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TEXT II

Impact over income: a striking number of gen Zers are becoming teachers

Joseph Curatolo was studying architecture four years ago when he took a summer job, teaching music to middle school students. When he told them he might leave the program to focus on his studies, he said, they burst into tears.

“The fact that I had such an impact on these kids led me to reconsider my career,” said Curatolo, 22. He is now a seventh-and eighth-grade social studies teacher, based in New York City.

Amid a nationwide decline of teaching, Curatolo is not alone: a striking number of gen Z graduates are entering the classroom, despite longstanding concerns over pay and conditions.

Teach For America (TFA), a non-profit education organization, experienced a near 43% increase in its teaching fellows - which TFA refers to as corp members - over the past three years. A generation whose formative years were spent in isolation during the Covid-19 lockdown is “craving human connection and experiences that feel real’, suggested Whitney Petersmeyer, TFA's chief growth and program officer.

Gen Z is “responding to the opportunity for purpose and responsibility at a time where many entry jobs feel uncertain or disconnected from impact’, she added. During periods of economic uncertainty and turbulence, college graduates have been known to turn to industries fields with major shortages, like education.

This generation came of age “in a rapidly changing world,” Randi Weingarten, president of American Teachers Federation, said in a statement, “and that lived experience helps them relate to students in powerful ways.” New arrivals in the classroom are bringing a new perspective, according to Weingarten. “They're reimagining how we teach, bringing new approaches to technology and social-emotional learning.”

Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/janf02/gen-z-teachers-profession