A year and a half short of graduation, and I really don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I find that this is the answer most of my friends, and I, give when it comes to figuring out what in the world we are going to do once May 2004 rolls around. The job market is horrible, but can I really stand the thought of jumping into graduate school after being in school every year for the last 19 years? It is this attitude and somewhat negative outlook that drove me to research some other possibilities.

One of the best alternatives I have found is a program called Teach for America (TFA), part of AmeriCorps. I first heard about TFA in high school, and I was immediately interested. Teaching had always been of interest to me, but I didn't think it was something I could do my whole life. That is why I find TFA so appealing - I would teach for two or three years and then move on to something else. Teachers are paid beginning teachers salaries and are placed in one of 18 cities around the country. Sounds amazing to me!

Non-Web Sources

Two Print Sources:

Brodie, Julie Pier. Making a difference : lessons from Teach for America classrooms.
Mountain View, CA : Creative Publications, 1997. Available in Davis Library:
LB1776.2 .M35 1997.

Kopp, Wendy. One Day, All Children…. New York: Public Affairs, 2001. Available in
Davis Library:LB1776.2K67 2001.

One non-paper source from the UNC libraries:
Dangerous Minds. VHS, 99 minutes. Hollywood Pictures Presentation of a Don
Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer production, Hollywood, 1995.
**Based on the true story of former Marine LouAnne Johnson. Dangerous Minds is Johnson's account of the education crisis in America, and her effort to make a difference in norhern California.

Lexis Nexis:

Austin, Charles. "'The Rookie': Colleges' Brightest Recruited for Classrooms." The Record, Local News All Editions, 24 Oct. 2002, L01. Available Lexis Nexis Academic. [2 Feb. 2003].

Bowler, Mike. "Teach for America Corps is Overcoming Resistance; Change: A
Program that Brings Enthusiastic and Gifted College Graduates to Needy Schools is Winning Over the Education Establishment." The Baltimore Sun, Local Final Edition, 1 Sept. 2002, Education Beat, 2B. E-journal on-line. Available from Lexis Nexis Academic. [2 Feb. 2003].

Nelson, Melissa. "Teach for America Volunteers Making a Difference in Academically Distressed Schools in the Mississippi Delta." Associated Press Newswire (28 Jan. 2003). E-journal on-line. Available from Lexis Nexis Academic. [2 Feb. 2003].

top of page

Web Sources

Title of Web Page: Teach or America
Web Address: http://www.teachforamerica.org
Description: This site gives just about all the information anyone would need to know
about TFA. It details all the cities TFA corps members teach in as well as the lifestyle in those cities, the racial breakdown of the schools, annual income of a first-year teacher and much more. This website also gives past corps members to tell about their experience and give guidance and tips to new members.
Source of Web site: Teach for America

Title of Web Page: Inner City School teacher Blues
Web Address: http://www.rjgeib.com/biography/inner-city-blues/innerblu.html
Description: A first hand account of a teacher who taught in L.A. for a number of years.
It details the difficulties he faced and how she got through them. He describes the multiple times she feared her life and her other students. He makes teaching in the inner-cities of L.A. not all that appealing but, then again, he said it was the best career move he ever made.
Source of Web site: Rich Geib

Title of Web Page: Education Policy Analysis Archives: The Effectiveness of "Teach for
America" and Other Under-certified Teachers on Student Academic Achievement: A Case of Harmful Public Policy
Web Address: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n37/
Description: This site gives a very interesting look at the TFA program by comparing \ unqualified teachers to qualified teachers and their results through children's
test scores. The evidence shows that teachers from the TFA do not deliver the same results as qualified, certified teachers. It implies that maybe TFA is not as good as it is built up to be.
Source of Web site: Arizona State University

Title of Web Page: Education Next: Teach for America
Web Address: http://www.educationnext.org/20021/62.pdf
Description: This web site gives a broad overview of the TFA program as well as
compares the TFA recruits to more experienced teachers. Unlike the previous web site, this one does not find solid results saying TFA recruits deliver worse results than more experienced teachers. Instead, it showed that in many ways TFA recruits did just as well as their more experienced counterparts. There was some evidence that TFA teachers were less qualified, but that was also when those teachers were linked with other teachers who used as alternative-certification system like TFA but not TFA.
Source of Web site: Paper was published by the Hoover Institution

Title of Web Page: Learning to Teach For America College Grads Help Underprivileged
Children Get a Quality Education
Web Address: http://www.dailynexus.com/feature/2002/2732.html
Description: This website outlines different people's lives who have participated in TFA.
It shows what they wanted to do before they even considered doing the program, and it also details what they are doing now that they have been through TFA. It is a very uplifting sight as the information comes from the recruits themselves.
Source of Web site: UC Santa Barbara's Student Newspaper

top of page 

And now the Mini-Essay

The On-line Pharmacy

In recent years the Internet has taken this nation by storm. One can find anything they desire within a matter of minutes and a few clicks of a button. Sure, this seems amazing during a debate over Mark Grace's batting average in the early '90s or when ordering Christmas presents from your own living room, but what else can be found online?

