I told myself that if I was going to apply for Teach for America, that at least I was going to be honest about it.  So on January 31 I wrote what amounted to a tirade featuring the F-word on five distinct occasions. I focused on three main issues. 1) That TFA does not directly address systematic issues of inequality, and perhaps even perpetuates inequality by “plugging the cracks in the damn” of demographic disparity within public schools. 2) That for many, TFA is an extremely logical choice following undergrad, especially in the perceived presence of an unfriendly job market, when the job in fact demands heart and dedication in lieu of mere career-jockeying, and 3) TFA’s lack of presence within Detroit Public Schools, especially in light of their student’s recent fecal matter-rivaling test scores.  My goal was to poke and prod TFA, and then schedule an interview with a recruitment officer, all cards on the table.  By the time I had hung up the phone, I was singing a different tune.  While idealists they may be, the people and the organization of TFA are not disillusioned.  Their work appears to be a methodical and heartfelt defense of an educational institution that is central to the fulfillment of fundamental American principles.

Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady, reading to children enrolled in Project Head Start at Kemper School in Washington, DC. Source: National Archives

TFA uses what I deem the “See What I Mean” tactic in order to approach a situation where two high schools within the same school district are unequal in both funding and student performance.  Essentially,  they hope experience will lead to critical understanding, which will lead to administrative and influential positions for corps alumni, which will ultimately result in the sustainable affecting of systems.  While this may not be the school board-evicting expletive-tipped door kicking I was hoping for, their system has the potential to affect more sustainable change within our nation’s public education systems over the next 10-25 years than a bureaucratic blitzkrieg would accomplish in a short sprint.  Understandably, TFA must be diplomatic in their undertakings even while the problem they combat is completely obvious and intolerable: personal liberty-driven American citizens failing at school (or vice-versa?).  My interview made clear that corps members hold standards in the underperforming classrooms they inherit to the highest level.  When pressed on the issue of enacting change from the school board or superintendent level, much depends on TFA’s relationship with a particular district. The one thing they do not want to do as an organization is to incite a bad relationship with a potentially prosperous school district. In Detroit, for example, a reader’s comment suggested that powerful teacher unions have a heavy hand in keeping TFA out of DPS, whereas in St. Louis, as much as 50% of new hires come through TFA.  Elsewhere, corps alumni are positioned to oversee operations from roles such as principals and deciders within hiring divisions, with the organization supporting specific “alumni initiatives” that seem to focus on an increased investment in this current “TFA—>inspiration—>career action” model.

The organization continues to effectively and aggressively recruit new corps members, somewhat ironically when considering the corp’s seeming popularity regardless of contact from the organization.   Following my initial article, I requested an interview, and by the following morning, I was speaking with my representative for half an hour–and she had read my article.  While it may seem like one fewer recruitment officer or other staff member would equal one more corps member in the classroom, and thus thirty or so more children positively affected, I respect their prerogative of continued growth through highly-screened college graduates.  This year TFA will place around 4,200 new corps members, as compared to around 3,600 in 2008.  What it was they were actually screening for, however, was another question, as I dubiously navigated through optional responses for information regarding everything from my gender and “ethnicity” to the number my father sees when he opens his paycheck. The weight these identifiers would hold within the admissions process was unclear.  With diversity as a goal of the growth plan, the current demographic of 70% of corp members identifying as Caucasian, and 68% as non-male would indicate that the optimal identity would be a non-Caucasian male.  The “Who we’re looking for” section of the website, however, stated outright that recruitment officers “seek individuals… who have what it takes to excel as teachers and to ultimately exert broader societal influence in our nation… [recognizing] there is no one profile of an ideal applicant. Ultimately, we look for individuals who have achieved results and demonstrated a range of leadership qualities – not just in one particular area.” The tribe of OTHER/BLANK gained another disciple.  American was not an option.

I submitted what I considered to be an honest application that represented me with integrity, with a resume highlighting leadership roles and community work in lieu of the driving feats I had previously showcased in an attempt to entice Car and Driver. Sitting with a friend a few days later, she asked me one simple question.  The question. “So why do you want to Teach for America?” I spurted on about how it was the right thing to do, how working for TFA is a good thing to do, but I could tell she was becoming increasingly unsatisfied with my responses. I paused and collected my thoughts before continuing on with what I was really trying to say: I believe that we are investing too much in the countries of Afghanistan and Iraq, and not enough in our own, evident in the federal budget.  There is a way to efficiently invest in the global economy that encourages American jobs and healthy diplomatic relationships abroad.  I believe that a reinvestment in American soil and American citizens will provide the greatest opportunity not just for individual prosperity and the ability to pursue one’s notion of happiness, but security as well. I believe that the ability to be able to choose what one does with one’s life is a fundamentally American principle, a principle that fuels the momentum of our country.  I believe that the key to access this personal liberty is found in schools, through education, and that without an effective education, one looses the potency of personal liberty, and thus the ability to choose the direction of one’s life.  According to her 2009 book The Power of a Promise: education and economic renewal in Kalamazoo, Michelle Miller-Adams points to a 20.8 percent dropout rate in the Kalamazoo Public Schools community, 65% of whose students qualify for federally-funded free or reduced lunch (162, 16).  To me, that 21 % of the population is now incapable of allowing personal liberty to dictate the direction of their lives, people whose lives could very well now dictate that direction for them, and perhaps even those of their children.

My subsequent half-hour phone interview is scheduled for this Friday, March 5 at 6:50 pm EST.

The preceding views expressed are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of The Kosmopolitan Online or its contributors.