Professor Mark Naison: Has Teach for America Become A Scab Labor Agency?

Here is some insight from the protector of American Education, Professor Mark Naison. I assume the "Walton’s" he mentions below are the same Walton’s who own Wal-Mart.

Gregory

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Has Teach for America Become A Scab Labor Agency?

Has Teach for America become a scab labor agency? All over the country, school districts are contracting to bring in TFA corps members after firing veteran teachers through "school turnaround strategies" enthusiastically supported by the US Department of Education. This is happening right now in Montgomery Alabama and is about to happen in New York City if the NYC Department of Education can get away with it's plans to close 33 allegedly " failing schools." Since there is no longer a teacher shortage in the US it seems like the only way TFA can justify the funds it gets from Gates and Walton is encourage school districts to fire veteran teachers to make room for its corps members.

At a time when workers in the US need to relearn the concept of Solidarity to defend- and eventually improve- their living standards, this policy represents its antithesis. Young people considering joining TFA should think long and hard whether they want to take a job that has been created by firing someone else and Occupy groups and progressive faculty should consider whether TFA should be allowed to recruit on their campuses without being vigorously challenged on this dangerous new policy. And as for young progressives who are in, or were once in TFA, they might want to consider openly pressing the TFA leadership to change direction.

Teach for America and the Transformation of the US into a Low Wage Nation

Here is another piece written by Professor Mark Naison related to education in the United States. Do programs like "Teach for America" do more harm than good? I think he brings up some valid points.

Gregory
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More and more, Teach for America seems to be an instrument for union busting by local school districts. Here's the scenario: A local school district is having budget problems. They lay off, or fire veteran teachers, then bring in Teach for America to replace them. The school districts saves millions of dollars in labor costs, short run, and even more money in the long because of reduced pension costs. The students lose because teachers who devoted their lives to their profession, and live in the community, are replaced by sojourners trained for five weeks who rarely stay beyond their two year commitment. But the community also loses because a sector of the local labor force which has decent pay and benefits is destroyed, thereby making it easier for employers in the private sector to keep wages low. Make no mistake about it, union busting, though it may reduce the tax burden on residents of municipalities and states, accelerates the transition of the United States as a low wage nation ruled by a wealthy elite of CEO's and managers. Teach for America, by actively accelerating this transition, is doing deadly damage to the young people it is trying to help by insuring they graduate into a labor force where work opportunities, for all but a small minority, are low paying and insecure. Those young people who seek to become part of this once admirable organization need to very carefully examine what its role in the United States social and economic system is TODAY.