The other day I blogged about a TFA leader who spoke at the opening ceremonies of the TFA summer institute in Philadelphia. Before my blog was posted, the Youtube video was taken down.
Just a few hours ago, I received a tweet saying that Dr. Camika Royal had posted an article at Huffington Post. The article contained an explanation of what happened as well as the text of the video.
In the Youtube video, Dr. Camika Royal was speaking to the recruits. She said some amazing things that were distinctly out of step with the customary “charters are better than public schools” and “TFA is better than veteran teachers” lines. She spoke of humility and respect. She spoke of the resiliency of Philadelphians (she is a native of the city). She spoke disparagingly of a “governor-appointed School Reform Commission whose latest reform plan is to educate by abdicating its responsibility for the schools that have been most difficult to manage.” Sounded like me, for a minute. Be careful.
She said, “Our schools are more than the lie of successful charters and failing district. Our educators are more than the false dichotomy of good versus bad, of us and them. By and large, educators here are not bad. Educators here are tired. Educators here are reform weary. Our students are more than test scores, graduation rates, and disciplinary issues. They are the babies that parents prayed for and over and read to and work for and dream about.” Sounds like me, again. I told you to be careful.
She said, “You have come to Teach FOR America, but in Philadelphia, that will only happen to the extent that you commit yourself to serving and learning. A teacher is a servant. And you are not here to save. You are here to serve.” That’s right.
In the written introduction to the speech, Dr. Royal says the following about Philadelphia today:
“By no means do I suggest that the public education system in Philadelphia, as it exists right now, works for the majority of the students who attend them or the educators who work in them. However, I do not think the solution to this multi-faceted, multi-layered behemoth conundrum is the plan to dismantle the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), to release the education of its students to charter management organizations as is being currently touted by the mayor, the School reform commission, and the former Philadelphia gas works leader turn chief recovery officer of SDP. I realize this view is contrary to those espoused by many neo-liberal education reformers, some of whom are also TFA alumni. And perhaps earlier in my career, I would have agreed with them. But I’ve done too much research on charter schools in Philadelphia and the history and sociopolitical context of schools in Philly to think that this plan will be effective in the long-run for students, families, educators, or communities. This current plan to dismantle the District is not reform. It is refuse. It places financial concerns and constraints over the educational needs of people who need education the most, and it is, therefore, political and unacceptable.”
Oh, my heavens! This woman is great! She tells the truth. She is not afraid. She doesn’t sell the party line.
Dr. Camika Royal, you are a hero! Thank you for speaking plainly and courageously.
PS: I wonder why Philadelphia is hiring TFA in the middle of a budget crisis as they lay off career teachers?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This gives me such hope! I especially like the reminder that teachers are not here to save, but to serve (especially in light of the arrogance that seems to be thrust upon TFA candidates). Thank you, Dr. Royal. And thank you, Diane, for tenaciously asking the tough questions and breaking open the biggest crisis to ever hit our public school system. Your willingness to step in for all of us, who teach in and believe in public schools, will never be forgotten.
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I love her speech. I am still baffled by what the definition is of anti-reform and status quo.
HOWEVER, why are they hiring TFA recruits If teachers lost their jobs.
Does anybody know?
When unions used to strike and others took their jobs, weren’t they called scabs?
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Money! Less experience, less in salaries.
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But don’t they violate contracts when they lay people off and then just hire newbies?
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I don’t know what how the contract is written. Sorry! Maybe someone else will be able to answer that.
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They are getting rid of teachers by closing schools and giving them away to charters. The charters are hiring brand new TFA teachers.
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i’m in Philly right now training for Teach For America. So far, 68% of us have been placed at charter schools. The rest do not know their assignment yet. The only thing they do know is that they will not be hired by the district until all the teachers who lost their jobs, get them back. A district school interviewed about 20 people, but has a hold on hiring any until all veteran teachers get a job.
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Thank you for that answer to my question. I would hate to think that TFA are replacing the teachers laid off in Philadelphia. It is happening in other districts, like Huntsville, Alabama, and Cleveland and Memphis. Maybe others too.
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Yes, but how many schools were closed to turn into charters that take TFA? In Chicago, this is a common practice: purposefully destabilize/underfund a school, close it down (fire the staff), open a new charter down the street and fill it with non-unionized teachers and TFA. Also, TFA do get hiring priority in Chicago. (Although the CTU is trying to change this in contract negotiations.) We don’t even have open job fairs anymore due to the abundance of displaced teachers and other certified educators looking for work. But yet we still have over 400 TFA in this city.
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A fine speech, but I do not agree that a teacher is a servant. Servants do what others tell them to do. Teachers do this but also act on their own knowledge, experience, and conscience, or at least they should.
The savior/servant opposition is flawed. One can have enough humility to know that one is not a savior–yet enough discernment and authority to criticize flawed policies and bad fads.
Given the rest of the speech, I imagine that Dr. Royal would agree. After all, she is stepping out and criticizing reforms that she considers misguided.
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I should not speak for Camika Royal, but I understood this as her caution to the TFA kids not to see themselves as saviors of poor children, but to have a sense of humility. I saw the term “serving” as being in same category as public service. A public servant need not be subservient but should respect the work and colleagues and the public he serves. Humility, not servility.
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I am thrilled that she has spoken out! This truly just made my day.
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The best thing anyone can do for education today is to tell the truth. Thank you, Dr. Royal!
