Jobs and liberal arts graduates: Some critical relationships

Toombs, William; Thomas, Kathie

doi:10.1007/bf00991380

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…specifically, it may have been a sign of the sluggish economy and "white collar woes" faced by 1990 college graduates, which made it hard to enter a number of desirable fields (Alpert, 1990;Bernstein, 2003). More generally, it could indicate the uncertainty of liberal arts graduates in this period about how to connect their studies to the practical world of employment, since the liberal arts tradition emphasizes intellectual development through exploration, not occupational training (Toombs & Thomas, 1976). Or it may suggest a common developmental stage through which young people pass, in which they struggle to define their adult identities, establish their independence, affiliate with likeminded peers, and find meaning in life (erikson, 1968).…”

Section: Shortcut To Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reframing the Conversation: Insights from the Oral Histories of Three 1990 TFA Participants

Rogers

Blumenreich

2013

Teachers College Record

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Background/ContextResearchers have examined the challenges of staffing urban, underserved classrooms primarily through large-scale data sets; policymakers have responded with strategies intended to recruit more or “better” teachers into the classroom through programs such as the popular Teach for America. Yet there is little qualitative evidence regarding the experiences of such teachers, which could enhance existing understandings of such challenges and current attempts to solve them.PurposeThis research examines the professional choices and trajectories of Teach for America participants over a 20-year period, attending especially to individuals’ perceptions of their urban teaching experiences, their beliefs, and their reasons for staying in or leaving the urban classroom, with the aim of better understanding the experiences of such teachers and the implications for staffing urban schools.Participants/SubjectsResearch subjects included thirty participants from the inaugural cohort of Teach for America (1990–1992); this article focuses on the life stories of three such individuals.Research DesignThis study draws on oral histories conducted with 30 individuals who participated in the first cohort (1990–1992) of Teach for America. It analyzes their stories within the context of scholarly literature on teachers and teacher policy, urban teaching, and the historical period of the late 1980s and early 1990s.Conclusions/RecommendationsThis study suggests the nature of the contributions that nuanced, qualitative methodologies such as oral history can make. We found that, despite their initial differences from traditional-entry teachers, TFA participants’ reasons for staying in or leaving the urban classroom looked very similar to those of observed among the population of urban teachers at large. Our data thus raises a question of focus: is attending to the conditions under which all urban teachers work perhaps just as important as attracting new or purportedly better candidates into urban teaching?

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Section: Shortcut To Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%