The Choice Channel

“Seventeen years after its inception, Teach for America has become the gold standard of public service, proof that teaching in public schools can be prestigious, even glamorous. Teach for America seeks to rebrand public service more than four decades after the first group of college graduates rose up to meet John F. Kennedy’s challenge to serve their country via the Peace Corps. But earnest as it is, T.F.A. is also shameless in its blue-chip ambitions. Its recruiters stand alongside Goldman Sachs at college job fairs, and its recruits — class presidents, varsity athletes, all with soaring G.P.A.’s — are part of a community marked by a unique blend of swagger and idealism. (’We look for the same things McKinsey consulting does,’ Matt Kramer, T.F.A.’s president, recently told me). In 2006 alone, as many as 10 percent of seniors at schools like Yale and Harvard applied to be part of the program. Across the country, 3,750 of 18,000 applicants made the cut, just a bit over 20 percent. Doing good has rarely been this hip — or this competitive.” (09/30/07)