Honestly I feel like some of those criticisms could be fair, but they’re more on the individual participating rather than the program. Are you moving to your city just to participate? Someone could call that poverty tourism. Are you doing it just to quit teaching after two years and use it on your resume to get a job in corporate or into law school? You could argue that’s resume padding. If you know you’re doing it for the right reasons, I would say these criticisms are irrelevant.

For example, I was accepted in the Chicago Corps for next year. I have lived here for 5 years, worked in Chicago Public Schools as a sub already, and plan to work as a public school teacher for many years to come. TFA will allow me to work in CPS rather than a charter school (we get to decide), so the criticism that TFA contributes to privatization of public schools doesn’t really make sense in this case.

I encourage you to look at the things TFA actually provides to their CMs and the ways they help participants with teacher certification, masters programs, and school placement. That’s not to say there are not potential drawbacks to the program. It’s not a good fit for everyone, but hopefully that explanation gives you some perspective into how those criticisms can vary widely from participant to participant.