The New York Times reports today about construction of new apartments in Philadelphia, meant specifically for teachers. The development is made possible by state and federal tax credits.
But not for any teacher. Not for the teachers who live in the community. Not for veteran teachers who have put their hearts into the community schools for 10-20 years. They already have a place to live.
No, these are below-market apartments built for Teach for America recruits, those great kids with five weeks of training who plan to leave after two years.
The project will set aside office space for TFA along with a gym and coffee shop. That way, the kids may not burn out so fast.
There is a similar project for TFA in Baltimore and Newark.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What a shameless racket.
This article doesn’t say the apartments are exclusively for TfA recruits. The apartment complex’s website also says that “To be eligible, you merely have to be a full-time Philadelphia area teacher.”
http://theoxfordmills.com/apartments/
Examine the entire site. Read between the lines.
“Oxford Mills is a hub of nonprofit organizations who work to make our community a better place. Commercial space, along with a list of free amenities, is offered to nonprofit organizations, who benefit from our “outside the box” thinking.”
“This is not just about finding a nice apartment. It’s about surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who are striving to make Philadelphia a better city.”
“Oxford Mills features 114 exceptional one and two bedroom loft apartment units for teachers and progressive, culturally-minded residents in Philadelphia.”
Here’s the DC announcement for TFA’s working with Seawall Development (same situation as for Oxford Mills in Philly):
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2012/12/teach-for-america-seeking-education.html?page=all
Thank you Obama and Duncan, “Privatizer corporatizers of insanity in Chiefs.” Always give to those who do not deserve and have not earned. These policies of insanity are what will bring down our civilization as it always has in the past. Does anyone read and understand history and what has brought down all previous civilizations? Doesn’t seem like it to me. How is it that those who have worked their tails off for years do not get this but those who have done nothing receive the “Free Benefit.” At LAUSD they have planned these subsidized housing for teachers but not just for TFA as far as I know. In my opinion teachers are employees and not poorly paid at an average here of $67,500/year with more than another $30,000 for benefits. They should pay for their own housing as all else do. All school revenue from all sources including school construction bonds should only go to education and into the classroom not to porking employees. Every penny you take away from students lowers the programs and employees to assist students. Do the math. Money is limited. It does not grow on trees or if it does can I have one.
Perhaps some more taxpayer money should go to a rehab facility for those TFAers who do burn out. Only be sure to not insult the TFA sense of entitlement. Build the rehab as a five-star spa facility, complete with unlimited full-body massages and lunch items not found in lower-level restaurants. You know, just until these up-and-coming school system saviors recuperate and assume those education leadership positions for which Kopp and Broad believe their two-year warriors are destined.
Outright disgusting. We have a FEED market for the DEFORMERS.
So a $200-400/month teacher discount is a bad thing? Right. You increasingly marginalize your legitimacy with all this hatred.
For all teacher, veteran teachers, unionized teachers, teachers with families, teachers with elderly parents to care for or for young, cheap teachers only? Clarify…just wondering.
Welcome everybody….welcome all teachers even the certified, experienced, unionized ones. Is it our hatred as you say, or your TFA elitism?
Less money for students, classroom space, small group instruction, books, materials, field trips, and highly qualified personnel. . . more money for TFA’s agenda.
What a revoltin’ development this is!
It figures. My school doesn’t even have a pot to…make coffee in.
So, certified classroom teacher who can least afford housing need not apply, right?
Why not mix TFA Housing & Section8 Housing! Could address 2 birds w/ one ….! US version of The Peace Corps on our own shores.22 year olds tend to want to save the world one mission/issue at a time. They also tend to know it all. Best time to sell them the great mission of saving inner city kids from themselves without support, materials, libraries, social workers, strong parental involvement, low test scores, lack of experienced teachers, etc. Is this not the time to consider this? Bill Gates, another profitable idea! Or NOT!
Great idea. They can live in the same building as their students and help them with homework, make dinner, get them up for school….no excuses. And they should teach a minimum of FIVE years after one year as an aide observing and learning. Rename each community Koppville or Gatesville, your state, USA…give them all Amplify devices and let Rupert and Joel “watch” over their progress. Maybe the elite self-appointed reformers, who travel in packs, can sacrifice their offspring for this experiment.
Please do not connect the US Peace Corps with TFA. As a returned volunteer (3 years, instead of the traditional 2), I find that comment offensive and misleading.
