Teach for America is a non-profit organization that gives recent college graduates, chosen through a highly selective process, the opportunity to teach underprivileged schoolchildren. The idea is a simple one: Young, inspiring and accomplished participants can give their students the education necessary to enrich their community, with an additional effect being overcoming poverty. The idea, however, ignores the reality that students need more than effective teachers to overcome poverty; students need opportunities that will allow them to thrive in today’s economy.
While TFA does not explicitly say that its program, or education, in general is the key that will bring an end to poverty, the implication is there. TFA’s website states “We can provide an excellent education for kids in low-income communities.” But what will this education do for those kids? Many would say that an excellent education “levels the playing the field” for people from low-income backgrounds, but our blind faith in education obscures the need for a democratic economy.
Still, the American psyche buys into TFA’s specious premise. Americans believe that with intelligence, a good attitude and shrewdness, a young person can succeed. TFA likes to think that it can instill these qualities into all students. To sell this point to potential applicants, TFA has covered our campus with neon posters proclaiming that every child deserve a good education. I agree. It’s just that I don’t believe you can lift children out of poverty by simply giving them a good education.
The problem is that our economy is so fractured that a good education, once used to achieve social mobility, is no longer enough to undo socioeconomic inequalities. Furthermore, incompetent teachers, out-of-date textbooks and packed classrooms do not cause poverty; they are the symptoms of it. Joblessness and the lack of a living wage are the real causes of poverty.
However, to inspire students to overcome poverty, TFA wants its teachers to serve as role models to disadvantaged students, which is fine. But what about the parents, the people who should serve as role models to these students? Who are better role models than parents who work hard and are able to provide for their children? In an economic system that rewards outsourcing jobs and cutting wages, that kind of role model is becoming harder to find.
It still stands to reason that workers need an education to obtain a job. This is both true and untrue. Americans need to learn necessary skills to find gainful employment, but I’m not sure that TFA provides students with these necessary skills. TFA participants are college graduates who work in these schools expecting that they are helping to create more college graduates. However, many students are better suited to go onto technical or vocational schools than four-year universities. Schools need teachers that can provide both a classical education and a practical education. Perhaps TFA teachers aren’t up to that task because their background tends to be in the liberal arts or advanced sciences.
Also, while most employers desire well-educated employees, a good education does not guarantee a job. Look at all of the unemployed college graduates. That’s why the government needs to invest in creating quality jobs in addition to creating quality educational opportunities. Otherwise, we’ll just have a country full of very well-read poor people.
Granted, I wouldn’t be writing for a college newspaper or even be in college if it wasn’t for some committed, inspiring teachers, and many TFA participants probably have the makings of excellent teachers. I just want TFA to acknowledge that teachers alone can’t address inequality because ending poverty does not begin and end in the classroom. Otherwise, TFA will serve as a smoke screen to the need for real economic reform.
Jeff Schultz ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history.