Thursday, January 29, 2009

Children are vectors of disease

I do have more to write about Prague and Rotterdam, I swear, but I just had to post about my rejection from the NYC Teaching Fellows program because I love to ruminate on my various rejections from society's institutions.

The rate of acceptance to this program is 10%, and I also imagine they've had more applicants than usual this year since so many people have lost their jobs. Add to that the fact that there are huge budget cuts pending, and a teacher surplus in NYC, and one's odds of acceptance narrow significantly.

Let's not also forget the short-sightedness and monumental bad judgment of the Board of Ed. There's that, too. There was an article in Sunday's Education Section of the Times about immigrant students with interrupted formal education and how the Board is struggling to assist them. And here I am, a multi-lingual applicant with international teaching experience in the developing world, not admitted to the program. Interesting.

Good luck closing that achievement gap, New York!

4 comments:

P.L. Kerpius said...

Shitty, shit shit shit, A. This is disappointing news. Here are some cliche pick-me-up phrases to distract you:

"Hang in There!"

"Keep on Keeping on!"

"Chin up!"

Hm. That's all I can think of at the moment. (Being still employed at an office myself, surely I can scrounge a few up by end of day ("EOD," as they call it).

Maybe you should start your own school, or tutoring sessions at the very least. We know you're qualified for it!

Andrea Janes said...

I *so* want to start my own private school for girls. We'd have classes in sleuthing and high tea. Sigh.

Andrea Janes said...

P.S. Onward and upward

P.L. Kerpius said...

Did you just say sleuthing and high tea? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!