Jackson Jambalaya

Question: Why is it that they come down from the North to TEACH these poverty children and after a very short time LEAVE TEACHING end up in other professions. I have been told by three people in the past few years that they could not take it anymore. That the kids were wild and uncontrollable. One nice young lady came down from somewhere up north (can't recall where) to teach in the Mississippi delta and she left after a month on the job. Her life was threatened many times in school while she was trying to teach. I met her while she was working at Books A Million to get enough money to return home. SAD,SAD, SAD.

In one of these fine Delta schools a friend of mine who was one of the Teach for America students was assaulted for attempting to confiscate the cell phone a kid was talking on in class. The kid received no significant punishment.

COFO reborn. Freedom Riders descend to save the day in the Delta. The enlightened youth from up north venture into the jungle to save the savages, slashing their way through the thick vines with machettes and plucking leaches from their arms while fending off gators. If they can only avoid the boiling pot and endure the mosquitos. The drum beat becomes louder, the heat thickens and sweat pours down the necks of the young saviours.

Just as with most difficult issues, the affected people must first acknowledge they have a problem. Then, they must WANT to be helped.........in my 45+ years in Mississippi, I have witnessed neither from that Delta "culture." Since the 60's, they have been ENCOURAGED to do as little as possible and let the government "take care" of them.

It's not going to get better; it's only going to get worse from here........by design.

Don't forget that after a "hard day of getting chewed up by 3rd graders", these young passionate yankees can always regroup at "hip new yogurt shop called Delta Dairy".

Typical of a NY paper. "Everything is so magical and wonderful and fulfilling going to teach these poor benighted people." Same class snobbery I've seen for years.

Conservatives should be happy about Teach For America. Totally explodes the Loome-Barksdale-Molpus thesis that teaching is some high priesthood that only a select few can do after they jump through their hoops.

Nobody is saying that teaching is a high priesthood, KF. A lot of us are saying that it takes more than 5 weeks of training to be prepared to teach students who need the strongest teachers we can give them.

"...must first acknowledge they have a problem. Then, they must WANT to be helped..."

Amen!

The whole state of Mississippi must acknowledge that "we" have a problem. If 50% of those kids received college degrees, they still would have to leave the delta because "we" chose not to industrialize a long time ago. There is nowhere to work in the delta if they wanted to. We need to stop playing games and drop some manufacturing jobs up there and cut the food stamps out. But I forgot, the MS Farmers will go crazy if we industrialize.

The problem with education is education majors. Most of their subject matter is watered down "math for education majors", English for education majors, etc. Majors should be in subject matter area with a semester course in teaching methods. Get rid of those who cannot make it in an academic environment who are looking for sundown and payday. Restrict the number of administrators to a minimum.

9:01; less than 25 years ago jobs were abundant in the delta. Industrial jobs, manufacturing jobs out the whazoo. Good paying jobs. They left. The labor force was horrificly disincented. Too much comfort to be had on 'Lyndon's Porch'. Your post is basically idiotic. People don't 'work for the farmers' in the Delta any more. You're about thirty five years behind the news on that one. 'Drop Some Jobs' in the Delta? Thousands have pulled up stakes there after failed efforts. Give Bennie T. a call. He can use your suggestions.

@9:02, you have no idea what you're talking about. First, there isn't a single education major. There are elementary and secondary majors, and different programs of study for each. Second, I'm not sure what you mean by watered down. There is a difference between learning math in order to become an engineer or scientist and learning math in order to teach it to children. It's right that teachers should learn the latter rather than the former.
I agree that many schools of education, particularly those in Mississippi, do a less than stellar job of preparing undergraduate majors to be world class teachers. However, there are world class undergraduate teacher preparation programs in our country in large, public universities as well as small private colleges. Claiming that the "education major" is broken is a simple and wrong solution to the problem.

I'm from Greenwood and have had long conversations with Teach-for-America types. First, we should be thankful that so many decent people are willing to make personal sacrifices to help kids growing up in crappy circumstances. Second, a lot of those people quickly become huge critics of the status quo educational system and big proponent of charter schools. That's a great thing. Third, frequent book stores (like Turnrow in Greenwood), restaurants and bars (Giardinia's, Luscos, etc.) which are struggling to survive the downfall of Viking Range and general Delta economic malaise. Overall, I'm glad their around. Makes life in the Delta better and more interesting.

The Teach for America's Delta program is based at Delta State in my hometown. They do, of course, contribute financially to Cleveland. I don't envy the job the TFA members are trying to do. But someone has to make the effort.
The Delta has had a "brain drain" for decades. It is a lot easier to leave and criticize where you came from than to "bloom where you're planted".

I can't even begin to imagine how anyone with any affinity for Mississippi and it's plight would think TFA or this article is a bad thing.

TFA in Greenwood and Leflore Co are doing a great job. So what if they teach for 2 or 3 yrs and move on? They are enthused, well-informed, motivated, and bring new ideas and new energy. And TFA builds on what they report and sends a new group. Many people can stand anything if it is not going to continue for 40 years of our life. The numerous political and nepotism problems in the delta more or less don't greatly affect their desire to do a good job while here. What I do find strange is one of our area legislators (D) who had a minor hissy-fit when excluded from the House Education Committee. She is a great supporter of TFA, yet used the 'problem' of permitting the hiring of a few non-education, non-career-teaching individuals in proposed charter schools as part of the scare campaign to impede passage of legislation to permit them. Wonder what the real problem is?

@3:55am. I don't even know how to respond to someone who says the delta was swarming with jobs 35 years ago. You have lost all credibility whoever you are. The delta has never swarmed with industrial jobs. Did Nissan leave, did Ford leave. Please enlighten the idiots like myself who believe that there has never been opportunity in the delta. That was slave territory, not industrialization. Just because you so a couple of warehouses don't mean that opportunity to work was there. If you don't go to college and leave the delta, you will not have opportunity in the delta, that's a fact. It has always been that way. I guess you think the people up there are genetically predisposed to sitting on a porch? The delta is a national problem. Its third world because we refuse to industrialize.