Wall Street-weary seniors flock to public teaching

By Jennifer Supernaw

Many seniors have spent the last several weeks interviewing for positions in corporate banking and management consulting. For those wanting to plunge into public service, however, the nationwide Teach for America (TFA) program is an alternative.

TFA, started by a Princeton senior in 1989, employs thousands of recent college grads to teach in urban and rural schools facing desperate teacher shortages. Yalies involved said that it is demanding but worth the effort. "At first it was a real struggle and I was very unhappy, but there were days when I touched the life of a child, and I knew I had made the right decision," Janna Wagner, JE '95, said.

TFA was created when Wendy Kopp, a Princeton grad, wrote her senior essay on the need to provide more teachers for poor schools. Kopp suggested the creation of a national teaching corps modeled on the Peace Corps and began mailing copies of her proposal to major corporations. Mobil Oil Corporation offered $26,000 to put the plan into action, and Teach for America was born.

Recruits need only a B.A. or a B.S. to teach, but they can become fully accredited teachers while fulfilling their two-year commitment to the program. Approximately 500 new teachers join the program each year. According to Danny Morris, SY '90, a regional recruiter for TFA, Yale is one of the largest contributors, providing about 13 new teachers per year.

Morris said that although TFA accepts teachers for all subjects, those with degrees in math, science, and foreign languages are in especially high demand. It is harder to attract teachers to rural areas than to inner cities. Although TFA provides training for its recruits, Naomi Goguts, SY '95, an English teacher in Mississippi said,"You have to learn through experience."

Nancy Balter, TC '94, who teaches math and science with the program, runs workshops to help new teachers through the transition."The camraderie among TFA teachers is probably better than with any other program,"she said.

TFA teachers said that they have a significant impact on the lives of their students. "TFA is able to attract some of the most caring and concerned people around. I've seen some amazing things--teachers coming in early and staying after school to help students. TFA teachers go far beyond what is expected of them," Balter said.

Not all TFA veterans become career educators. According to Morris, "One of the greatest strengths of Teach for America is that it creates lifelong advocates of education, whether they work in the fields of teaching, public policy, medicine, or law."

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