A letter signed by 163 people as of 4:30 PM Saturday, most of whom are current faculty members at the University of Minnesota, strongly opposes the proposed partnership between the university and Teach for America.
“We are surprised that the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) would consider partnering with TFA, given the lack of support on the part of Curriculum and Instruction faculty and many others in CEHD, its decreasing support from the State Board of Education (who denied providing the organization its 45 temporary teaching licenses), and the numerous teacher education scholars who denounce TFA,” the letter opens.
Authors accuse the university of putting business interests and profit motives ahead of what they believe should be the college’s goal of preparing teachers for the workforce.
“We believe that this partnership offers unearned legitimacy to a significantly flawed and powerful force in education, one which sends underprepared teachers into communities of students already often marginalized by the education system,” the letter continues.
Among the points explained in the letter are
- TFA contributes to school inequity more than resisting it.
- TFA is not accessible to teachers of color and teachers from working class backgrounds.
- TFA contributes to creating more exploitative and precarious working conditions for teachers, often displacing career educators and decreasing job opportunities for new college graduates in education.
