Op-Ed Response

January 23, 2008

A few days ago I read an op-ed in the New York Times by RPCV and former country director Robert Strauss. Mr. Strauss was praising the Peace Corps new initiative to increase the number of volunteers over the age of 50. There was much about the article that I liked, but there was also a lot that I disagreed with, and so I wrote the following response.

I am a current Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English in Kazakstan and am writing in response to the recent piece by Robert Straus on the current Peace Corps initiative to raise the number of Volunteers 50 years old and over. I would just like to say that while Mr. Straus makes an excellent point about the need for volunteers with extensive life and work experience, but he is greatly mistaken in regards to his remarks about younger volunteers. I am one of the “recently minted” volunteers that Mr. Strauss spoke of so derisively, and while I have only been in country a few months and thus cannot speak for my own impact, I have already seen ample evidence of the difference that past volunteers in my area, all under the age of 30 at their time of service, have made in my area. Mr. Straus is correct that there are many university trained English teachers in Kazakstan, but these teachers usually lack something that is much more fundamental than a university diploma, fluency. The value of a native English speaker in the classroom cannot be underestimated, especially considering that there are many university trained English Teachers that teach almost totally in Kazak or Russian and can barely speak English themselves. To be sure, if a country like Cameroon stops asking for English teachers, by all means, stop sending them. However, when a country still wants and needs qualified English teachers, why not send energetic, enthusiastic young people? Especially given the fact that with all of the extra-curricular activities demanded by graduate schools and programs today, few university students graduate with absolutely no teaching experience.

As for assessment, while it may not be scientific, a person can see the difference that the volunteers have made just by walking down the street. Every English teacher that I have met who has had the opportunity to work with a Peace Corps Volunteer speaks phenomenally better English than one who has not worked with one, unless of course they studied in England or America. Mr. Straus should remember that a volunteer often makes the biggest impact not with working with students necessarily, but with working with teachers. By practicing English and building friendships with their host country counterparts, volunteers have a chance to truly make a sustainable difference in their community. The volunteer only has the opportunity to reach students over a two year period, but the teachers they work with will continue to use their improved English to help students become skilled in the language years after the volunteer has returned to America. A person does not need an advanced degree or work experience to make such a difference, all they need is a lot of energy and an eagerness to help and to get to know another culture and community. These are traits that younger volunteers have in spades and can give them an edge over older or more experienced volunteers who are more set in their ways and worldview. I do not say this to detract from the value that older volunteers bring to the Peace Corps, and as I said earlier, the current Peace Corps initiative is laudable. But rather than replacing younger volunteers with older ones, why not just increase the numbers of both types of volunteers? After all, if the Peace Corps is going to achieve its mission and Kennedy’s dream, it needs the skills of both groups, not just one or the other.