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Exactly - that's why things like https://www.teachforamerica.org/ https://www.teachforamerica.org/ have to exist. It's a socio-economic issue that's holding bac

Exactly - that's why things like https://www.teachforamerica.org/ https://www.teachforamerica.org/ have to exist. It's a socio-economic issue that's holding back talent in developed countries across the world, where parental income directly impacts on academic success. Considering the imbalance is so pronounced in-country, it's a real shame...

douche 11y ago
I applaud Teach for America for the effort, but I'm not sure that's really that successful. I graduated with more than a handful of people that went into TFA, and around 90% of them burned out hard after a couple years. Most of them had no teacher training, and, really, no cultural context for understanding the cultures they got dropped into. Inner city ghettos, Cajun Bayous, and Appalachian hollers are a different world than white-bread East Coast suburbia. I think if you want to fix the disadvantaged areas of the country, you've got to reverse the brain-drain that's sucking the best and brightest people out of these communities. Decentralizing the economy would be a good first step.
- wallflower 11y ago
  The deeper problem with TFA is that by hiring TFA teachers they are literally ensuring 100% turnover in 2-3 years since TFA teachers do not usually stay past their 2-3 year assignment in their placement areas. There are a few who do stay, however, as a pure numbers game, it is not enough. Also, you can Google (or Bing) away for stories of how TFA teachers are given inadequate training and special-needs students (or worse, disruptive students) are put into their classrooms. Up the Down Staircase is a lightly fictionalized novel about teaching in the 1960s in a public school system. Bureaucracy, parents (or lack thereof), funding, burnout. Almost 60 years later, many of the same fundamental problems still exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Down_Staircase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Down_Staircase

douche 11y ago

I applaud Teach for America for the effort, but I'm not sure that's really that successful. I graduated with more than a handful of people that went into TFA, and around 90% of them burned out hard after a couple years. Most of them had no teacher training, and, really, no cultural context for understanding the cultures they got dropped into. Inner city ghettos, Cajun Bayous, and Appalachian hollers are a different world than white-bread East Coast suburbia. I think if you want to fix the disadvantaged areas of the country, you've got to reverse the brain-drain that's sucking the best and brightest people out of these communities. Decentralizing the economy would be a good first step.

wallflower 11y ago
The deeper problem with TFA is that by hiring TFA teachers they are literally ensuring 100% turnover in 2-3 years since TFA teachers do not usually stay past their 2-3 year assignment in their placement areas. There are a few who do stay, however, as a pure numbers game, it is not enough. Also, you can Google (or Bing) away for stories of how TFA teachers are given inadequate training and special-needs students (or worse, disruptive students) are put into their classrooms. Up the Down Staircase is a lightly fictionalized novel about teaching in the 1960s in a public school system. Bureaucracy, parents (or lack thereof), funding, burnout. Almost 60 years later, many of the same fundamental problems still exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Down_Staircase https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Down_Staircase