Our reader Dennis Ian gives his analysis of the role of Teach for America. TFA is an April Fool’s joke on American education. It claims that its inexperienced and idealistic recruits can transform lives and provide an excellent education in only two years of teaching. It claims that its five weeks of training in summer camp prepare its recruits to “perform” even better than experienced teachers. It perpetuates the myth that test scores are the most important outcome of schooling. It sneers at mentions of poverty, since those who are concerned about poverty are allegedly making “excuses.” It is a huge corporate entity with annual revenues in excess of $300 million, whose executives are paid six figure salaries, as befits executives of a major corporation. It gives the political and corporate leaders of our society the illusory belief that amateurs are better than veterans if the former went to an Ivy League or top-tier college. All of this is a trick played on the children and teachers of America, for the benefit of TFA’s staff. We have yet to see any school district where TFA has closed the achievement gap among different groups of children. In her last book, TFA’s founder Wendy Kopp pointed to New York City, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. as models for TFA success. But the achievement gaps have not closed in any of those districts, nor should anyone consider them models for American education.

 

 

Dennis Ian writes:

 

 

Teach for America … little more than camp counselors without the pine trees on their shirts.

 

 

Imagine for a moment the instant promotion of butchers to surgeons … or deck builders to bridge engineers. Imagine Cub Scout troop leaders as military generals … or menu makers as the next classic authors.

 

 

There’s something so odd about teaching … and it’s seldom mentioned. Everyone thinks they can teach. Everyone.

 

 

Just because you taught your child to knot his sneakers in record time doesn’t make you the next Mr. Chips. Everyone is so seduced by Hollywood and tv-land that they actually think they could sail right into a classroom and every kid would sing the theme song “To Sir, with Love”. And the world would cry because of their greatness.

 

 

Like any job, teaching is layered with misconceptions. Everyone fantasizes about professional baseball players … swatting home runs and earning millions for making the highlight reels. No one mentions the family separation, the travel fatigue, roadie food, a different bed every few days, autograph hounds, packing and unpacking, missing family stuff, separation from wives and children … and then the usual redundancy of any job. All we see is the glamour.

 

 

That’s true for teaching, too. Everyone seems to see that “To Sir, With Love” guy winning over the thuggery class and becoming a revered legend overnight. Or that Mr. Chips who seems to sweat wisdom … because he’s so over-supplied with it. If that were the case, I would have hung in the position until I was a hundred. But it’s not.

 

 

Teaching is lots of stuff few imagine … and lots of hours even fewer acknowledge. It’s not a job you get very good at very quickly either … even with the best preparation. It’s not all knowledge either … it’s technique and personality and polishing a persona and perfecting a delivery … as well as knowing your subject inside out … and keeping current in the ever changing field.

 

 

It’s about intuition. And listening to that intuition. It’s about love … all sorts of love.

 

 

There’s easy love …for those kids that just joy you day-in-and-day-out. They’re great students, great kids … with great personalities and great everything.

 

 

Then there’s that hard love … for the kid with the green snot and the girl with the matted hair … and unpleasant aroma. Or for the boy who’s an accomplished bully at age 13 … and thinks this is his lot in life. Then there’s the broken child … who seems already to have quit life. And the loud, annoying sort … who’s probably masking a world of hurt. What about the invisibles? … the kids who practice invisibility because their daily ambition is to go unrecognized and un-included … for whatever dark reason. Prying them out of their darkness can take months … if it ever really happens.

 

 

There’s lots more to describe, but it’s unnecessary. What is necessary is to imagine engaging all of these kids in the right way day after day … and then seeing to it that they make educational progress as well. Making sure they’re prepared for the next level … the next challenges. Oh … and you lug all of this stuff around in your head and your heart … all the time.

 

 

And then, just to make this all even more interesting, weave in the mundane that actually captures most of your time … never-ending grading that snatches away your Sundays, faculty and department meetings, parent confabs, planning, gathering things you need and resources you want. Colleague exchanges and innovative thinking. Blend in some school politics and the usual work-place agita … and maybe some deep intrigue at times. Oh, and don’t forget your family … those folks you bump into when you’re half dressed. They want a piece of you, too.

 

 

I’m certain that five week preparation period offered by the Teach for America leadership is gonna arm those greenhorn teachers to the max.

 

 

But here’s the REALLY UGLY underbelly of Teach for America … and the ill-prepared idealists they let loose on lots of youngsters: the schools that take them on are almost always the poorest of the poor … and the children most in need of real teachers … with real preparation … ready to change lives and manage all that such an effort entails.

 

 

Teach for America is a feel-good disaster. It does nothing for the students or the profession except perpetuate the myth that anyone can teach.

 

 

Denis Ian