To the Editor:
It is a sad, sad day when Brown trumpets an alliance with Teach for America. When public schools are most in need of dedicated teachers who are willing to make a lifetime commitment to educating our youth, Brown has decided that allying itself with an organization that demeans and humiliates the profession is, somehow, a positive thing.
This has to do, of course, with the education department's belief that policy is more important than practice. The difference, for those who may not know, is that policy has to do with laws, regulations and requirements that govern schools. Practice is actually about showing up every day and trying to educate young people. Teach for America promotes the notion that anyone can teach and doesn't have to take it seriously. If you are a Brown student, you can spend two, or maybe three, years in a classroom, helping those poor, unfortunate students — and then leave. Get on with your real life (hopefully making policy?) and ignore the daily rigors and challenges of classroom teaching.
As one who has spent 40 years in the teaching profession — 27 in public schools, 13 in teacher education — I can surely say that this is a misguided and corrupt notion of what actual classroom teaching is about. Improving the quality of teacher education — which Brown, for years, has been excellent at — is far more important than allying with the Band-Aid solution that Teach for America offers.
Would we ever consider Doctors for America or Nurses for America? I think not. But, of course, everyone thinks they know what teaching is about — particularly professors, who profess and research, but seldom, I fear, actually teach. It is a complex and challenging art and science — one that requires energy, intelligence and commitment, if you really hope to make a difference in young people's lives. It is not a two- or three-year excursion to expiate your suburban guilt.
Let me put it more simply. Tell me a story about a teacher who made a difference in your life.
My guess is you just thought of someone, probably a high school teacher, who took the time, had the compassion, the energy and the caring to notice you. Who listened. Who asked questions. Who genuinely cared about your future.
I'm not saying those people don't exist in Teach for America. But I will say that they are few and far between. Their statistics will tell you that 60 percent of their people stay in education. Not classrooms, education. How many of those 60 percent are recruiters for Teach for America? Or policy people? That has nothing to do with the daily grind of real teaching.
I read with sadness about this "alliance" — and, more so, because it is trumpeted as a good thing. It is a huge step in the wrong direction. When policy supersedes practice, the students, the children, are the losers. Make a commitment to really teaching our youth. Become a teacher, not a tourist, and make a real commitment to changing lives and joining a profession.
Bil Johnson
Former senior lecturer in the education department