Office space too? How luxuriant; Meanwhile, I’ve been teaching out of a bag for thirteen years.
TFAers don’t have to take a vow of poverty like the rest of us? Boy I feel like a fool.
TFA’s poorly-trained cheap labor is in great demand now to displace career teachers in pub schls newly privatized. Success of the corp. strategy to plunder the pub sector is oddly dependent on its weakest link, the 22-yr-old newbie thrown into difficult classrooms. This vulnerability of privatization to the incompetence of its front-line youth corps requires it to cushion the bumps of TFA life, which helps explain the new housing with gyms for the newbies. Their fast-tracking upward into careers after 2yrs of bumps on the ground in TFA is another cushiony promise put in front of the idealistic young people allured into a destructive, failed, and undoable job. TFA has already failed to serve and educate the kids who need the best teachers we can provide. But it is handsomely enabling the plunder of the public sector’s assets by ed-biz pirates like Pearson, Murdoch, Gates, etc. The success of the plunder depends on controlling state and local govt’s as well as mass media and local schl bds; billionaire money does the job along with ALEC legal templates ready-made for right-wing legislators, but without a small army of new coll grads willing to stumble through classrooms, the entire strategy could not work, so we are likely to see more lavish cushions thrown down to soften the collision of unprepared, immature teachers with the targeted classrooms.
To clarify, TFA labor is no cheaper than any other first year teacher. TFA teachers make the regular starting salary of any other teacher in their district with the same degree level. Furthermore, their training program is an intense program which includes mentors ranging from veteran career teachers within the community to current or former corps member who are currently teaching. This training includes actual classroom experience, under supervision of a veteran teacher, as well as extensive classes in classroom management, diversity/inclusiveness, pedagogy, etc. Because TFA is a non-profit organization, it asks the district hiring new TFA teachers to help pay for the training at about $3,000 per teacher they hire. Whether or not this is a positive thing is not my point. My point is, that “cheap labor” really has nothing to do with it.
A non profit with $300 million in reserve? Wow!
How was the five week training rated in the new NCTQ “study”?
If TFA takes jobs in cities where certified, qualified, veteran teachers have been laid off, the temporary teach for a while intern is nothing more than a scab.
Many well-respected non-profits have much larger revenues: http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/22/largest-charities-nonprofits-pf-philo_cz_wb_1122charitiesintro_slide.html
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/the-npt-2012-top-100/
Check out these articles on teacher preparedness:
Click to access 1114011044390.pdf
http://www.nctq.org/commentary/viewStory.do?id=704
Also, training continues beyond those five weeks. TFA members are required to attend monthly all-day sessions to continue their training throughout the entire year and also assigned a manager who visits their classroom to provide feedback as well as meets monthly to review student data and progress.
I cannot speak for all regions, but in my experience as a TFA corps member in Mississippi, our schools are understaffed. TFA teacher are certified and qualified. We passed the PRAXIS just all other teachers. We have an alternative route certification, but unlike many alternative routes we have actual classroom experience. It is limited, yes, but other non-TFA alternative routes I worked with did not have any classroom experience before the first day of school. In Mississippi, we lack qualified teachers. In my district, many positions are held by long-term subs, which is often true of the low-income schools in which TFA members are placed. It is really difficult to find teachers who want to teach in my district. Even veteran and career teachers in my school will talk about going to teach at a school in a neighboring county where there are less gang fights, less talking back, less students who refuse to do their homework, less whatever. Not a lot of people want jobs in the schools marked as “failing” by our government. And ask me whose students’ had the highest scores at my school on the Algebra I State Test that all students must pass in order to graduate…it was a TFA teacher. I’m NOT saying his kids did the best BECAUSE he is a TFA corps member. I’m NOT saying TFA teachers are ANY better than veteran teachers. We are not. We are inexperienced and we have a lot to learn from veteran teachers. But we are certainly qualified.
When teachers do nothing and keep taking this bs then the “reformers” will keep spitting in their faces. The regular teachers in this area and state need to go door to door with flyers informing people of this corporate welfare.
Well said! Another incentive is related to their massive student loans – another corporate rip-off. Most of the TFA loans will be forgiven when teaching in the worst settings. A couple of years of Hell will yield roads paved in plated gold.
I have never heard or read any TFA speak out publically after their teaching experience. Are they bound by gag orders?
