Back in my Teach for America days I was fat with self-righteousness, certain that my life was one With Meaning because TFA told me so.  I was the chosen elite; smart enough, brave enough, good enough to save America’s education system!

Now, I don’t really mean to diss TFA.  It’s a great organization.  It means well and it gets results.  But it’s even better at marketing than education.  It convinces 22-year-olds, otherwise set to become Contiki tour guides, that they have a greater purpose.  I’m thankful for their influence.

But now that the un-glamorous glamor of working in America’s worst performing school district has long past, and I am a sell-out, rich-kid teacher at a private international school, I am more cynical.

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