Thinking About Possible TFA Negatives

I guess I never really thought about the negative sides of Teach for America until class on Thursday.  I figured since they want to help the schools of America, they must be great.  After all, two of my friends are serving their second year of TFA this school year.  The only negative I heard was from one of those friends, she said the TFA group in her district wasn’t very organized or helpful.  I figured since her issues mostly dealt with the individuals and not TFA as a whole, it must just be a situational issue. Those kinds of issues are to be expecting among any organization though.  What about other issues though? What about issues that span nationwide?

This article published in The Washington Post back in February this year and touches on some negative views people have about Teach for America.  The one that really bothered me was when she mentions how corps members are taking teaching positions which otherwise could have been filled by long term substitute teachers in the districts. This isn’t necessarily horrible, but the districts are also putting in extra hours to help guide the TFA teacher during their time at the school only to, most likely, have the TFA teacher leave once their two year commitment is up.  Then they start the entire process over again.  I don’t think Teach for America is for me, but I am concerned about possible damage that the organization may, unknowingly, cause our school system.