1. Untrue. TFA teachers receive an americorps award, similar to other americorps members who are not TFA.
2. Many urban districts (e.g., Washintgon D.C.) offer loan forgiveness programs for teachers working in urban districts for 4 to 5 years, which would not apply to TFA teachers (if they only teach for 2 years).
There is way too much vitriol and misinformation on this thread/blog to have any type of intelligent discussion.
No, TFA brought this scorn upon itself with its hubris and false rhetoric. TFA does a great disservice to children by replicating and reinforcing the injustice of giving our neediest students the least-prepared, least-experienced teachers as well as perpetuating churn. It also insults every teacher who dedicated their lives to teaching. And to add insult to injury, TFA brags through spin and marketing lies twisting the language of civil rights to its own benefit. It is fully understandable for those of us on this thread to be angered by this program. TFA has gone too far and deserves our ire.
Not that it ever was about teaching and learning, but Wendy now spouts about the revolution her “leaders” are now leading in public education. She is so proud of Rhee, Huffman and White…sociopathic self serving liars…spawns of Wendy. So much to be proud of…liars and cheaters.
Misinformation and TFA go hand in hand.
And TFA is always so complimentary of the veteran, experienced, unionized teachers. We know all about their vitriol.
Only in certain subject areas and there are certain requirements. There will be vitriol because TFA is absurd and is no longer doing what is was supposedly founded to do.
Katie Osgood, Linda, and DeeDee: your comments here and below are much appreciated and needed.
This blog has received over a quarter million new hits in the last two weeks since hitting four million hits just two days shy of its first year of existence. There are so so many more people coming to this website and they need to read simple verifiable facts that will counter the misinformation pouring out of the corporate media and the educational status quo.
Although I have been favorably impressed by some of the observations I have read online by some TFAers (past and present), the organization is impressive for its staunch lack of humility and bizarrely inflated claims of success.
For those seeking more accurate info re TFA and its genuine successes and failures, please visit Gary Rubinstein’s website: http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org
🙂
All anyone has brought up in the responses to my comment is that TFA is insulting to career teachers, it lies, it’s part of the corporate reform movement, etc. Where are the facts that refute what I said about the Americorps reward and the loan forgiveness for urban educators (non-TFA)? I’ll even link you to what I’m talking about:
http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/teacher
I’m perfectly willing to listen to reasoning, but, again, if everyone is just spouting misinformation and sarcasm, nothing gets accomplished.
My response was a well-reasoned answer to a poster who is bending the truth and spreading misinformation to suit his purpose. If you actually want people to hear your message and not your bitterness, tone down the rhetoric.
Beth,
Here is the best independent peer-reviewed study of TFA.
http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/teach-for-america
TFA in Baltimore: $318,439.00.
Click to access 11AC122848_424.pdf
“Its members will use these full-time awards to attain full professional certification and licensure during their service, and in many cases they will pursue graduate work to advance their long-term interests.”
If I understand this grant application correctly, this grant will pay for them to get their teaching license and then will pay for them to pursue other degrees that may or may not have anything to do with teaching.
Wow. Seven year later, I’m still paying for my student loan that paid for my Masters in Education that I had to get in order to become a teacher. No one else paid me to get my license. No Americorp grant was available to me to become a teacher. I’m not complaining. It’s what I wanted to do with life. But this sure seems like a great deal for TFAers.
I’m not sure what your complaint it here. Is it that Teach For America has applied for funding from Americorps to operate in the city of Baltimore? They are an Americorps partner, so they (along with other organizations that partner with Americorps) are doing that in every city in which they operate. Is it the use of the money? Teach For America does partner with local institutions to provide an avenue to help new teachers complete their licensure requirements. However, teachers pay the same out of pocket licensure costs as non-TFA teachers (they are not reimbursed for taking the Praxis, paying state licensure fees, etc).
TFA teachers aren’t paid to receive advanced degrees, they receive an education award that can be used to repay student loans or put toward a future degree. My understanding of Americorps mission (related to education awards) is that, if you commit yourself to service, you should be rewarded. If you take issue with Americorps giving out education awards to Teach For America, then you also have to take issue with Americorps giving out education awards to the FEMA corps, education awards for City Year volunteers, and all the other ways that Americorps gives out education money. As you said, it is a great deal, but there are lots of great deals out there.
If you are looking for money to pay for your student loans, teach for five years in parts of Washington, D.C., and you can get $17,5000. I’m sure there are similar programs in other school districts, even though I haven’t done my research on it. Thank you for the study, Diane.
