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Recently someone on my FB timeline said that they just sent in their application for Teach For America. I only knew a little bit about it so i started researching. I found out that teach for america teacher go through a 5 week intensive course and then they are placed into the lowest performing schools. My question is WHY am I going to school for 5 years at the least busting my butt to graduate with a teaching degree when I can have the coursework done in 5 weeks?
I personally find this ridiculous. I have had Teach for America Teachers and the three of them were awful. One teacher told us that "I only came into teaching because engineering was inconvenient and I wanted summers off" Now I am not saying that they are all incapable but I would like to see research not done by Teach for America on classroom performance. According to the website, 4000+ teachers have been placed- IMO we shouldn't be surprised at the fact that we fall academically behind when schools are filled with people whose educational/teaching education his all of 5 weeks.... I don't understand
The idea is to bring in motivated, save-the-world, philanthropic types to minority, low income areas where other good teachers don't want to be.
I think it's a thing of the past. I think when TofA was created a lot of the older generation of teachers was in fact complacent and didn't want to teach in the 'ghetto'. And many that did were bad teachers. I know a lot of TofA teachers, so I know that to be true. But that generation of teachers is retiring.
I believe the new generation of educators going through the proper Teacher Education channels is much more liberal, and they actually do care about remediating our lower performing schools and would prefer to work there. And teaching is so competitive now, others will take a job in a lower income area, even if they didn't want to in the first place.
So, in that sense, the TofA model has become sort of outdated in my mind...
The US place academically has more to do with family structure, lack of it more accurately, than with teachers. The best teachers in the world will not counter a culture that thrives against education.
I do not see the big deal about the five week course, that is to teach the specifics of the classroom and other requirements. Many people go through some sort of training when they get to their new jobs no matter the industry. The training is merely tailoring the skills and education a person got from college for the specific job. I went through a lot of training before I was performing fully in my position.
I know a young man who is teaching for TofA and he loves it. He graduated with honors from a prestigious college in the Midwest. (So, he's not one of the 5-weekers you mention above. Although I am sure he had to take that 5-week course.) He loves teaching and his students adore him. He's in a big city in Texas. I admire what he's doing. He's making a difference in the life of a lot of kids.
TFA has become a corporate driven destroyer of public education along with destroying the profession of teaching. Corp members probably don't realize just how shady the organization is when they get involved. But TFA does a decent job brainwashing corp members into believing they are better and harder working than veteran teachers and quickly shuts off those that do question it. I've done a lot of research on them as they are popular in inner cities in my state even though we have tons of reputable teacher preparation programs and plenty of well qualified individuals with proper certification and course work.
When TFA began (back when I was in college), they staffed schools where they could not find teachers. Even then, there were complaints about lack of preparation and support. Now TFA has contracted with vulnerable (normally urban) school systems that have no staffing difficulties so any open position is guaranteed to a TFA member while shutting out every other applicant..even those better trained.
There are plenty of alumni who do not like where TFA has gone, their support for charter schools, and their union busting agenda. TFA brags that 2/3s of their members stay in education, but only a small percentage actually stay in the classroom. Most either go to work lobbying for "reform" agencies or working at TFA to help grow the organization. It has become an absolute monster that is obsessed with testing data and privatizing schools.
The US place academically has more to do with family structure, lack of it more accurately, than with teachers. The best teachers in the world will not counter a culture that thrives against education.
I do not see the big deal about the five week course, that is to teach the specifics of the classroom and other requirements. Many people go through some sort of training when they get to their new jobs no matter the industry. The training is merely tailoring the skills and education a person got from college for the specific job. I went through a lot of training before I was performing fully in my position.
TFAers don't have the required coursework that other candidates go through though. How is that fair?
This is an old rant. These days TFA is for people looking for a resume builder. They don't stay in teaching, and in many places they are being used as cheap temp labor in place of higher paid teachers. That TFA is now doing the opposite of what was intended is something people have been ranting about for a while. It's just a sign of the poor state our educational system is in, due mainly to poorly thought out reform implemented by politicians and corporate types who seek to profit from it.
This is an old rant. These days TFA is for people looking for a resume builder. They don't stay in teaching, and in many places they are being used as cheap temp labor in place of higher paid teachers. That TFA is now doing the opposite of what was intended is something people have been ranting about for a while. It's just a sign of the poor state our educational system is in, due mainly to poorly thought out reform implemented by politicians and corporate types who seek to profit from it.
Oh yes. Michelle Rhee, a TFA alumna, is the poster child for the corporatization of education.
And as another poster has pointed out, there are some TFA alums who are rebelling against that trend.
That TFA is now doing the opposite of what was intended
It's not. It's just that more people have caught on to what the game is.
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