Seven Dartmouth students will fly to the Marshall Islands this winter to teach in the local public schools through an internship program sponsored by the education department.
The interns will be the first to work in the public schools on Majuro, one of the major islands, but several Dartmouth graduates have spent the last year working in private schools on another Marshall Island, Kwajalein.
The seven undergraduate interns are Diandra Benally '00, Michael Holmes '01, Chung-Yu Hsieh '01, Jessica Souke '01, Matthew Shaffer '01, James Sitar '01 and Mara Tieken '01.
Amber Morse '98, who was an environmental studies major while at the College, now lives on Kwajalein, working for minimal pay at the Catholic high school on the island.
In an interview with The Valley News, Morse said that she lives in a trailer infested with flying cockroaches, sporadic electricity and minimal drinking water. Many of the students she teaches speak little English.
Morse said she also has faced many disciplinary problems, particularly with the older boys whom a Marshallese man or woman would not face.
The Marshall Islands, which consist of about 34 atolls and islands located between Hawaii and Australia, harbor a small population with high unemployment, as well as high rates of alcoholism. Most Marshall Islanders earn about $5,000 per year through subsistence agriculture and handicrafts.
Education department Chair Andrew Garrod said on the Islands, 40 to 50 percent of elementary age children and 75 percent of high school age children are not attending any school. Teacher salaries are low and few teachers from the island have an education beyond high school.
Garrod, who designed the program, said he thinks this year's interns collectively have more experience in education than the graduate students, and will also have the support of a mentor, which may ease the transition to the difficult job they will face. This year, Allison Rowe, education department lecturer and head of elementary education at Dartmouth, will guide the students in the program.
Before the interns depart, Rowe will give a series of workshops on the history of the island, the environment and other relevant issues to prepare the interns for some of the challenges they may face.
"The challenge will be to be sensitive to the cultural values and not go in with their ears blocked, imposing what they think is important knowledge," Garrod said.
"I want to emphasize that although we think we're doing a good thing in terms of helping others ... what these internships offer is an important learning opportunity to our students ... [and] to question the nature of helping others," Garrod said.
Although the education department sponsors the program, it is not considered an official Dartmouth Foreign Study Program. Participants receive one credit in education when they return to the College and enroll in Education 85, an independent study course led by Garrod or Rowe, to review the experience. Students must keep journals on the island, compile group portfolios and present their experiences to area schools upon their return.
Most of the students participating this year have expressed an interest in education, and several plan to minor in the department. All have taken several education courses, including Education 20.
Although they do not have to be accepted into the Dartmouth teaching preparation program, the interns may choose to enroll after the Marshall Islands program.
Tieken said she plans to minor in education and also apply for the teacher preparation program. After graduation she said she hopes to teach in elementary education and later study educational anthropology, particularly bilingual education.
Tieken said she had never considered teaching until she took Education 20, a course which she said "changed the way I thought about my career, my future, myself and my personal education."
Garrod said the department chose the seven interns from the 20 applicants by considering their "cultural sensitivity," interest in teaching, the group dynamics and "who wanted a really big challenge in their life."
Inspired by the work of the Dartmouth graduate students, Garrod established the undergraduate program by working directly with the Minister of Education for the Marshall Islands, Justin DeBrume.
Garrod spent 10 days in May, visiting the local schools and meeting with teachers. He said there are few resources, and books but he found that the curriculum was up-to-date. The real question for the interns, he said, is whether that is what is being taught in the classroom.
Although the program currently only has funding for two years, provided by the Dickey Endowment, the Hewlett Fund and the Tucker Foundation, Garrod said he is hopeful that the program will continue after that.
"It's in line with the College's mission" to continue the program, Garrod said. "It makes an important statement about the College's values."
"I'm really hoping that this internship and the publicity of this internship will get the [education] department the recognition it deserves," Tieken said. She said she feels the department is under-rated and that it deserves more public praise.