Before people make a big deal out of this, I meant $17,500. Way more than the TFA Americorps award, although you are required to teach longer.
Gotta agree with Beth here. Not a big fan of TFA, but I am a huge proponent of AmeriCorps and there is some serious misinformation on here regarding the Segal education award. I manage an AmeriCorps program and have written 4 successful AC grants, so I know the program very well. The $318,000 figure that someone linked to is NOT to pay for TFAers grad school as one commenter implied. They didn’t understand what they were reading. Budgets matter, look at them.
There is a maximum cost per AmeriCorps position that is the same for TFA as it was for me when I was an AmeriCorps member working in a teen center, getting food stamps and living in transitional housing. The extra salary paid to TFAers comes from TFA’s private donors NOT AC funding. The education award received by TFA members is the same as for any other AmeriCorps member.
If you don’t approve of AmeriCorps supporting TFA, you’re issue isn’t with the AC program, it’s with the Federal competitive grants process. The proposals are peer reviewed and those that score highest are funded. You’re allowed to disagree with the peer reviewers (I’m a grant writer, I do it all the time!) but it doesn’t change the fact that the process is how discretionary government funding is distributed.
Hope my comments help clear up some misconceptions that I feel like were perhaps the result of knee-jerk, emotional assumptions. AmeriCorps is a hugely beneficial program that always finds itself on the chopping block; oftentimes because people don’t fully understand it.
I am a former TFA corps member myself, and I find the inequities between TFA teachers and veterans to be shameful. Not because I think that beginning teachers do not need or deserve the support that TFA teachers sometimes receive, but because I believe *all* teachers deserve this support and respect. All teachers (regardless of background, affiliation, or test scores) deserve assistance with educational loans, help with housing, supportive mentoring, and a living wage. I am no fan of the corporate reform movement or the way it further marginalizes career teachers. Had I known then what I know now about the organization, I probably wouldn’t have joined.
Two of my middle class children did Americorp work with Habitat for Humanity as apprentices under skilled managers. They were lucky to have cheap barrack housing. Some of the corp members did not. Their stipend was so small many of them were eligible for food stamps. They earned some scholarship money, which has helped to pay down college loans. No one gets to move into a bogus leadership program and make six figure incomes telling people with years of experience how to do their jobs. Unfortunately, those of you who went into TFA in all innocence will get tarred with the same brush as those whose motives have proven to be less pure.
Again, the amount of misinformation in this post about a Teach For America teacher’s experience, goals, and monetary compensation is mind-boggling. How can you expect to make rational judgments about the program’s worth if you don’t know anything about it?
Beth,
Where is the misinformation in my post? It is unfortunate that TFA teachers who are genuinely in it to teach in an underserved area are lumped in with those who have used it as a stepping stone into leadership positions in education. I can imagine the pitch that is given on college campuses playing to all the best instincts of college students, but the program has changed drastically over the years and no longer serves it original mission. That does not mean there are not dedicated TFA teachers who are serving where there is a genuine need or at least where the they are told there is a need. You are caught in the anger of teachers who have lost their jobs to TFA or who have experienced the ineptitude of TFA graduates who have been ill prepared for the leadership positions they have assumed. You are seen as tools of a reform movement bent on deprofessionalizing teaching and privatizing education.
I initially misunderstood your post, I thought you were stating that 1st and 2nd year teachers were receiving six-figure salaries and telling experienced people how to do their jobs.
Ivy League colleges save plenty of room in their Educ Policy masters programs for tfa’ers and give them large scholarships.
Of course, they “deserve” it, even though their parents could easily pay for it.
“…even though their parents could easily pay for it.”
I and many other corps members I know came from middle-class backgrounds. We’re not all 22-year-old Ivy League millionaires, and -Beth’s right- spreading this type of stereotype only serves to cheapen the discussion when there are serious issues to address.
So a certified, unionized teacher with a family can live there too? Or a single certified, non TFA can live there? Yes?
TFA has minimized the serious issues for many years.
As someone looking into graduate programs, there is truth in what Mr. Tellman says. TFA alums DO get preferential treatment getting into programs/careers often through scholarships/grants coming directly from Corp EdReform big money. (See http://www.teachforamerica.org/why-teach-for-america/compensation-and-benefits/graduate-school-and-employer-partnerships ) That money, as well as the total of $10,000 of Americorps funds, is not available to someone like me, or other even more deserving candidates. That money should be allotted first and foremost to people pursuing teaching as a career, especially through grow-your-own programs encouraging teacher candidates from the neighborhoods where they will ultimately teach. To candidates that truly need it.
