying to reach those goals that is so dumbfounding.
Teach For America says in its mission statement that it tries to give better opportunities to low-income schools by inserting extremely qualified college graduates into these school districts. According to its Web site, the program takes students "from all career goals and professional backgrounds." There is no preference for those who actually have an education background, or to those who want to continue working in education.
In essence, it takes students who are not fully qualified to teach and puts them into the most difficult teaching situations in America. Out of 10,000 Teach For America alumni, less than one-third are still in education. So what is their incentive to work hard and try to improve their teaching skills?
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
Kate
posted 8/29/09 @ 6:35 PM EST
I am a former TFA member who has been particularly critical of many of Teach for America's policies. However, the criticisms in this article fall short in terms of research and real stats. (Continued…)
Ryan
posted 8/30/09 @ 11:03 AM EST
I majored in Politics, taught middle school science and communication arts through Teach For America, and during my first year I had the highest test scores in my entire school. (Continued…)
Andrew Schmitz
posted 9/02/09 @ 2:01 PM EST
Keith-
As a former tfa teacher who taught for two years on the south side of Chicago and now works for the organization to support, coach, and develop new teachers, I have heard my share of the criticisms of our organization. (Continued…)
Ellen
posted 9/09/09 @ 9:59 PM EST
I have yet to hear of a type of training that can really prepare a teacher for the challenges posed by low-income schools (those targeted by TFA). Even education majors who have worked as student-teachers cannot fully realize the experience one has when standing alone, in front of 30 kids (some speaking English, some not) with a lesson plan at hand, a dozen questions being called out, and with the knowledge that no one else is responsible for what happens in the next hour. (Continued…)
Ellen
Ellen
posted 9/09/09 @ 10:02 PM EST
I have yet to hear of a type of training that can really prepare a teacher for the challenges posed by low-income schools (those targeted by TFA). Even education majors who have worked as student-teachers cannot fully realize the experience one has when standing alone, in front of 30 kids (some speaking English, some not) with a lesson plan at hand, a dozen questions being called out, and with the knowledge that no one else is responsible for what happens in the next hour. (Continued…)
Chuck
posted 9/10/09 @ 1:56 PM EST
While I'm happy to see The DePauw's op-ed space asking some difficult questions about programs such as Teach for America, I find Keith Chapman's argument against TFA poorly reasoned and unsupported. (Continued…)
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