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A Huge Rise in Teach for America Recruits

May 14, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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What is it about teaching these days that has so many college graduates knocking on the doors of Teach for America? There are several reports today about a spectacular surge in new teachers who are headed for the classroom this fall—via Teach for America. For folks who don't know, TFA is a program that recruits top college graduates and trains them to become teachers in underserved communities.

The program, which has been around since 1990, is sending 3,700 new teachers into hard-to-staff schools this year, up from 2,900 a year ago. But guess how many applicants to the program didn't make the cut? A lot: This year, the program received 24,700 applications.

Knowing that so many recent grads are eager to teach and that only the best and the brightest will be marching into classrooms this fall warms my heart. But the skeptical reporter in me can't help but wonder what other forces are at play here. Last I checked, teachers are still complaining about low pay. (Earlier this week, I blogged about a cash-strapped teacher who wrote a book for other cash-strapped teachers.) Teachers also complain about working conditions. (Mention No Child Left Behind, and you're bound to get an earful from most teachers.)

Assuming these college grads have done their homework and know what they're getting themselves into, why are so many filling out the TFA application? Media reports say the program has really upped its presence on college campuses and is hiring more college grads than any other employer.

Another theory floating around has to do with the crummy U.S. economy. It may be forcing a lot of recent college grads to forgo their plans to travel the world for a "stable" job—at least until the times get better. I don't buy this theory either. Why not go, instead, to Bolivia or Vietnam, where the dollar is still king? Why not get a higher-paying job in marketing or consulting? (I know nothing about these jobs. I just assume they pay better.)

For now, I am content to think that Teach for America is attracting graduates who are eager to make a difference—no matter how challenging the job or low the salary. But this explanation alone isn't satisfying. I want to open up the floor for other theories. If you're a college student and you're considering Teach for America or another avenue into teaching, I want to know why.

Tags:: Teach for America,; teachers

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Look how wonderful the unions are teaching our kids. They have lower scores, the teachers are not marked by anything other than longevity. Union teachers are for themselves and are geared to not educating on the truth but on the future vision of the union bosses (socialism).
GREAT for these kids wanting to do better education and getting away from the union thugs and their minnons (the teachers). You need only look to Wisconsin. The union backed politicians lost - the response was the union bringing in outside folks and creating chaos and disruption. The center piece was the teachers union - skipping school bring kids to their marchs. Is this the things the union want to teach the kids? Disrupt and deflect, disrupt and deflect, so the wonderful unions can progress their agenda of socialism. To bad our educated teachers are to uneducated to recognize their pawns in the big plan.

dave of CO 12:51PM May 13, 2011

Big picture, we are all pawns is a Neo-liberal (social justice thru market solutions) social engineering experiement led by the anti-union forces in America. Check, you'll see, Carrie Penner-Walton (of anti-union Walmart) is on the board of Teach for America. Check to see who is on the board and what their affiliations are. They are all charter school and anti-union forces. All the Teach for America candidates are alternative credentialing teachers (so they can get around NCLB) designed to be hired to teach at the private charter schools, and to kill the teachers union. They close public schools, lay off everyone, reopen as charters, bring in Teach for America kids for cheap. End of the teachers union. they are scabs and they don't even know it. Worse yet, neither do the teachers they are replacing. It's a nationwide, well organized and well into their plan, and brilliantly slick. These people don't set out to destroy a union until they already know they are going to win. Ask the retail and grocery industry. You, me, all of us just pawns in the plan. It's amazing when you see the scale of it.

DocScrappy of DC 3:54AM January 07, 2010

I just got rejected (Oct 06, 2009) from advancing to the personal day long interview. I am graduating with a MA and have 4.0. I also have been teaching now at a college level for a year and a half. My wife who I dearly love is graduating with B.A at 3.8 passed to the in person interview stage. She has no teaching experience except for tutoring. The only thing that we can put together of why she advanced and I did not is that she is from a 3rd World country. We were asked the same questions during the phone interview and answered almost the same way. So whats the deal?

ananomous of FL 6:12PM October 06, 2009

A Huge Rise in Teach for America Recruits

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