I’m sorry, but my taxpayer money (Americorps $) should NOT be going to TFAers. TFAers do not deserve the perks they get.
H. Ray, you are right. The serious issue to address is why TFA creates a myth that teachers need only five weeks of training, and that TFA is better than veteran teachers from day one. That cheapens and demeans the profession, turning it into a job for temps.
Diane, as someone who has just finished her first year in TFA, I have to disagree with you. I do not believe for one minutes that TFA thinks five weeks of training is enough, but it is the best we can do. We are not prepared on day one, but what first year teacher is, really? And of the few TFA teachers in my district who is not returning for a second year, one of them was an education major. As was the non-TFA first year teacher in my school who quit after two months. Also, TFA NEVER EVER has conveyed to me that I am a better teacher than the veteran teachers already at my school. In fact quite the opposite, I have always felt encouraged to learn from my veteran teachers, because they have SO much experience with the students in my school and the subject matter and just teaching in general. I have found my veteran teachers to be my biggest allies and a huge lifesaver in my first year and also keep in touch with them during the summer as friends.
Katie, “TFAers do not deserve the perks they get”??? You should be ashamed, really. What a terrible blanket statement to make about a lot of really good people. Maybe a few are in TFA for the wrong reasons, but the people I have worked with over the past year have a real passion for their students, past and present, and giving our kids the absolute best. We work just as hard as any other first year teacher. It is hard to even get my TFA friends to talk about anything other than their students, their classroom, school; it is constantly on their minds, thinking about how they can be better for their kids. We are not bad people simply because we have joined TFA. And we ARE working in really difficult schools. My students deal with issues of poverty and racism that most people cannot imagine. Our district is highly lacking qualified teachers, many spots being held long-term subs. Furthermore, in the region in which I teach, a very large percentage of corps members stay in the region to continue teaching or working in non-profits. But regardless of whether or not they stay in the classroom, after five minutes of talking with any of them, you absolutely cannot deny that they love their students so much.
Are there non-TFA teachers who work just as hard?! ABSOLUTELY! I am not saying they do not deserve a $5,000 AmeriCorps Education Award, but I don’t think it is fair to say that TFA teachers do not either. Probably we all do, because teaching is really hard, but in TFA we are blessed enough to have that available to us. Furthermore, teachers in high needs districts who are NOT TFA qualify for Loan Forgiveness from the US government if they teach for at least five year. If you are in TFA and received the AmeriCorps Education Award for your two years, those two years do not count toward Loan Forgiveness.
Overall, I simply have to say that the words I have read about TFA and the blanket-statements being made about TFA corps members are hurtful and unnecessary. There is more than one way to become a teacher. Plenty of teachers these days are completing alternative route certification and TFA is simply one method of doing that. There is no need to use hurtful words to put down people you know little to nothing about simply to make a point. That is not constructive and will not get us anywhere.
And lastly, to comment on this actual blog post in general, the housing you write about, Diane, is open to anyone. Anyone at all. They offer a special discount to teachers, but you do not need to be a TFA teacher. If I understand correctly, the new Philadelphia TFA offices will be located in this building, which is fortunate, because when I was initially applying to TFA I visited the Philly offices and the location was poor, as was the condition of the spaces.
I’m sorry this was so long, I just felt something had to be said about the hurtful words being exchanged in response to this blog post. Have a nice day, everyone.
If it looks like a camp counselors barracks and it smells like a camp counselors barracks…
Why doesn’t Brian Williams report on this fleecing of the taxpayer? Talk about hand-outs. Wow!!!
No, NBC would never allow it. Worthless newscasting
This is the way education “on the cheap” is moving. Look for a transition to campus style schools-not just subsidized housing for temp staff. Residential learning camps for youth and their guards will feed low-wage work-camps for the “career-ready”. Maybe it will all be fenced in together-school to work all in one area. This is our legislators’ and privatizers’ solution to educating the most needy. Instead of investing in what is actually needed and working to create more equitable economic structures, they have doubled down on trickle down. Raze our public commons for their own benefit and WalMart our schools.
Creepy, creepy, and more creepy and ripe for exploiting well intentioned university graduates. This reminds me of the coal & lumber company towns at the turn of the century. The corporation built the town and controlled housing, work hours, recreation, housing, electricity, medical care, provisions in a company store and were paid with company issued script- not in dollars. Workers were available at the owner’s whim 24-7.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
Think 24 hr on call, low pay, churn, and debt dependency. This is what the business community means by a “flexible workforce.”
This is incredibly disappointing. What a slap in the face for teachers who have spent years preparing – to not be given similar benefits as teachers who took the back door approach.
Not surprising at all, and just the kid of thing the New Markets Tax Credit was intended to to.
Corporate so-called education reform is many things – union busting, privatization and looting of public resources, social engineering, a jobs program for Ivy Leaguers with a deluded sense of the own virtue and entitlement – and now apparently a housing program for missionaries who will helicopter into cities they know nothing about and proceed to “save” the worthy poor from themselves.
Michael,
You rock.
Thank you for your to the point posts.
Live, work, play, and be indoctrinated together. What could be more perfect?
Jonestown?
I was at the AFT convention in Detroit and Randi proudly proclaimed that the Newark apartments were built with NJ teacher pension funds. She characterized this as another showcase of her “solution driven unionism”. I say not so–it is an attack on teacher unions. TFA is anti-union and needs to stay out of Newark. My former students from Newark that are college graduates should have those teaching jobs
Betty, retired guidance counselor and member of Radical Women
Most of the funding for Newark Teachers Village came from Goldman Sachs and a German billionaire named Berrgruen.
I love this blog so much. Thank you to all who bring both their knowledge and their questions.
Sounds like a return to the days of the company town, complete with housing and stores. Only thing left is to produce worthless company scrip.
Isn’t this also the way it’s done at Foxcon City in China? I’m just sayin’
To balance all of the really negative things being said here, check out an article about TFA teachers who STAY in their communities to continue doing great things for students in the Mississippi Delta region. I know most of the individuals in this article and theya all taught beyond their two year TFA commitment. Even though they may leave the classroom eventually, a fire has been started within them and they are continuing to do good work to lower the poverty rates and improve the opportunities for children in their region. And that is a good thing that would likely not have occurred if not for their original TFA placement.
Is this the article where they guy works for the chamber of commerce, who nationally support corporate reform, national standards, privatization and they offered free showings of won’t back down after it flopped?
It is an article about several different families working in different areas and non-profits, as well as opening their own businesses. They are all good people doing good work because they sincerely care about the people in the communities in which they live.
That’s great and so are the thousands and thousands of unionized, certified, dedicated, professional teachers in our country, some who have been laid off very recently (in Chicago) while TFA temporary scabs march in and take their jobs.
Recognize all the good people in our country!
Absolutely! I know SO many dedicated and certified teachers, both TFA and non-TFA! Which is exactly what I was trying to do: recognize good people, because in these blog responses I had has mostly seen derogatory remarks about a lot of good people. And you’ll notice I did not use any derogatory words or names for anyone in trying to make my point.
The article was about a former TFAer doing good. It wasn’t about just anybody.
So search for an article about a life long teacher doing good and post that….there are many.
And please tell Wendy to stop taking the jobs of certified, qualified teachers.
I don’t remember that being her original mission.
This will be my last comment, since it is clear my point is not getting across. But if you read carefully you will see that I said I was simply trying to add balance. I know there are many wonderful teachers that do amazing work; they are the ones who inspired me to go into teaching and I am thankful TFA was a channel to make that possible. However, it was not their integrity that was being attacked in these blog comments, it was the integrity of current and former TFA teachers, so I simply wanted to show the other side, too. I’m not attacking anyone or accusing anyone or saying anything bad about anyone.
Also, if longtime teachers are loosing their jobs because districts want to hire cheaper, out-of-college teachers, that is a very sad thing. The experienced and the inexperienced must learn from each other; that is a two-way street and if we only have one or the other it will certainly not benefit our students. However, TFA strives to fill positions which are empty due to teacher shortage, which in my region is a huge problem. And last time I checked, no body can fire teachers except for the district and TFA certainly does not support that. We can’t learn without veteran teachers by our side. But if you have a problem with teachers losing their job, you will need to talk to the district that fired them and not any individual or non-profit organization.
A scab is a scab is a scab no matter how you spin it.
Wow, you want to end with that? I thought our discussion was pretty thoughtful up until now. Thank you engaging me in some thoughtful discussion. I’m finished now.
At least I can defend my position without insulting anyone.
I didn’t know YOU took the job of a certified, experienced teacher, unless you have assumed the identity of all TFA interns.