Teach For America Does Not Need New Recruits

To the editors:

At first glance, it seems that the numbers David M. DeBartolo ’03 cites in his recent op-ed about Teach for America (TFA) speak for themselves (“Teaching for America”, Feb. 10). There is a critical shortage of teachers, and TFA receives thousands of applications from eager, idealistic and well-qualified aspiring teachers. How can TFA turn away any one of these individuals?

Yet as a current Teach For America corps member, I increasingly see TFA’s rapid expansion as a liability, rather than a necessary response to the influx of applications. Adequately training hundreds of new and inexperienced teachers for a truly challenging experience is already an uncertain proposition, as well as a costly one. Teach for America takes this on each summer prior to sending corps members to their respective sites around the country. Maintaining quality as quantity increases is not only critical for the survival of TFA, but far more importantly, it is critical for the children in thousands of classrooms that will be led by TFA recruits.

Also, it is important to note that TFA does nothing to “inhibit” well-qualified individuals from making a difference in our public schools. In Baltimore, where I teach, there are other avenues, such as Project Site Support, for non-certified individuals to teach in the schools here. I sincerely hope that a rejection letter from Teach for America would not turn someone away from teaching altogether.

Sarah E. Reckhow ’02

Feb. 10, 2003