ONION: Point-Counterpoint Teach for America temp teachers for poor kids

[yurbud]

Last edited Tue Jul 17, 2012, 07:15 PM - Edit history (1)

I hadn't thought of it this way before, but it sure as hell is true.

Would you want to go to a lawyer or doctor or mechanic who was just "trying it out" for a year or two before going on to their real career as a teacher?

Then why give kids to teachers who are just doing it on a lark?

Point

[font size=5]My Year Volunteering As A Teacher Helped Educate A New Generation Of Underprivileged Kids[/font]
BY MEGAN RICHMOND, VOLUNTEER TEACHER

When I graduated college last year, I was certain I wanted to make a real difference in the world. After 17 years of education, I felt an obligation to share my knowledge and skills with those who needed it most.

After this past year, I believe I did just that. Working as a volunteer teacher helped me reach out to a new generation of underprivileged children in dire need of real guidance and care. Most of these kids had been abandoned by the system and, in some cases, even by their families, making me the only person who could really lead them through the turmoil...

___________________________________

Counterpoint

[font size=5]Can We Please, Just Once, Have A Real Teacher?[/font]
BY BRANDON MENDEZ, JAMES MILLER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT

You've got to be kidding me. How does this keep happening? I realize that as a fourth-grader I probably don't have the best handle on the financial situation of my school district, but dealing with a new fresh-faced college graduate who doesn't know what he or she is doing year after year is growing just a little bit tiresome. Seriously, can we get an actual teacher in here sometime in the next decade, please? That would be terrific.

Just once, it would be nice to walk into a classroom and see a teacher who has a real, honest-to-God degree in education and not a twentysomething English graduate trying to bolster a middling GPA and a sparse law school application. I don't think it's too much to ask for a qualified educator who has experience standing up in front of a classroom and isn't desperately trying to prove to herself that she's a good person...

http://www.theonion.com/articles/my-year-volunteering-as-a-teacher-helped-educate-a,28803/

[DJ13]

1. Why do I get an "authentication required" popup when I open this post?

It says something about "Enter username and password for http://smoove.theonion.com"

[yurbud]

2. I tried to put the pics from the article in, but since they did't show up and were causing that...

I removed them.

It should work now.

[DJ13]

3. Yep, that was it, thanks

[ladym55]

4. I just sent the Onion link to my son

He IS a teacher and has been subbing for more than a year. Yeah, and we keep sending volunteers into the classroom and not hiring all the qualified teachers who really want to be in the classroom.

The Onion hit this one out of the park!

[yurbud]

5. my wife is a special ed teacher who works around the clock during the school year.

[ladym55]

7. And she deserves a round of applause

When I read what you have posted, I think of all the stupid and annoying things said about educators ... none of them true.

Your wife is touching lives and making a difference, and too often she won't know personally exactly what good she has done. The results are seen much later.

My two children are adults now, but I see all the ways their different teachers touched their lives.

[yurbud]

9. thanks for the kind words

[LuckyLib]

6. One friend of mine calls it the "resume padder" for graduates of small

liberal arts colleges, unable to find a job, who are gearing up for an application to law school or biz school.

There are plenty of qualified, prepared teachers out there looking for jobs. In some fields, there are no openings, as the economy has kept many teachers from retiringh. Some districts hire TFA teachers "on the cheap". These "instant teacher" programs are an insult to the profession, the research that supports well-prepared teachers, and teachers themselves. Not to mention children. Any warm body will do, you know.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. My Dad and his siblings went to a private school where all the teachers were trainees

And still in school. It was considered the best school in the area and my grandmother, a teacher herself, chose to send her kids there.