Why Teach For America

Remember the headline about Teach For America that came out in The Onion a couple of years ago (TFA Chews Up, Spits Out Another Ethnic-Studies Major)? Well, TFA’s come a long way since then, but it is no less frustratingly problematic.

According to a new article (Why Teach For America) in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, the original TFA was small and marked by its idealism and its focus on getting bright people into classrooms and doing some immediate good for poor children. The “new” TFA is much much larger and features corporate-style recruiting efforts and a hyper-aggressive PR operation.Folks from the early years probably couldn’t get accepted to TFA if they applied today, and it’s not clear that many of them would want to.

More important, TFA now wants to be judged both as a short-term intervention and as a broad-based reform movement whose scope includes everything from KIPP to Michelle Rhee to scores of alums in elected office.This was either part of the plan all along or a slick “re-engineering” of TFA’s original mission to address widespread concerns that putting smart newbies in front of poor kids for two years wasn’t going to solve any real problems.

One big question is whether or not this two-pronged approach is fair or not to TFA teachers and the kids and colleagues they work with during their brief teaching stints.Another is whether TFA should have been focusing on expanding its members’ longevity and impact in the classroom rather than on increasing its numbers of districts and candidates.Last but not least – the verdict is out here – is whether TFA alums are more powerfully involved in school reform than they would have been anyway, and what good comes of it.

Comments

[Charlie]

How many TFA teachers have you worked with George? Apparently so many that you feel comfortable making slanderous generalizations about all of us. Of course there are some arrogant egotists in Teach For America, those types of people exist everywhere.

"An elitist white supremacist attack on public schools and democratic public education."

Really? So taking a bunch of recent college graduates, putting them through the equivalence of a teaching boot camp, having them interview for teaching jobs on their own with principals who, at least in my day didn't even always know what Teach For America was, and then making them go to school part time to get their certification during their first year of teaching. That's an "elitist white supremacist attack on public schools and democratic public education." (By the way that phrase would fit very nicely on one of those WWII propaganda posters, think about it, maybe they could be an insert in the next issue of Substance). Don't forget that school districts have to opt into Teach for America, TFA teachers still have to go through an interview process to get a job.

Then there's the numbers, which show that there's really not a whole lot of difference between having a TFA teacher in the classroom or any other regularly certified teacher. This might not work in favor of TFA's PR department, but if I'm running a district that's having a hard time finding decent teachers, it at least makes me think that I'm not losing anything by bringing in Teach For America teachers, and some of them do stay. I believe over a third of teachers stay in teaching, many teach additional years in their original placement school. In the end, you don't have to like everyone, or even their attitude as long as they are there to teach the kids and do the best they possibly can at that.

I think I need to start ignoring George's posts, this is no way to start my day.

[1.04]

I’ll Try

George wants someone to write about Vocational education in the old days.
I’ll give it a shot. During WWI our government woke up to the fact that in modern
War if you draft all the tradesmen into the service nobody is left to build the tools
of war at home. To ensure this never happened again Uncle Sam set about to create
a pool of trained artisans. Thus was created the Smith Hughes Act of 1919. Simply
put it paid for people to teach students vocational subjects like machine shop which are vital in case of a war.
Chicago, and other places, set up vocational schools to do just that. One unique
And important part of the law called for these classes to be taught by journeymen. Who did not have to be college educated. This influx of tradesmen, in difference to all the women in the trades, created faculties long on expectation and very short on bullshit.
Because of this places like Dunbar created safe, clean, environments for students to
Learn. They even bent the rules to allow a Black Guy to become the leader of the school
By changing the name of boss from principal to director. After Dunbar worked out so
Well other Vocational schools were started. I worked at one for 25 years. In a way these
Journeyman teachers were like the TFA of today except they brought years of solid work
Experience which even the Chicago Teachers College graduates were hard pressed to best.
Imagine sitting around the lunch table with people like this:
Lonnie got his job by going in and asking R Sargent Shriver head of Model Cities to take all the bums in the city and let him teach them Auto Body.
Dan All State guard on Dunbar’s football team. A true artist with a welding tourch
Mel another Dunbar product went on to become treasurer of the CTU.sheet metal
Wad kept a relic of a printing press running for years. He also was on the ground at Guadalcanal
John machine shop, went in with the first wave at Iwo, left a little of himself there
Art assistant principal B29 ground crew. Sheet Metal engineer at Tucker Motors
. Told us the real story of that disaster,
Pete electricity:. One of the people present at the dawn of the atomic age. he actually
Helped build the first atomic pile and was there when it went critical

