Keep up the good work!

I guess this is the way I see it. I don’t think there has been a rapid increase of people who think with regards to things like ‘meaning.’ I think this has been stable. I do think however that a growing number of people see TFA as a route which could accomplish this goal.

With regards to economic factors, I think you are dead on as the lack of jobs has clearly played a role in application shifts. I do think its fair to argue that there might have been a disproportionate shift towards TFA relative to all other jobs (an empirical question that I don’t have the data to answer). If that is the case, an appropriate question to ask is why towards TFA. It is here that I would argue that TFA has grown in salience as a route which people see as fitting some utility garnering criterion… it may be long-term job prospects, it may be adventure, it could be financial (doubtful though) or it may just been seen as being popular by peers. In the TFAers that I talk to, at least one prominent motivator is that this job feels more ‘meaningful’ than getting your everyday job at (fill in the blank). And going in with these high expectations of meaning-fulfillment often leads to the letdown of having to live in the everyday where some kids improve, some don’t, the moments where the ‘sexiness’ of the job wear thin.