The Ongoing Sham of Teach for America: Part Two

Tania Kappner

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In this second of our two-part exploration of Teach for America, we'll explore TFA's larger goals and connection to corporate education reform. In doing so, we examine TFA's impact on professional teachers and their unions, and their hijacking of a social justice discourse in an effort to manufacture public acquiescence to the imposition of an agenda that ultimately seeks to further consolidate knowledge, wealth and power for a few at the expense of the many.

Karen Lewis

Diane Ravitch

We continue our conversations with many of the people we spoke with in Part One of our program - people who have researched and experienced Teach for America - including Barbara Veltri, Assistant Professor of Education at Northern Arizona State university, TFA corps member mentor, and author of Learning on Other People's Kids: Becoming a Teach for America Teacher; University of Illinois Chicago Professor of Asian American Studies and Education Kevin Kumashiro; Associate Professor of Education at the University of Alabama Philip Kovacs; and education historian Diane Ravitch. Two new voices we hear in this program are the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis; and high school teacher, union activist and civil rights activist with BAMN, Tania Kappner.

We also continue to hear the stories of two people who have had first-hand experience as TFA recruits and corps-members. Jameson Brewer, a traditionally certified teacher and now corps member in Atlanta who is currently finishing his second year. And, Neha Singhal, a former TFA recruit who left TFA after the training when she began to uncover its true agenda. Neha is also a guest host and producer of our TFA programming.