What happens to the first job when AI can increasingly do the work we used to give to people just starting out?
I’ve been thinking a lot about what that means for Gen Z. As entry level, white collar jobs get squeezed, people are also telling us they want work that gives them something technology can’t — purpose, responsibility, and a chance to become good at something. That made me curious about teaching — and service more broadly — as a first job in the AI era.
I recently sat down with Aneesh Sohoni, CEO of Teach For America and a TFA alum himself. We talked about why TFA tends to see more interest when the traditional job market gets tougher, whether young people who once might have gone into consulting or tech are considering different paths, and why he thinks Gen Z is increasingly asking not just “What job will I have?” but “What will I become?”
We also got into how AI is changing teaching itself, what he sees as the difference between the Gen Zers entering classrooms today and those from five or six years ago, and why a generation shaped by social media, COVID and now AI may have a very different relationship with work and community.
Here’s our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity. You can also watch our full conversation on our YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe :)
I’ve written a lot about Gen Z and hopemaxxing, as I call it. I’m all in on this. There’s a massive opportunity when you think about the role that work plays in cultivating hope, purpose, and a sense of fulfillment. A TFA job is the first job that a young person has. In your eyes, what does a good first job look like in the age of AI?
AS: In the age of AI, but also broadly, a great first job serves as a leadership launch pad. This generation is craving a desire to make a tangible impact. And as I think about the opportunity a Teach for America teacher has to go into a classroom to work with students and to support them and help them on their journey, that’s a really powerful and incredible way to know if you’re making a difference in the world.
I hear oftentimes from this generation that they’re a little worried about working from their parents’ basement or going and working in a big skyscraper, not because it won’t be rewarding for them financially, but because they’re worried they won’t have the opportunities to build leadership skills. The idea of working with students, setting goals with them, motivating them to achieve those goals, those are very real leadership skills.
My sister’s a Teach for America teacher, and I’ve had a first-hand glimpse at what that looks like. But zooming out, who are the types of young people you’re typically seeing become a Teach for America teacher?
AS: This is a [group] that is purpose driven. They really view their role as having an opportunity to carry forward a vision that they have for the future, not just for themselves, but for their peers, for the country. At a moment when we’re seeing increased stratification – those who have access to opportunity are getting more, those who have historically had less are getting even less, and the gap is widening — you see people who really want to tackle that issue head on.
You’re seeing people who are craving community. They’re sort of weary of technology, they know that social media, even COVID, created a lot of social isolation for them. And they’re seeking and finding third spaces and ways to engage.
I think about my own experience joining the corps when I had the opportunity to just be in community with other teachers, to get to know them better. They became some of my best friends. I ended up marrying a Teach for America alum. The idea of being with others in that way is really powerful.
You’re seeing people join who understand that this is a very real opportunity to make an impact immediately on students. You can actually create real change starting with your first job and the proximity you have to students and families working in low-income communities. You’re finding people who themselves are learners.
As entry level, white collar roles get squeezed, is Teach for America seeing a shift in candidates who are applying? Are you becoming more of an option for young people who might have gone into a field like consulting or tech five years ago?
AS: It’s always been true that our recruitment efforts are countercyclical with the labor market. And so when there are challenges in the labor market, more people are interested in Teach for America. That said, I wouldn’t say that’s the only driver of interest in joining Teach for America. We’re seeing people who are asking very real questions about what it means to take on a first job. Rather than asking the question of, ‘What job will I have?,’ they’re asking the question of, ‘What will I become and what problems do I want to solve?’ These are very different questions.
Thinking specifically about the role of teaching in the AI era, if AI can tutor, grade, even generate lesson plans, what is the case that a 22-year-old or 23-year-old teacher is more essential now and not less? And how are you reframing that pitch to the young people you’re recruiting?
Having been a teacher myself, I deeply believe that AI cannot replace teachers. And I believe that because at the essence of what excellent teaching looks like is a relationship between an adult and a student. Students are looking for a sense of belonging, a sense of connection in school. They’re looking for an adult who can motivate them, help them achieve their biggest goals and wildest ambitions.
I think about myself as a student as well. I remember when I was entering ninth grade, I felt very lost going into high school. I wasn’t sure if I belonged in school or who my people were. And it wasn’t until I met my ninth grade debate teacher, Ms. Sarff, who believed in me before I believed in myself, that I started to feel like I did belong.
There’s a lot of potential if teachers are given the right training on how to effectively use AI. Whether to use it, why to use it, how to use it, and when not to use it. There’s a lot of caveats here around AI, I would say, in terms of whether it’ll actually help learning. There is potential if we can get that right. But what it’s not going to do is replace the teacher. In fact, I think it’s going to make teaching even more exciting because teachers will get to focus on the main reason they wanted to join the profession in the first place, which is the relationships with students.
