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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual
collections.
Collection: Deaver, Michael
Folder Title: Education Collins, Marva N.
Box: 37
To see more digitized collections
visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories
visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives
Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
MARVA COLLINS' WAY
WESTSIDE
Published by J. P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles © 1982
Distributed by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
Bill Sittmenn
Founded in 1975
CAD
Marva Collins
June 9, 1983
President Ronald Reagan
President of the United States
of America
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. President:
I cannot tell you how much the little things in life means!
Just a phone call emphatically made my day, and m ost of all
it made me excited enough to want to do even more with my life
and most of all, to do for others. I have climbed a very
tough mountain, but I refuse to sit at the top and enjoy the
view. I am still looking for more mountains to climb.
Because of my decision to enroll at Westside Preparatory School
we have hundreds of adults coming into the school this summer
to enjoy the joy of learning, and most of all to become
self-reliant and to know that they all have the innate savvy
to become universal citizens of the world.
Again, thank you Mr. President for taking the time out of a most
busy day to encourage me to not only continue to improve myself,
but to give hope to others. I do hope that the media and the
world will also know that you are a most caring person, and
may they know that all American citizens matter to you.
With gratitude,
Kering Ross
Kevin J. Ross
"Any child can be a real achiever."
4142 WEST CHICAGO AVENUE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60651
312/227-5995-5996
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor rehearse for a revival
of "Private Lives," opening on Broadway in May. Twice
divorced, Burton and Taylor play a divorced couple who
get together at a country house and end up battling. (UPI)
44
it
12
E
09
Westside star Ross
IS
59
3V
99
12
graduates to tutor
LV
9
K
evin Ross, the 6-foot-9-inch
39
college basketball star, con-
19
LL
tinues to make good pro-
99
gress among the grade-schoolers at
Marva Collins' Westside Prep,
16
L8
4146 W. Chicago. His reading
18
skills and confidence are so ad-
88
3
vanced now that he is able to help
EL
98
tutor the youngsters on the side.
88
And he'll work with them in sum-
mer activities camp.
Bob
"The children respect him and
Herguth
he's very good with them," said
Collins. "He's not sure whether
he'll go back to Creighton [Uni-
versity] or pursue his [college]
.$
degree here. He's kind of a catalyst and a hope for a lot of
11
people here.
E1
VI
Ross entered Westside Prep last September with
7
Creighton's help, intent on learning the basic educational
9
skills (including reading) he missed even after four years
of college (with no degree). Tests show that with Collins'
help, including some one-on-one teaching, he had zoomed
three school years by late January.
I
"I've been on TV shows and given motivational
speeches at two schools," Ross told us The movie [of his
life] will probably start in a couple of weeks. What am I
reading now? Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude
Brown."
MAR
1420
'Back to basics' gets a chilly reception
dren to learn so well and SO fast without the continued
T
he educational establishment, special interest
flow of federal dollars and the paper pushers who
groups and federal and state bureaucracies are in-
Paul
created the flow?
dignant and on the attack over the outspoken be-
What might happen if the children of the ghetto acu-
liefs of a feisty black woman in Chicago who has succes-
sully educated children thought to be uneducable.
Salters
tally left the ghetto? The specter of the underprivilged
achieving success was too great a horror for the bureau-
The American Spectator's current issue carries an
crats Their jobs were at stake
Iluminating article by Rita Kramer, author of Maria
Montessori: a Biography, about the woman - Marva
ably failed - the educational establishment, the special
Ironically, the bureaucrats and the educational es-
interest groups and the bureaucrats whose jobs depended
tablishment latched onto a particulary nasty ad homi-
Collins - who gathered a ragtag band of ghetto children
num argument to do harm to the woman. The American
in a makeshift classroom and proceeded to teach them
upon spoon feeding the same old pap that guarantees
how to read, write and do arithmatic. Not only did these
failure, not failure for them, but for their victims. Thus
Spectator points out that they attacked Mrs. Collins for
uneducables learn the basics, they learned them from
can jobs be maintained and the cash flow kept gushing.
having started her school with CETA funds. She did, in
the classics - Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Dante and Shake-
Marva Collins offended current wisdom. Black lead-
fact, collect some $62,000 in CETA funds when she first
ers attacked her because her method could have de-
created the school but gave up the money when her
speare.
Soon, these supposedly uneducable children were
prived them of the base of misery upon which they feed.
methods began achieving success. Upon turning her back
Who would need these leaders when the masses ceased
on federal money, unfortunately for her, she also had the
scoring higher on intelligence tests than their reportedly
brighter classmates in the public schools.
to function in ignorance and poverty? How, indeed, could
temerity to suggest that money had unquestionably
failed to end the misery in the ghetto. A solid education
Marva Collins calmly explained that her success
they profit from such a possibilty?
with these ghetto youngsters was premised not on intri-
The educational establishment followed suit in a hys-
and self reliance, she maintained, would ultimately lead
to that cherished goal.
cate theories of educational method but on the persistent
terical outery because the premise that going "back to
The fact she once accepted federal money in no way
goal to teach the youngsters self reliance based upon self
basics" could eventually topple the great self-perpetuat-
diminishes the truth of her methods or what she is say-
worth.
ing structure upon which contemporary education is
She argued that self reliance is the key to bringing
based. Who would need vast institutions of education
ing.
