Correction appended
The philosopher J. F. Tribbiani once postulated that selfless deeds don’t exist, and even charitable acts provide the Samaritan with a sense of superiority (see “The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS”).
Author David Eggers applies this to the Teach For America (TFA) program, which he labels “paternalistic condescension,” assumedly because he questions the effectiveness of a program that sends recent college grads with limited training to the toughest schools. Eggers implies the motives of these corps members are self-serving, but are these teachers really so Machiavellian?
The 15 million impoverished American children whom TFA aims to help to reach college couldn’t be reached for a comment, but I would argue no, and I would further argue you should all apply for the program.
I’ve said hundreds of bad things about AU students and will say many more before they take this column away from me. But anyone who has ever sat in the Davenport has heard thousands of ways to save the world.
This is AU’s redeeming quality: you all do care about the other half (Kogods and Kogoddesses aside).
So apply for Teach For America because, despite what the cynics say, it’s the right thing to do.
Eggers isn’t the only TFA critic, but he’s the only one who didn’t explicitly tell me he didn’t want to be quoted.
Critics question whether TFA teachers’ five weeks of training can prepare them like the four years of studying teaching methods or education psychology or having in-field experience do for education majors.
Also, some contend that most teachers struggle in their first few years in the class room, meaning that TFA teachers will hit their stride as their two year commitment ends, right before heading off to law school or the corporate world with their padded resumes.
I know these concerns are well-intentioned and intelligently thought out because I held them myself.
Fortunately, when I told Olivia Stitilis, AU’s TFA campus campaign coordinator, everything that is wrong with the program, she enlightened me to my ignorance, pertaining to TFA, mostly.
Knowing my love-to-cite, hate-to-find relationship with hard facts, she sent me a Harvard study that found two-thirds of TFA alumni still work in the education field after their service.
Not only that, but alumni are 84 percent more likely to believe teachers can make the difference between a student failing and succeeding. Instilling this mindset in the nation’s leaders promises more insightful decisions in education reform.
In response to my assumption that TFA corps members struggle in comparison to their experienced counterparts, Stiltis directed me to a 2004 report by Mathematica Policy Research.
The report found TFA students outperformed non-TFA students in math and matched them in reading. She also directed me to an article in The Atlantic, “What Makes a Great Teacher,” which reports that 44 percent of TFA corps members moved their class a 1 1/2 grades ahead in 2009, up from 24 percent in 2007.
Not one to be convinced by “numbers,” I hunted down famed narcissist, AU alumna and current TFA corps member Meg Miraglia.
In her third month as a ninth grade algebra teacher, she now toils to teach ninth graders math that is not that far off from the Fundamental Mathematics course we struggle so mightily with here at American.
As I listened to her describe the trials and triumphs of her first marking period, I got the sense she’s not in it for the resume booster or that coveted sense of superiority. She really does care about getting those 15 million impoverished children the education she had, and she’s starting with the 100 in her D.C. classes right now.
“Yeah, it’s been hard, it’s been a lot of work, but I’m doing a fairly good job,” said Miraglia. “TFA offers me what I went to American for: an opportunity to serve those who need it.”
Is it arrogantly self-interested to assume that we can make a difference in children’s lives through the applying for the TFA program?
Perhaps it was, before the numbers proved TFA works. Now it’s just selfless.
agallagher@theeagleonline.com
A previous version of this article misspelled Olivia Stitilis's name.
