While Kerri Hannigan trained for the Teach for America program at her assigned school in East Oakland, Calif., seven murders occurred outside.
"To say that the school is tough and that the school has problems is a gross underestimate," said Hannigan, who graduated from the University in May. "Rats are thrown at new teachers, police officers patrol grounds and toilet paper does not exist in any restrooms as it is used - every year - to set the school on fire."
After graduation, Hannigan joined Teach for America, an organization that sends recent college graduates to inner city and rural schools with severe teacher shortages. Most enter the program idealistically hoping to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged children. Some succeed, but the teachers can have dramatically different experiences.
Some walk away feeling they have had a positive impact. Others drop out disillusioned.
Although the program requires a two-year commitment, Hannigan resigned in September after just three weeks, thoroughly discouraged by what she said she believed was a lost cause.
"Teach for America just gives us all an understanding of what it is like to feel hopeless, lost and unable to achieve one's dreams," Hannigan said.
Scot Fishman disagrees. The second-year Law student serves as the alumni recruiter for Teach for America at the University. He said after serving three years in the program himself, he believes in its mission.
"They were the most meaningful, exciting and educational years of my life so far," Fishman said of his time teaching.
Fishman insists that the essential thing to remember about the mission of Teach for America is that participants are being sent to areas with critical teacher shortages. Without the aid of these newly trained college graduates, many children would simply be crammed into already over-crowded classrooms or taught by unqualified aids or substitutes.
"That does not mean that we aim for low expectations to simply fill spots," Fishman said. "We actively and aggressively recruit the best of the best."
So what is really going on out there in the inner city and rural schools that Teach for America targets? Why such disparate opinions?
Hannigan focused on the crash course training that participants go through the summer before they are placed in the schools. Most of the participants are recent college graduates who have no formal training in education.
Hannigan described the five-week training session as a "boot camp" in which corps members are trained in a "trial by fire" fashion.
"Nothing of the boot camp can even compare to some of the sites where corps members are sent," Hannigan said. "It is grueling physically, mentally and emotionally, and yet the five weeks are not enough to prepare corps members for their schools."
Fishman, on the other hand, insisted that the program does an excellent job training teachers within the limited time period available for preparation.
"Corps members become very familiar with lesson planning, community outreach, using resources within the school and community, and holding high expectations for their students," Fishman said.
One thing can be certain about the training: It is brief, but intense and exhausting.
Stephen Plaskon, an associate professor and coordinator for the elementary education program in the Education School, says the crash-course training session is vastly different from traditional teacher education programs, but both have strong points.
Plaskon said he believes that with the growing presence of alternative routes to teacher licensure, such as Teach for America, it is important to reconcile these alternatives with traditional training, and to find a balance between the teacher education ad America's public schools.
"What is important is that we have good people within the schools," Plaskon said. "Different people respond differently to various training programs - some respond well to brief, intense training, while some are more successful with a more comprehensive, spread-out program of study."
While Plaskon said he believes going through a teacher education program can only be beneficial, he recognizes that teacher training is undergoing a period of change. Plaskon added that the most important thing to remember is that teachers, like any professionals, must have a wealth of knowledge and experience in their field, and whatever training they complete must successfully prepare them for the situations they will encounter.
"Every career requires repeated exposure to the profession and repeated opportunities to learn," Plaskon said. "Why should teaching be any different?"
Last year, approximately 5,000 people applied to the Teach for America Program, with 40 to 50 of those applicants coming from the University. About 1,000 are chosen to participate each year. Applicants should be eager to help, to make a difference in the lives of children who need their guidance and support. The hearts of these applicants were most likely in the right place, but were they prepared for what they would encounter if selected?
"There is one thing all educational programs have in common," Fishman said. "None of them train you completely, and all teachers take a crash course in learning on the first day of school."
Hannigan said she believes that it is hardly surprising that many well-meaning aspiring teachers simply become overwhelmed and give up.
"It is nearly impossible to make a difference," she said. "Instead, corps members become statistics too. They drop out, are driven out, burn out or break down."
The drop-out rate for Teach for America lingers at about 10 percent, but Fishman said that leaves about "900 teachers per year changing the lives of thousands of children across the country."
Teach for America is no holiday, Hannigan said, and it certainly should not be viewed as "time off" before pursuing graduate school or a career.
"I think that it is important that bright, idealistic, energetic students who are considering the program be made aware of the real deal before they decide to apply," she said.
The problem may lie not in lack of preparation or training received by teachers, Fishman said, but in the idealistic expectations possessed by many.
"Some students think they're going to change the world in the matter of a month," Fishman said. "Systematic change doesn't happen that quickly."
Hannigan said that she believes the kind of change participants hope for may not happen at all.
"Teach for America changes people," she said. "It changes perspectives, but I don't know that it changes the world in the way that it is supposed to - in the way that corps members want it to when they join the movement to improve education and kids' lives."
For the 90 percent of teachers who complete the two-year commitment, the Teach for America program must be fulfilling at least some of their expectations. It may be possible to change lives, but it's not going to be as easy as A-B-C.
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