There are teachers in The Up and Up’s Gen Z community who have taken on side hustles and second jobs to afford being a teacher. Similarly, we’ve heard from students who might want to pursue teaching but don’t think it’s financially feasible. How are you working to increase access to who gets to be a teacher?
AS: We’re trying to make it a more financially viable option. On our own, we are able to provide transition grants to our teachers to support them as they get started so that they can think about what it means to pay for rent or afford food before they get their first paycheck as a teacher. We also have a partnership with AmeriCorps, so all of our teachers as an earned benefit for completing two years of service, will get approximately $15,000 in an education award that they can use to either pay back past loans or debt or to apply toward future educational opportunities. We’re going to continue to try to make the financial viability of this profession possible. And there’s a bigger question to be had around what it means for all teachers to have access to a career and a pathway so that they don’t feel like they have to work multiple jobs. They can go all in on the thing that they want to do most.
I talk a lot about the ‘two Gen Zs.’ You’ve seen multiple waves of Gen Z come through Teach for America’s corps. What’s different about the teachers you’re recruiting today versus five or six years ago? Different motivations, different anxieties, or even the K-12 system?
AS: Let’s start with [the] idea of resilience. I think a lot about your typical 22-year-old right now and the journey that they’ve been through in their life. Sometime late-elementary school and middle school, social media became just a central part of their experience, before we knew enough to know about how social media might impact learning. I think about their high school experience where COVID and the pandemic and social isolation came to be. And then I think about their college experience and as they were preparing for work, the AI disruption, global disruptions, economic disruptions all woven together. The fact that they are here and still persevering and have a vision for the future for their country, to me is the definition of resilience. That’s much harder than anything I went through in those same years.
A couple of the trends I’m observing in this generation are that they want to be part of a community and want to be part of doing something bigger than themselves. This is why there’s a resurgence of interest in service and having an impact.
There’s this belief, especially as technology evolves, that we have to be careful. I think this generation generally has accepted that AI is here, but it doesn’t mean they’ve eagerly embraced it. They’re asking really important and critical questions, given the history of technology in education, around what will it actually require if this technology is here for learning to be possible and not get in the way of learning. So I appreciate the skepticism and that they come in with some balance of hope as well.
There’s also this belief that learning can happen anywhere. Perhaps we’ve thought about teaching and learning as happening in the four walls of a classroom or in a school building. But what if we extended that even further? I deeply believe this next generation is going to be the ones that are shaping where teaching and learning goes because they’re not stuck in constructs that that older generations are.
What techniques or strategies are they employing in or outside the classroom as a result of that?
AS: What I’m seeing most with our youngest teachers is this deep desire to just be really good at the fundamentals of what it means to be a teacher. And then from there thinking about what it means to be a teacher in today’s context.
We take our teachers through training on how to think about emerging technologies and AI. So, whether to use AI in the classroom and to clearly describe why they want to use it and then how they want to use it, taking into account the risks that could come with it.
We have one teacher in Michigan who decided to use AI to insert an incorrect step in a math problem rather than have students use AI to solve the problem and then have students analyze the output. We have another teacher who said, ‘How can I use this as a tool to deepen my relationships with students?’ They took all of the students’ interests, put it in AI, and is having AI integrate those interests into the curriculum that they’re teaching so that the students feel more of a sense of connection and belonging with their teacher as well.
It all fundamentally starts with their judgment around how to use the technology.
What’s the biggest misconception about Gen Z teachers?
AS: Broadly, perhaps not even just teaching, the biggest misconception is that the well-being challenges that they face are not real. Perhaps this generation got too soft, or perhaps this generation doesn’t have the same level of grit. I talked about resilience earlier. I think this generation is wise. I think this generation has gone through a lot. We would all seek to do well by listening to them and understanding their motivations.
On My Radar
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression rolled out their 2027 campus free speech rankings — their annual look at the schools doing best and worst when it comes to protecting students’ speech. At the top of the list is University of Chicago (no surprise there), while New York University clocks in last.
Noteworthy Reads
Trading Keggers for Wellness Darties, Madison Malone Kircher for The New York Times
10-Year-Old Children Predict The Future, Callie Holtermann for The New York Times
Quen Blackwell is Coming for Hollywood, Samuel Hine and MAR+VIN for The Cut
The Kids Yearn for Transparent Tech, Kitty Guo for The Strategist
Great piece Rachel.
Great interview! As an educator who knows just how hard it is to find teacher talent, I’m hopeful all the changes coming with AI and the workplace will lead to an infusion of people interested in teaching. (Although your point about needing it to pay people enough is well received—when I was a teacher with TFA in 2000, people would coach or work summer jobs for extra money—but the number of school leaders I work with who have teachers driving for uber or bartending at night is a significant increase…)