WPE Sample Topic 3
The sample reading passage below is followed by a writing prompt.
Reading Passage
Options Open, Top Graduates Line Up to Teach to the Poor
By Tamar Lewin, NY Times, 10/03/05
For a surprisingly large number of bright young people, Teach for America—which sends recent college graduates into poor rural and urban schools for two years for the same pay and benefits as other beginning teachers at those schools—has become the next step after graduation.
This year, Teach for America drew applications from 12 percent of Yale’s graduates, 11 percent of Dartmouth’s and 8 percent of Harvard’s and Princeton’s. The group also recruits for diversity, and this year got applications from 12 percent of the graduates of Spelman College, a historically black women’s college in Atlanta. All told, a record 17,350 recent college graduates applied to Teach for America this year. After a drop last year, applications were up nearly 30 percent. Teach for America accepted about a third of this year’s Ivy League applicants, and about a sixth of all applications.
Teaching doesn’t pay much. It isn’t glamorous. And the qualifications of most young people going into the field are less than impressive. A report by the National Council on Teacher Quality last year said the profession attracts “a disproportionately high number of candidates from the lower end of the distribution of academic ability.” But then there’s Teach for America, whose members typically have top academic credentials (the average G.P.A. is 3.5), experience with children, and determination to get results.
Teach for America grew out of a senior thesis by Wendy Kopp, a Princeton student, proposing a national teacher corps. Ms. Kopp quickly got seed money from Exxon Mobil, then, with a small staff, began a grass-roots recruitment campaign that yielded 500 fledgling teachers, who were placed in six regions in 1990. Teach for America has grown rapidly, with backing from corporate partners, philanthropists interested in education reform and Americorps, which provides the teachers with $9,450 after two years, to repay education loans or to pay for future schooling.
Teach for America officials see their recruiting success as a sign of the post-9/11 generation’s commitment to public service, and to improving the quality of education for low-income children.
Writing Prompt
For your essay, briefly summarize the NY Times article by Tamar Lewin. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of Teach for America and explain, in detail, whether you might be a candidate.