JPMorgan is incredibly selective in the students that it hires, as it should be. Students who go to work for JPMorgan are quickly involved in deals that often involve tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars and impact tens and even hundreds of thousands of people. The stereotype of these high achieving, high earning, money motivated students is hardly the same as the stereotype of the save the world, huge a tree students who work for Teach for America. Yet this partnership is wonderful for both organizations.

"We feel that the kinds of students that apply and are accepted to [work for Teach for America] are the kinds of individuals we want here at the firm," said JPMorgan vice president Adam Castellani. In other words, JPMorgan recognizes that diversity in the work force is important and that it is healthy to have employees who have a background of experiences. They also recognize that this generation has different motivations than did the generations before them. Baby Boomers were far more likely to be solely focused on advancing their careers. Gen X'ers weren't quite as focused on career advancement as Boomers, but few would have been inclined to defer Wall Street salaries and careers for two years to do something such as teaching in a public classroom in East Saint Louis.

Gen Y'ers, thankfully, have their priorities more in order and understand that it is better for them to work to live than it is for them to live to work. The work that they will do for JPMorgan will have little to do with making life better for an poverty stricken kid in a slum and Gen Y'ers and their bosses at JPMorgan know that. Yet through this program, JPMorgan is able to tap into the best and brightest of Gen Y without losing some who were well qualified but who decided that Wall Street didn't provide the kind of personal fulfillment that they needed.

A tip of the hat to JPMorgan for creating a partnership that does real good through the work of Teach for America, its clients by allowing it to continue to recruit the best of the best, and its employees by allowing them to do good work for their employer and for the communities in which they live.