Prescription drugs have become easier and easier for people to get their hands on by way of the Internet. It may seem like a convenience to some who have been prescribed such medication, but it can be deadly to others (1). The Internet has given people an outlet to be prescribed potentially deadly drugs without ever seeing a doctor.

Last week Dr. Jon Steven Opsahl had his license revoked because he wrongfully prescribed drugs on line to patients he had never met. He was the first physician in California for this to happen to (2). Both in response to this and many other events that have taken place around the country in the past, many doctors are angered that such little concern could be given to patient's health.

"Good medical practice tells you that a patient should not be getting a prescription without having had a physical exam, and that's the bottom line," said Ruth Martinez, supervisor of the Minnesota board's complaint review unit, in a Star Tribune article Oct. 2, 2002 (3).

But receiving medication without physically seeing a doctor is not necessarily illegal, yet. The internet has exposed a flaw in The Medicines Act of 1968 that says medicines can only be prescribed by a pharmacy after a patient has consulted a doctor. But the act does not require a face-to-face visit, simply a consultation (1).

Dr. Julian Eden, founder of e-med, defended his practice by saying that patients are more apt to tell the truth online because there is always a record of their statements (1). But other doctors see the Internet as a much easier medium to lie through.

A girl weighing 140 lbs. and standing 5 feet 5 inches tall may consider herself obese, but no doctor would ever say that is he saw her. What is to make this girl tell the truth in an online questionnaire? The difference between 140 lbs. and 240 lbs. is simply one button to the right.

In conclusion, the Internet is a scary but extremely helpful tool. Having so much information at one's fingertips is no doubt a priceless information resource. But at what point does that resource go too far and make it too easy for people to get whatever they want?

top of page 

Notes:

(1). Edwards, David. "Drugs Online; No Consultation. No Prescription. All You Need is
a Credit Card, Then a Lethal Dose of Medication is Just One Click Away." The
Mirror, Mens Health, 5 Sept. 2002, 29-31. Available online from
<http://web.lexis-
nexis.com/universe/docu...zV&_md5=7c98ba273186e24f93f2930e672d25854>.
[2 Feb. 2003].

(2). Siegel, Robert. "James Thompson Discusses Cracking Down on Internet Drug
Prescriptions." National Public Radio Broadcast (24 Jan. 2003) All Things
Considered 8 p.m. Available on-line from <http://web.lexis-
nexis.com/universe/docu...zV&_md5=8f8adcc78439483421acba07a6951064>.

(3). Lerner, Maura. "Board Disciplines Burnsville Specialist; A Burnsville Doctor
Prescribed Drugs Through Internet Firm to Patients He Never Examined." Star
Tribune, News, 2 Oct. 2002, 3B. Available on-line from <http://web.lexis-
nexis.com/universe/docu...zV&_md5=140420a0941e964ea2d2e818f372ef3d>. [2
Feb. 2003].

For More Information:

Title of Web Page: The Thin Line Between Legal and Illegal Drugs
Web Address: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/26/1040511131515.html
Description: This site discusses how common drugs are today in out society but not
necessarily cocaine or heroine as were more common in the past. Today, a huge phenomenon has arisen about legal prescription drugs such as Vicodin, Percodan and Valium to name a few. When these drugs get into the hands of the wrong people, major problems can happen - just ask Winona Ryder!
Source of Web Page: The Age Company Ltd.

Title of Web Page: Internet Offers Easy, Illegal Access to Pharmaceutical Drugs
Web Address: http://www.heartland.org/archives/health/apr02/illegal.htm
Description: This site tells how truly easy it is for just about anyone with a credit card to
get drugs on-line. It says that when buying prescription drugs on-line, no prescriptions are required, but, then again, one never knows what he is actually getting.
Source of Web Page: Health Care News

Title of Web Page: Planet Pill Store: The Next Generation online Pharmacy
Web Address: http://www.planetpillstore.com
Description: An actual website where one can purchase anything from weight-loss pills,
to skin-care remedies to pain relievers. They have it all, and it is so easy, too!! But pretty scary if you ask me.
Source of Web Page: Planet Pill Store