This next week we will be doing similes in class (on Friday), so I’ve been trying to hone my similic skills.
Teach for America is like being whipped by a significant other you’re probably not gonna marry. Everyone comes to TFA expecting (some demanding) it to only be a two year commitment. They have no expectation of staying longer than four years at the most. Some have little commitment to the job (they usually quit), and some have a huge commitment to the job. Regardless, all have a huge commitment to the idea that “One day, all children will be able to attain an excellent education.” (Key to the TFA marketing campaign.) Some of them may stay their whole lives. Some may change their life track for TFA, but who knows. We all come in to this with the expectation of staying two years. But for every second we’re in TFA we are at odds. Much of the school system is overly critical of TFA, and we as new teachers feel the need to appease their veteran experience. But we still hold on to the vestiges of the TFA dream. You put in all the energy, all the time, all the effort, you end up with a really great story, and all, but man it was a serious love/hate thing going on for a long long long long time. A long long long long time. Serious love/hate. Serious. And I mean sure, you’re not gonna give up on it, or anything, and you might even think you could overcome for the rest of your life. But then you realize every night when you go to bed you’re keeping a mental countdown of the days left until you finally get out of this relationship, and that’s when you realize you’ve been whipped by the man. Whipped in a great way, but whipped nonetheless.
Going through TFA is like getting whipped, and asking for it.
The Current 
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July 13, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Ryan
I knew it was only a matter of time before you resorted to S&M references.
July 14, 2008 at 4:26 am
kdrotar
I think the reason that they make it a 2 year committment is because that seems manageable. If you go back to my August 2007 in my blog I posted that “I can’t imagine staying beyond my 2 year committment.” Now that I am done with my first year of teaching I am planning to stay in my school for at least a 3rd year and planning to stay a teacher in the city of St. Louis indefinately.
I am not a quitter. I’ve never quit anything in my entire life (besides Girl Scouts, but I was in 9th grade and I had been in it for 9 years). When I sign up to do something, I stick to it. This is the personality type that TFA looks for. If they expected you to sign up and be a teacher and didn’t have an end date, people might not be able to stomach the idea of staying a teacher forever in August of their first year. Two years is manageable.