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Relentless Pursuits

Written by Editor
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Teach for America’s Relentless Pursuits Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America by Donna Foote follows the story of a year in the life of a South Los Angeles high school through the experiences of four Teach for America (TFA) corps members (CMs) on their immersion into high school teaching. Reading Relentless left me with the impression that the first weeks as a TFA teacher are like drowning in a Gatorade bath in Green Bay, Wisconsin; it’s a jolt to the system. The deep immersion into teaching also includes securing emergency credentials to be considered a qualified teacher per No Child Left Behind. Relentless Pursuit Founded in 1990 by Princeton graduate Wendy Kopp, TFA has grown to a budget exceeding $50 million and will welcome 3,700 new CMs to indoctrination camp this summer. After taking several financial and public relations lumps, TFA has become one of the most selective, and most prestigious, entry level employers in the country. TFA recruits at over 400 colleges and universities to attempt to find the best and brightest to teach in some of the worst urban and rural public schools. TFA has succeeded because it works with school districts in 36 cities to place CMs in teaching positions traditionally credential teachers don’t want. The alternative is to hire permanent substitutes or teachers who have failed to be hired elsewhere. TFA has produced studies that their recruits are more effective than the alternative; no surprise, because they were top students and have more motivation to succeed. That’s no surprise; bright people who want to do a job will perform better than people who don’t. TFA’s CMs serve only a two-year hitch, though almost two-thirds of TFA’s 12,000 alumni are in education or working towards an advanced degree in that field. TFA has also succeeded because it refined its message for younger generations. Kopp, who is a Generation Xer could not have predicted the interests of college graduates two generations later. Millennials have be reported to have stronger commitments to public service than the two generations, X and Y, preceding them. Generation X is more known as a “me generation,” more about individual ambitions over a cause. This generation finished college at a time that political and fiscal conservatism was in vogue—and public service was not the place to be. But with growth TFA has blossomed into a corporate entity with acronyms, policy manuals, layers of management and an almost cult-like emphasis on shared values. In this sense, TFA is very much like the military; they let you know in advance that life at work will be tough. But unlike the military, TFA’s CM’s don’t work for the organization that originally hired them. They work in public school systems where they find themselves frustrated with bureaucracy and internal politics. TFA asks its CMs not to challenge “the system,” but to become effective teachers within it. But that’s a lot to expect from a recent college graduate. I’m left with the impression that CM’s leave TFA not because they believe they’ve done their duty before moving on to more lucrative pursuits, but because they are not placed in a position to effect change after surviving their two year hitch. I have two thoughts: one is that the military approach becomes grating on CMs, the other is that they see change must come from the top down-- one TFA alumna is the superintendent of schools in Washington DC--or from elsewhere, such as for-profit or non-profit schools. Sadly, this happens at the end of Relentless; the host school is taken over by a charter school company. Whether you’re a college student considering TFA, a career counselor, or just concerned about education, Relentless is well worth reading. Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com , a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )