After sitting in
on the past few class discussions, I couldn’t help but notice the
overwhelmingly skeptical views towards services such as AmeriCorps and Teach
for America. Upon reading the provided articles and attending their
corresponding discussions on the subject, I myself wasn’t completely confident
with how I felt about these organizations. Why did we feel this way? What
aspects induced our distrust? Can this be fixed?
As we know, Teach for America is an
AmeriCorps program that provides an opportunity for elite college graduates to
spend a few years teaching in low-income community schools in hopes of providing
quality education for poverty stricken students. Although this organization seems
harmless with overall positive intentions, many people including ourselves have
raised concern and have questioned possible loop holes within the system. Some
of the most recognized critiques include that “Teach for America fails to
prepare its teachers for the classroom,” “Teach for America teachers almost
always leave too soon,” and that “Teach for America volunteers focus prominently
on internal growth.” Regarding the teacher preparation, it is rather unsettling
to know that these new college graduates are only trained for about five weeks
over the summer and then immediately placed into some of the most deprived
classrooms. Is a little over a month of training really sufficient to not only
do the job but do the job correctly? In addition once these teachers are
“adequately” trained and begin to serve their time some are known to leave
early and are less likely to return. This raises the question as to whether or
not this reform organization is in fact sustainable. Also many of the provided
articles specifically those that include volunteers describing their
experiences focus immensely on what they got out of their time rather than how
the students were affected. As some of us mentioned in class this stance could
have been subtler had the articles provided more about the student’s
perspective.
Even though Teach for America is one
of the most controversial school reform organizations in effect today, it is a
very intentional and values-driven organization. It takes into account that
these areas need immediate help and thus attempt to get the best candidates
that would be suitable for the job and train them quickly in order to get them
into the schools as soon as possible. With respect to sustainability, the organization
has no way of knowing if the teachers they are hiring are in fact going to
stay. It seems as if they have already taken efforts towards this issue by
putting a time lapse on how long the terms are. In addition granting these
teachers the right to leave helps eliminate those who are unmotivated and allow
for a determined enthusiastic staff to take over. So what do you think about
these organizations? Are these critiques valid and if not do the benefits
outweigh the stereotypes?
To answer your question about the reason most of the class felt negatively towards TFA: I feel like the split of negative and positive articles we read online about these organizations for these programs were split 50/50. We would not have these critiques if there weren't so many problems that were brought up in our online readings, especially on debate.org. My biggest personal problem with TFA was that teaching these impoverished students looked like training for teachers instead of helping these children. At the same time, there are benefits for both students and teachers. Both are affected positively and the benefits may outweigh the stereotypes, but it is very difficult to tell
ReplyDeleteI think that TFA is a great organization for what it is, but is not what it should or could be. TFA supplies teachers to schools that desperately need teachers and specifically ones who are excited and passionate and excited to be doing what they're doing. Where it lacks is that the entirety of our country's education system is broken, a big part of that lying in the lack of respect teaching garners in society. TFA aims to amend that by taking students from the most prestigious schools and having them teach, but even with a 50% rate of TFAers entering careers in education afterwards, that's only 50% and to me that's simply not enough to call their endeavor successful. Overall though I personally approve of the organization, what they do and how they do it, and given the fact that they are a relatively new organization, I think they can easily continue to group and improve that percentage.
ReplyDeleteWhen hearing stories from past Teach for America participants we often heard instances of personal growth and their own experiences. Time and time again I found myself in class asking "Why is it so bad if people's experiences reflect inner growth? Is this such a bad thing?" Now, I do acknowledge that this takes away from the impact the students are having, but people often talk about themselves when discussing this program because that is all they know. I do not understand why it is so frowned upon to talk about self growth when reflecting on Teach for America because that is often what happens with every other job or career path. Comparing a nonprofit versus a for-profit career, no one is going to be questioned if they only self reflect when talking about a for-profit career, but as soon as you are supposed to be helping others in a nonprofit career, this self reflection begins to be seen as selfish. For me, I see this critique as a little harsh as personal growth is just as important as the helping the development of others.
ReplyDeleteI too was incredibly torn at the start of our discussions on Teach for America. The lack of training for these teachers, the idea that these volunteers could be taking teaching positions away from people trained to be teachers, and the lack of consistency that this program provides for students were a few initial concerns that I had a hard time looking past. However, after further reflection, there are noteworthy advantages to these tactics as well. Though having a teacher step into a position for a short-term might be viewed as counterproductive to creating a stable learning environment, this method helps to ensure new ideas and teaching methods to be employed, helping students to become more critical thinkers and learn to adapt to change, which are two very significant life skills. In regards to these volunteers not being prepared, I would like to counter that with this idea: are teachers ever truly, 100% prepared and capable? Does anyone ever walk into a teaching career fully equipped to take on the responsibility for educating a population of students? After further reflection on the goals and principles of Teach for America, though there is certainly room for improvement (as there is with any other organization out there), I believe that the organization does have the capacity to hold a positive impact on both the students and the teachers involved.
ReplyDeleteClaire,
ReplyDeleteBefore taking this class, I didn't know too much about Teach for America or AmeriCorps. I only had preconceived notions about the programs. But after reading the articles that Professor Campbell provided and attending class, I have developed some opinions on the topic. In theory, the programs look great on paper but there are a lot of holes in it. It allows for college grads to teach in impoverished areas in low scoring schools. Taking these great teachers and putting them in these "bad" schools seems great, until the teacher leaves and finds a better job that has better benefits for the teacher. The schools then in turn go through many different teachers and can't build and maintain a solid foundation to build the school up for its students, keeping the schools in a bad state. Also, when these teachers do leave the schools, they only focus on personal growth and not the growth of their students. Most teachers want to see their students do well and improve on their skills, and these teachers didn't mention their progress, only their own. It is always good to look back, reflect and learn from past experiences, but I think the main point for these teach for america teachers should be their student's successes and not their own.