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Dr. Royal reminds us once again that we should not stereotype. That such a statement can come from within the deformers camp is reason for hope.
While the leadership of Teach for America is completely in the deformers camp, working with such organizations as the Broad Foundation, at the grassroots level there are probably well intentioned, idealistic young people who, like most teaches, want to change the world for the better. They need to be enlightened, however, about the nature and purpose of the organization they work for and warned they should not let their idealism be used for nefarious purposes!
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Sorry to post this here. I just wanted Diane to see this article.
Georgia professors blast teacher evaluation system
By Valerie Strauss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/georgia-professors-blast-teacher-evaluation-system/2012/07/09/gJQAFhSbZW_blog.html
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TFA has always been characterized by arrogance, condescension and groupthink. For Ms. Royal to break from that takes courage, and it’s good to see insiders call this insidious group’s assumptions and behavior into question.
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This is my first time commenting on a blog. I enjoy keeping up to date on current education discussions here. Just wanted to put in my own two cents. I work in a small Louisiana school district of 16 schools, typically with student populations of about 90% poverty or more. I have worked at various positions working with at risk kids and their parents. I feel strongly that we as educators should let go of this attitude that we are going to “save” these children. We are here to educate them. We need to stop being judgmental of their upbringing and family life as somehow less than… whatever it is that we judge as better for them. Their culture may be different, but that doesn’t mean our middle class culture is better. In my experience they often have strong ties and network systems that we don’t understand, but that work for them. The new reforms in education should focus on educating the “whole” child and connecting them to services to support their health and well being in order for them to be successful educationally. Everyone has heard the research that shows a dollar spent on early education saves about eleven dollars later in welfare and incarceration. End of soap box rant… For now anyway.
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Good morning, Diane ~
Avery day when I open my email, I see your new blogs and a daily email from Ken Derstine, Save Our Schools Information Coordinator in Pennsylvania, He, like many of us work tirelessly and yes, I am sure the hope by the reformies is that we will ALL become reform weary, like Camika Royal talked about in her speech.
Ken’s “Pennsylvania Education Crisis Updates” can be read about DAILY on his blog: Pennsylvania SOS [Save Our Schools] on this link: http://www.pa-sos.org/ . Ken does a great job keeping this updated and provides readers a model we can all follow.
He and Helen Gym, Parents United PA are dedicated to saving public schools, along with Philly Acts. The students in PA are very organized as well.
They are folks to follow on Twitter: @KenDerstine @ParentsUnitedPA @PhillyActs
Now, back to the topic, Camika Royal.
We’re not going to play into the reformy’s hands. We’re just getting this party started and like Camika, we’re going to speak out. And when Camika was speaking out, her revolution was being televised.
When I opened Ken’s email this morning, there she was on You Tube. I thought to myself, “Wait, that video was taken down! It probably won’t work. Well, give it a try. What can be hurt?”
Well, low and behold: “It works!” In this modern world, “the revolution will be televised.” Here is Camika saying every word we needed to hear — in Pennsylvania where the reformies are trying to kill public education and Camika stands up and says NO!
Thanks, Diane. I thought your readers would like to hear Camika’s outstanding speech!
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livingbehindthegates: As a former publicly educated resident of Pennsylvania (with a retired PA teacher for a father), your comment “the revolution will be televised” nearly brought me to tears with its power. There are days when I feel total desperation in regard to the fight to save public education from bad reform policies, but every small victory strengthens the movement all the more.
So much has changed in PA since I’d left 15 years ago, but those of us here in my current state of New Jersey are watching our neighbor to the west very closely despite our own battles. With the knowledge that so many people are stepping up, I have new hope for the welfare of the state of education in PA and, in turn, the rest of the country. Thank you for providing a bright spot in this discourse.
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In my experience with TFA, which stretches across over a decade, at local and at national levels, Dr. Royal is not the exception, but a shining example of the kind of person who joins, then runs (she was on staff for a number of years) TFA and who then moves on to contribute in thoughtful ways to education. Granted, she is exceptionally incisive, but the difference between her and many other TFA alumni is one of degree, not of kind.
Whatever it may look like from the outside, TFA is one of the most self-critical organizations I have ever seen, always questioning its own presumptions and seeking ways to more effectively serve students and schools. If you disagree with its premise, that’s fair. If you say that a number of its young teachers are arrogant, you’re right. But they are not the majority, and they don’t reflect the ethos of the organization. To be critical of TFA is merited, but the wholesale TFA bashing that has become a sport on this blog and elsewhere is simple-minded scapegoating that distracts from the real issues, which are much more nuanced than the good guy/bad guy scenario that appeals to lazy thinkers. More importantly, it is a missed opportunity. Whether you agree with its mission or not, TFA is an efficient and well-run educational organization, which is why it thrives even in difficult times. That’s a rare animal in our world, and we ought to be asking not how we can take it down, but what we can learn from it to apply to our own efforts.
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TFA would be regarded in a positive light if it did the following things: 1. Recognize that five weeks of training is not adequate to make a “great” teacher. 2. Stop boasting that its first-year teachers are better than veteran teachers 3. Stop sending young recruits to take the job of experienced teachers who were laid off in budget cuts (that’s called “scab”) 4. Stop claiming (as Wendy Kopp does) that we don’t have to fix poverty, we have to fix the schools 5. Return to its original mission of sending young people to high-needs schools that could not find teachers.
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