@skeptic I think that the TFA article is good in many parts, but avoids the ‘cultish’ aspect of the group. It is not necessarily concerned with diversity in teaching, but in unity of message. It is for this reason that project director’s at certain schools will yield undue strain on their students.

In the end TFA practices self-referentiality, getting those that buy into its (in my opinion twisted) message, and therefore finding individuals that think like them, act like them, speak like them.

The failure in is that it does as the article implies, create a unitary movement that is, unfortunately, not appropriate for everywhere.

I think the cure to education is not in TFA or something so nearsighted as such. It is perhaps either wholesale or in local places completely reconceptualizing the K-12 system, and probably most dramatically, it probably involves lengthening the school year or redefining the way in which students are passed on from grade to grade. That kind of big thinking, doesn’t exist when you have a group that buys into the present circumstances and instead believes the answer is monetizing the reward. Monetizing teaching will make good teachers, but will prolong bad teaching environments.