The bureaucrats and educational establishment, so
so-called deprived youngsters into the mainstream of
anymore when all you really needed was someone con-
versant with the ability to read, write, do arithmatic,
lavish in their hysteria, of course can't be expected to
success.
and who had mastered the legacy of western civiliza-
address issues - the educators because they are incapa-
"You give a man a fish and he has a meal for a day.
You teach a man how to fish and he can dine for a life-
tion? The liberal arts schools might have flourished but
ble of addressing issues, having spent their time learning
time," was her way of explaining the fruits of her meth-
not the schools of education, where method is SO much
method to the detriment of thought, and the bureaucrats
because they could not afford to bring the beacon of logic
ods.
more important than substance.
Alas, success, honor and good sense failed to prevail
At last, the bureaucrats began shrieking at the
to bear upon their egregious programs.
in the wake of the outcry from those who have SO miser-
plucky Marva Collins. How could it be possible for chil-
Paul Salters is a member of The Enterprise news staff
By Mildred Hamilton
paper, we had the outline, and we started painting in oil."
particularly appreciative of the mural's recognition of wor
Examiner staff writer
The volunteers were out on the scaffolding "about 8 a.m.,
en's achievements We also had crities One of them dislike
as soon as the moisture evaporated." for three to 10 hours a
one of the figures and kept saying, That woman looks like
Second
N EXULTANT SHOUT. "Fini!" started the
week each, and Rodriguez usually painted 20 hours a week,
duck'
Mission District on a recent Sunday as a padded
fuggling her other projects and jobs
"We sealed the mural with an ultra violet screen sealer I
figure tossed her paintbrush in the air and
"The weather was fine, at first, and then the rains came.
preserve it. There will be a check in four years to see if mor
scampered down the scatfolding in front of the
Sometimes said to myself, 1 must be crazy, It is pouring and
seater is needed The mural proper is complete. but som
Women's Building at 3543 18th St.
I am out here painting. The first hour in a cold. wet day was
painting remains to be done around the windows and th
Patricia Rodriguez had painted the last
torture, then you got caught up in it and It was fun. The
arches between the figures, as well as the wall area abov
stroke of the huge women's history mural across the front of
volunteers were great We supported each other. and Celeste
the mural."
the building - 18 months after she had been commissioned
Smeland, who created the Women's Building Vida Gallery,
The mural already has brought Rodriguez a commend
to create it.
was my coordinator for the whole project. Fawn Yacker
tion from the mayor's office. and the artist beheves it
"I am finished, finished. finished." she yelled as she
made a film of the work."
achieving its goal: bridging the Women's Building and th
danced in the street, stopping the car of a friend. The
The mural was started on the left and the artists moved
story
community When the Women's Building held a communit
talented muralist was swept off to the Chiff House for a drink
to the right as they painted. "I had a timetable of two
celebration of it completion March 6, there was a large
in celebration. "Then I went home, toppled over and slept
months." Rodriguez said with a wry laugh She did the first
enthusiastic turnout of neighborhood residents
for hours," she said with a chuckle.
fugure. the strong featured Katherine Smith standing protec-
Now wide awake and aglow with the joy of accomplish-
tively in front of her golden, wind-sculpted Navajo home-
"What the mural represents is integral to our work,"
land in Arizona, "land she refuses to be forced off of by the
building spokeswoman said. "It represents our commitmen
ment, the artist talked about the project that has turned the
drab front of the Women's Building into a vivid feminist
federal government."
to struggle against racism side by side with classism, sexisn
Painting and supervising. Rodriguez was always in
and imperialism."
banner. The larger-than-hfe figures of Navajo activist Kath-
erine Smith, Chicana labor organizer Dolores Huerta, artist
charge of color design and mixture. She did the faces of the
The mural reminds us, girls and women of all colors. sh
and feminist Louise Nevelson, black educator Marva Collins
women.
added, of what the dominant society does not tell us: that W
women
and emancipated Asian-American slave Polly Bemis domi-
"We always had audiences, and older women were
have heroes, thousands of them
nate the block They are forceful testimony and tribute to
the social concerns of the women's center.
The muralist and her supporting team are accepting
compliments. And preparing to volunteer again as every-day
painters to help repaint the still shabby exterior of the two
floors above the mural.
How do you start a mural?
Rodriguez grinned. "First you scrub the wall. You scrub
hell out of the wall with tri-sodium phosphate."
Before that, however, you need the artistic reputation to
be invited by Women's Building officials to create a land-
mark mural. (The San Francisco Women's Center/Women's
Building was opened in 1979 as a non-profit. community-
sponsored. multi-ethnic, multi-cultural women's and neigh-
borhood center.)
