On February 17th, SUPE
(Students Against Teach for America) went live with a Twitter chat under the hash
tag #ResistTFA. Timed to coincide with Teach for America’s final application
deadline, the conversation sparked a national debate about TFA’s lack of effectiveness.
SUPE specifically argues that the short preparation of TFA teachers, in
combination with the organization’s partnerships with large corporations, is
problematic.
As a Teach for America alumna, I
am not oblivious to the controversies that surround Teach for America, nor do I
think the organization is perfect. The power this debate was able to spark via
Twitter is telling of the power of social media’s influence in
today’s society. At the same
time, is pointing fingers and
placing blame going to help our students in any way? TFA spokeswoman Becky
O’Neill argued that, “At the end of the day, we all want the same things for
kids…so, it’s a little disheartening when we see these sorts of activities that
we don’t necessarily view as helpful, especially in a time when the status quo
just is not working for so many kids in this country.” Hannah Nguyen, SUPE
co-founder, said with regards to the conversation, “It’s a great start to some
tension, and hopefully we’ll see some change from there.” She is right that
there is tension.
Quotes from tweets include- “#ResistTFA
because it’s used to attack teachers unions…,” “We #ResistTFA because even clown college is substantially
longer than 5.5 weeks,” and “…replacing veteran teachers with untrained
tourists short changes our kids…”
What change is she expecting to see
from these?
SUPE to me is problematic because
it is targeting an organization as the problem in education, rather than addressing the actual problems in education. What about the lack of funding in Philadelphia
schools that almost prevented them from opening this year? Ultimately, we do hope that Teach for
America will no longer need to exist, because all students WILL have access to
an excellent education. Based on my two years in the Mississippi Delta,
however, Teach for America was a valuable asset to many schools and communities,
a fact that could be confirmed by many teachers, administrators, and community
members in the region.
In terms of a response to the specific arguments
against Teach for America, Justin
Fong wrote a relevant and straightforward blog entry stating the facts. He
points out TFA’s emphasis on continued teacher growth and development, the
large percentage of alumni who DO stay in education (myself included), and the
organization’s commitment to recruiting a diverse selection of corps members. I
encourage everyone to read his thoughts in detail here: http://fongalong.com/2014/02/19/my-response-to-the-resisttfa-chat/
.
Am I taking the whole #ResistTFA
thing personally? I try not to. I know that I truly cared about my students and
their success, and worked hard to teach and guide them in any way I could. Now,
if my commitment to their learning, growth and success is contested because
I was a Teach for America corps member-- I do take that personally.
