RSSTeach for America recruitment, applications increase on campus
By Elaine Hardenstine
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: News
He was incredibly bright. One of those kids whom the teacher could just tell had a lot of potential.
But, according to Tiffany Scheff, '08, the boy's teacher, he had behavior problems. One minute he could be on and focused, finishing up some math problems. The next minute he would be off, jumping up from his desk and talking.
One afternoon, Scheff pulled him aside and told him how intelligent and thoughtful she thought he was. He looked up at her in bewilderment, accustomed only to receiving reprimands.
"No one ever told him he was smart before," Scheff said. Her sadness with the statement could not hide the pride she felt knowing she was starting to nurture this child's confidence and natural gifts.
The boy went on to tell her he wanted to be a lawyer someday.
It's moments like this, when a student bonds with his teacher, and the teacher realizes she can make an impact on his life, that give purpose to Teach For America participants, a program that takes fresh college graduates, molds them into teachers and places them in some of the U.S.'s most unfortunate schools.
Founded in 1990, the now 20,000-strong organization seeks to minimize the academic achievement gap between the country's children by promoting educational equity. "Our vision is that one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education," TFA's online mission statement reads.
This message and hope for success has traditionally fallen flat at Lehigh. In 2007, when TFA recruited 2,892 teachers in the U.S., only seven came from the south Bethlehem campus, according to teachforamerica.org.
Lehigh ended the year with less than 1 percent of the graduating body enrolled in TFA.
That percentage pales when compared to universities like Yale, Georgetown and Harvard, where 11 percent, 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of the graduating classes applied to TFA in the 2007-2008 enrollment year, according to a May 2008 article in The New York Times.
But, according to Tiffany Scheff, '08, the boy's teacher, he had behavior problems. One minute he could be on and focused, finishing up some math problems. The next minute he would be off, jumping up from his desk and talking.
One afternoon, Scheff pulled him aside and told him how intelligent and thoughtful she thought he was. He looked up at her in bewilderment, accustomed only to receiving reprimands.
"No one ever told him he was smart before," Scheff said. Her sadness with the statement could not hide the pride she felt knowing she was starting to nurture this child's confidence and natural gifts.
The boy went on to tell her he wanted to be a lawyer someday.
It's moments like this, when a student bonds with his teacher, and the teacher realizes she can make an impact on his life, that give purpose to Teach For America participants, a program that takes fresh college graduates, molds them into teachers and places them in some of the U.S.'s most unfortunate schools.
Founded in 1990, the now 20,000-strong organization seeks to minimize the academic achievement gap between the country's children by promoting educational equity. "Our vision is that one day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education," TFA's online mission statement reads.
This message and hope for success has traditionally fallen flat at Lehigh. In 2007, when TFA recruited 2,892 teachers in the U.S., only seven came from the south Bethlehem campus, according to teachforamerica.org.
Lehigh ended the year with less than 1 percent of the graduating body enrolled in TFA.
That percentage pales when compared to universities like Yale, Georgetown and Harvard, where 11 percent, 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of the graduating classes applied to TFA in the 2007-2008 enrollment year, according to a May 2008 article in The New York Times.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Nancy Edelmann
posted 2/06/09 @ 6:15 PM EST
The young man, TR, who is highlighted in this article, sounds intelligent and caring and seems to truly represent the change that an organization like TFA can make. (Continued…)
WhyALawyer
posted 2/08/09 @ 1:36 AM EST
See this is why Math for America is much more useful than Teach for America. With Math for America, we're guiding kids along the way to become mathematicians and scientists, not white-collared parasites. (Continued…)
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