Anti-Ed Deform/TFA Message on Treme (from the creators of The Wire)

[Hannah Bell]

The most recent episode of Treme, David Simon's New Orleans-based follow-up to The Wire, includes a biting rap about TFA candidates displacing veteran teachers that will ring true or false depending on your perspective:

Four years at Radcliffe, that's all you know
A desire to do good and a four point oh
You're here to save us from our plight
You got the answer 'cause you're rich and white
On a two-year sojourn here to stay
Teach for America all the way
Got no idea what you're facin'
No clue just who you're displacin'
Old lady taught fathers, old lady taught sons
Old lady bought books for the little ones
Old lady put in 30 years
Sweat and toil, time and tears
Was that really your sad intention?
Help the state of Louisiana deny her pension


http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2011/05/tfa-displacing-veterans-a-scab-is-a-scab-is-a-scab.html

Loved The Wire, can't wait for Treme to make it to the cheap channel.

But here's a different POV:

Subject: Rap Blasts TFA on HBO's "Treme" Series
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 12:02:42 -0500
From: "Hill, Lance" tulane.edu

I don’t watch this series since in the first season it somehow managed to virtually ignore the school take-over and the infamous “greenspace” plan that proposed demolishing 80% of the black community (and was editorially supported by the local daily media). But a few friends who are fans dutifully report parts that they think would interest me and this excerpt did.

What I have found ironic is that, unlike the rap artist who allows that TFA teachers did not know that they were taking jobs from qualified veteran teachers, I talked to many TFA candidates before they enlisted and they understood exactly what the consequences of their actions were for teachers who were Katrina victims.

The TFA teachers’ intentions were both good and bad: good that they wanted to help; bad that they did not respect the rights of the black community and veteran teachers, nor respect the professional standards of teaching. Nonetheless, are we not morally responsible for both our intentions and for the unintended consequences of our well-intended behavior? It is important that we understand the rationalizations and psychic defense mechanisms that people use to fulfill their emotional needs and ambitions at the expense of another person.

http://bit.ly/jXMtyZ

[Starry Messenger]

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