After four long years of college, the concern for most graduating seniors is “what will I do next?”
The Teach for America program is one option. The program seeks recent graduates and professionals who have leadership skills and experience, and gives them an opportunity to pursue a career that can have a fundamental impact on today’s youth.
“I plan to apply for the Teach for America program next year as a graduating senior,” says Jasmia Fowler, a junior speech and applied communications major.
Fowler, whose ultimate career goal is to become a high school principal, believes that the Teach for America program will be beneficial for her after graduation. “ I have known people that have joined the program and have found it to be very essential, “ she said.
“With no teaching certificate, and little experience, the Teach for America program will provide that experience that I need. “
Established by founder and CEO, Wendy Kopp, in 1990, the Teach for America (TFA) program has expanded to more than 20,000 individuals. With different locations around the country, the program has become the nation’s largest provider of teachers for low-income communities.
The TFA program recruits college graduates of all academic majors, career interest and backgrounds who have demonstrated leadership and commitment to expanding opportunity for children in low-income areas.
Chante Chambers, the Senior Recruitment director for HBCU’s for the TFA program, and former core member, believes the program is very fulfilling for students who want to pursue education.
“As a former Teach For America corps member, I assumed full responsibility to ensure that my students exited my class aware of their true potential and determined to work hard and reach their goals,” Chambers said.
Although the TFA program has benefited many low-income schools, some college students aren’t sold on the program. Sophomore education major Courtney Green, who plans on going into elementary education, feels that the overall purpose the program is good, but she does not fully agree with how it works.
“The problem with TFA is that the participants are usually not formally trained in the field of education,” she said.
With a passion and love for working with children, Green feels that the program is effective for the students being worked with, but the teachers are focused on completing the program and not the students.
“Many TFA teachers use it as a step-ladder to say that since they have experience in the classroom, they can apply for better jobs at higher paying schools, if they choose to stay in education at all,” Green said.
“They tend to confuse earning a degree or certificate with being able to teach effectively, when in actuality the two are not the same.”
Kalima Smalls, a Ph.D. student at the University of Buffalo, was accepted into the Teach for America program but has reservations about the program’s ability to meet the needs of the students it serves.
“When you first enter the program, you must attend a summer program for six to ten weeks, where they train in the area you want to teach,” said Smalls, who is planning to pursue a career working with youth after grad school.
“The problem is that the training that they give during the summer, it takes three years for education majors to learn,” she said. “The people, who are the trainers, are business majors and other professionals that may not have the experience to train teachers that want to teach children, therefore, hindering the students that they are assigned to, that are usually in the roughest schools in the nation.”
Chambers understands the concerns of educations majors that feel that the program is not beneficial, but feels that core members of TFA receive the proper amount of training to be great educators.
“There is much groundwork before the Summer Institute begins,” she said. “Our core members are being trained by great educators and become successful teachers to the children in the nation.”
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