1) Why should you join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?
The MTC is a life-changing experience. You will come away from it feeling that you learned way more than you ever taught. It will challenge you in many ways. You will have a strong feeling of accomplishment after surviving the two year tour of duty. I refer to it as the Marine Corps of teaching. You will also bring some much needed diversity to a very challenged environment. Mississippi has a lot of well documented faults but it is also a great place to live. Mississippi has a richness to it that is often neglected in popular culture as it is dismissed as racist and backwards. It is truly a place to be appreciated in many ways. The idea of the small town with the old town square and friendly people acknowledging one-another with a polite greeting is a common scene. There is a wealth of musical and literary artistry and it is a photographer's dream. The Teacher Corps will give you exposure to a side of Americana that you may not be familiar with. Another reason to join is the kids. This year I can honestly say that I love my kids. They are angels. They are starving for knowledge. They need the information and experience that you can share badly. Once you are comfortable and can manage a room well and can deal with the unexpected, then the job really can be a very rewarding and fun one. Besides all of these reasons, it is a free masters, a job to save money and pay off loans, and a great network of educators and people . You should join if you are up to the challenge.
2) Why should you not join the Mississippi Teacher Corps?
You should not join if you are coming to educate the backwards, barefoot, and slow southerners. Don't come with the mindset that you KNOW everything and the way of things here are all wrong. The vestiges of slavery and segregation still have a presence in public education and reconciliation is a slow process but not all of Mississippi is backward, it is just bruised. You will learn from Mississippi as much or more than Mississippi will learn from you. I would not join Teacher Corps if you have thin skin. You are entering a very difficult teaching environment and it can be insane depending upon your school and administration. You must be prepared for battle. Your idealism will get you through the application process and summer school but reality will soon smack you in the face. Teaching children whose lives lack structure and who come from abuse and difficult circumstances can lead to them becoming abusers. If you are overly sensitive and cannot have an assertive presence than you need not apply. I wouldn't join as a resume booster either. Sure it pads the law school and med school application and looks good for providing a little more time for test prep, but I wouldn't use the program as your launching point. I would join only if you are interested in education in some way or maybe even public policy or sociology. This program provides a great look at the pro's and con's of public education and it will truly let you know if you want to be a teacher. There are easier paths to "finding yourself".
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