David Kanter | In teaching, experience matters

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last two weeks, you've probably seen the Teach for America advertisements around campus.

TFA is certainly doing a good job getting its message out, and it's paying dividends: 27 College graduates from the class of 2007 reported to Career Services that they signed on with the program, making it the College's top employer. And the class of 2008 contributed more teachers to TFA than all but five similarly sized schools.

On a campus where coveted financial sector jobs reign supreme, we should celebrate the fact that many of our classmates are choosing to serve others rather than cash their diplomas in for big bonuses and cubicles.

But as much as I applaud TFA and those who choose to enter its ranks, overcoming educational inequality requires teachers committed for the long haul rather than two-year stints.

Now before you skewer me for being too hard on those current and former TFA teachers who've made a big sacrifice and commitment, hear me out.

Having more teachers in this nation's low-income school districts - whether for two- or 20-year stints-can only be a good thing.

We should commend individual TFA teachers, like 2008 College grad Jessica Deimel. While volunteering for an after-school arts program during her time at Penn, she was bothered by the lack of opportunity the children had.

Finding a few minutes to chat amid a hectic week of lesson planning and grading, which demands her attention for hours long after the final bell of the day rings, Jessica described the reality of teaching in a low-income Philadelphia middle school: "It's really hard."

Even if Jessica and other TFA participants decide to teach only for two years and then pursue other opportunities, they still deserve praise for their period of service. They could've simply not taught at all.

I take issue, however, with the organizational means by which TFA believes it can conquer educational inequality.

Lorraine Anderson, TFA's director of Recruitment Communications, explained this strategy to me.

"Our long term goal is that we won't be necessary. The whole second prong of the Teach for America system is creating the next generation of leaders."

This "second prong" argument goes something like this: Even if TFA teachers don't continue to teach after their two-year commitments are up, when they advance in law, government, business and other fields, they're going to bring their TFA experience with them. In turn, these leaders will fundamentally change educational policy on a large scale.

If you ask me, this argument sounds like a lot of PR mumbo-jumbo. TFA might be a good short-term solution to address teacher shortages in this country's most underfunded districts, but I don't buy this whole "second prong," permanent solution to educational inequality.

Why does a congressman or a business leader need experience as a TFA teacher to know that public education in this country is broken? There are enlightened pols and businessmen out there who can see that already and are crusading for change. If a couple of TFA alumni join their ranks in the coming years, I'm not optimistic that we'll see watershed change.

The real, probably impractical solution would be to pay teachers more in order to attract and retain them for the long haul. A teacher with 10 years of experience under her belt can almost always make more of an impact than a new teacher. But in low-income school districts, wages attractive to college grads probably aren't going to appear any time soon, no matter how many TFA alumni become "leaders" in our society.

In many ways then, the short commitment required of TFA participants is emblematic of our culture at-large. Many of my parents' friends are educated professionals who are now retiring but looking to do public service in a "non-profit."

This parallels in many ways our generation's willingness to do the opposite: a short stint in public service first, followed by a private sector career.

It seems most of us, no matter the generation, at least want to give a little but then make sure we take a lot.

Maybe someday it'll be the norm to give as much as we take.

David Kanter is a College sophomore from East Falmouth, Mass. His e-mail is kanter@dailypennsylvanian.com. David vs. Goliath appears on Wednesdays.

To see former blogger Dan Brickley's series on Teach for America for The Spin, click here.

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