TV Reviews : Inspiring, Aching Look at Education in ‘Teach’

Why would bright young graduates of Yale, MIT and Princeton postpone lucrative careers in law or medicine to become teachers in some of the nation’s worst inner-city and rural schools?

Because idealism, conviction and hope still exist.

The PBS special “Who Will Teach for America?,” tonight at 9 on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15, profiles some of the hundreds of accomplished young people who have eschewed the pursuit of big bucks to take part in Teach for America, a sort of domestic Peace Corps. It also shows what they’re up against.

Founded by 22-year-old Princeton student Wendy Kopp in 1989 to fill critical teacher shortages at the elementary and secondary levels, Teach for America plunges its volunteers into the public school system, sink or swim, with only an eight-week training institute at USC to prepare them.

Kopp is seen determinedly bringing her message to the public and potential funders--she raised $3.6 million the first year--and firing up her teacher volunteers.

The fledgling teachers butt up against realities, their enthusiasm waxes and wanes, their idealism is shaken by the daily horrors that color their students’ lives--drugs, homelessness, abuse--and veteran educators criticize the corps’ lack of experience. But there are the successes, the moments of connection when a child is reached and the majority plan to hang in for their two-year stint.

Feel-good TV? Not quite. It’s heartening to see those “who have never known failure” bring their best to children “who have never known success.” It’s disheartening to see what so many teachers face every day, and to know that the crisis in education that led to the Teach for America program is worsening. And it’s ironic that massive teacher layoffs and perilous budget cuts may extinguish even this flicker of hope.