For a new history teacher listening to those guys was fantastic. They brought a new dimension to the school. Not one of them could walk into a classroom and teach
In our NCLB directed world. What a waste.

[cermak_rd]

And really, more than a waste.

I am an engineer. I was educated in this skill at Loyola on the lake front. I was taught by a series of PhDs and MS holders who worked in the profession (they taught night classes). I learned far more of the technical skills needed from the MS teachers than I ever did from the PhD teachers. The PhD teachers excelled at teaching theory, which is important, but theory doesn't get you a job. I figured this out as a freshman and so took most of my major classes at night leaving my days free for history, physics, philosophy, literature (hey it's a Jesuit institution--they have delusions of turning out well-rounded people) and pure mathematics.

Not everyone is going to go on to college. Not everyone has the money or inclination. If there are going to be vocational classes, and I feel strongly that they should be an option, the classes should be run by people who have worked in the field and are at least journeymen if the vocational class is in a trade where there is such a thing. But not only should the classes be taught by such people, but people who have worked in the trades should be in charge of deciding which courses will be offered. It made no sense to teach punchcarding in the early 80's but some vocational programs were teaching it. It makes little sense to teach carpentry using hand tools--except maybe as a foundational class for complete novices and automobile mechanics classes probably shouldn't teach about carburators except maybe as a historical feature of cars. A good vocational program should feature moving students from high school to decent-paying jobs.

[Jeanine Molloff]

As a VETERAN urban educator of some 24 years; I object to this political attempt to deconstruct the profession of teaching. I am an URBAN EDUCATOR BY CHOICE AND AM IN THIS FOR THE LONG HAUL. I resent these neophytes with their patronizing attitudes they inherit from TFA training. Many of the TFA 'teachers' in my school are amazed that the veteran teachers actually are professional. Unprepared student teachers (at best) are not what these impoverished schools need or deserve. Our schools need seasoned professionals, not naive beginners. Ultimately, the children pay the price for this exercise in arrogance.

[Karim]

What is all this negative attitude all about.I don't think all this ranting helps anybody at all.Do me a favor, all you professionals and angry veterans should be considerate of those who are genuinly in the TFA program for what they believe in.There is never enough help but every little bit of help counts a lot and i believe there is a lot of TFAers who really want to make a difference. There is a saying that "English is a building of which every man brought a stone"(Shakespeare). So to all you veterans, if not anything do it for the kids who needed the help and work with these young inexperience college students to make a difference.No pun intended.

[Jessica]

Over 67% of TFA alum stay in the field of education in some capacity.

94% stay involved with the mission.

[Ben]

Why is everyone complaining about TFA? They provide bright, young teachers, that have a better time teaching and connecting to young students, than most teachers.

[Mark]

Here's the one thing I don't get. So TFA is for all these "elites" that are so elitist and in general, very elite. They are also super-condescending, according to y'all. And yet the only condescension I am hearing is coming from traditional-route or ed major teachers, who are saying "I can't believe they think they can teach with their training!" Well you know what, I can't believe some ed majors go on to try to work in politics. But you know what, I don't flip my shit and claim they do a terrible job. Judge them based on what they do. Why is an education major so sacred? And why is it so different from, say, a poli sci major? Do you think people who majored in anything but ed took less classes, or less rigorous classes? Of course not. So if you are an ed major, and think you could ever work in a non-ed related job, even though you majored in education, then maybe your hatred of non-ed majors working as teachers is a little misplaced. Some work out, some don't get. But get the f*** over it.