The artist, a small, sunny woman with black curly hair
framing animated features, talked about herself and the
mural as she stood in front of the building. Few neighbors
among the regular kibitzers recognized her in a hot pink
blouse and black suit, with earrings and makeup. "My
painting garb was four layers of warm clothing. By the time
got on my thermal underwear, three sweaters, two pairs of
socks, hiking boots, gloves and hats, boy, was I big!"
RELINNE
Rodriguez extended her arms to outline a width equal to her
5-feet-1-inch height.
Of Mexican-American heritage, she is a native of Marfa, a
small West Texas desert town. also the birthplace of her
parents. "We migrated around Texas, then came to Califor-
nia as my parents sought better jobs. I was 12 before I was
able to settle down in one school. in Oxnard. It took me time
Patricia Rodriguez: 'First you scrub the wall'
to catch up, but I was so happy there. I got A's in art and
music."
After high school graduation and a year in junior college,
she lived briefly in New York before moving here and
winning an Art Institute scholarship in 1970. "It was a great
year for minorities to get scholarships, but the Art Institute
Black educator Marva Collins, one of the four living women represented on the murals
blew my mind. It was operated New York-style. When I did
paint, the instructor said with a sniff, 'It's very Mexican.' I
decided if have this bent, I'll do it for my own community."
She organized her first painting project for the James-
town Community Center, and after earning her bachelor's
degree, formed Mujeres Muralistas with Irene Perez, Graciel-
la Carrillo and Consuelo Mendez. They painted 20 murals in
the Mission District - big bold paintings important in the
artistic blooming of the neighborhood. "My first mural was
painted in 1972, in Balmy Alley (a street of murals), and I can
see it from where I now live."
Rodriguez mixed community and volunteer work with
her five years in the mural group and earned her M.A. at
Sacramento State University. She was then invited to teach
at UC-Berkeley: "mural painting, Chicano art history, silk
screen, for five years."
Deciding to branch out in 1980, she began to experiment
with box sculptures. Her prize-winning work is now widely
exhibited. She lectures, is doing a series of small canvases
Faces from the mural section on farm labor
and has just been invited to be in the Michigan show of the
National Chicano Art Studies Conference and to have her
first New York show.
Standing 10 feet tall
"That kind of schedule is why every time I have a few
spare minutes, fall asleep. It has been seven days a week of
work since the actual painting of the mural started last
IVE FEMALE SYMBOLS of strength - four
September. And for a living, I got a grant last fall for a year
living women and one 19th century survivor of
from the California Arts Council for my Mission Mental
slavery stand 10 feet tall in the new mural on
Health Center job. I teach art to clients -- there are mural
the front of the Women's Building. They are:
projects at three treatment centers. I feel that I have been
Katherine Smith, a 60-year-old Arizona Na-
hanging in there for 10 years."
vajo who is fighting the federal government's
After Rodriguez was invited to design the Women's
attempt to remove thousands of Navajo and Hopi people
Building mural, there were long discussions on the women's
from their homeland of centuries.
history theme and a decision to pick a woman to represent
Dolores Huerta, a 53-year-old native of New Mexico, a
each community. The artist's search took her to women's
pioneer in organizing agricultural workers, a United Farm
studies programs of several colleges as well as community
Workers official and a force in obtaining migrants such
centers seeking candidates. "We wanted powerful figures.
rights as disability and unemployment insurance and old-age
Once we had the names, art history student Lu-Yong Ma at
pensions.
San Francisco State did research on their backgrounds."
Louise Nevelson, the 84year-old sculptor, a Russian
Costume research also preceded Rodriguez' preliminary
Jewish immigrant who worked in poverty and isolation for
drawings, which were approved by the San Francisco Art
years before attaining international recognition as an artist.
Commission She received a $4,000 grant from the city Office
The Nevelson panel also features the faces of dancer Martha
of Community Development through the Mural Resource
Graham, jazz planist Mary Lou Williams, photographer
Center. "That covered paint and brushes and about 50 cents
Dorothea Lange and writer Audrey Lord.
an hour for me. The Navy donated our scaffolding."
Marya Collins, the 40-year-old black educator whose
After the September wall scrubbing, Rodriguez put an ad
"self-reliance" philosophy of teaching has made her small
in the Women's Building newsletter for volunteer helpers,
private chool in Chicago a national model.
"women who could paint." She soon had a team: Miranda
Polly Bemis, also known as China Polly and Lulu
Bergman, Sarah Edkins, Nicole Emanuel, Celeste Smeland
Nathoy. Born on a farm in China in 1852, kidnapped, sold
and Frances Stevens - of diverse age, experience and
into slavery and smuggled into San Francisco, she never
background.
stopped fighting for her freedom She finally convinced a
The scrubbed wall got a clean white primer, and th
gold miner named Bemis, who had won her in a poker game,
design "pounced" across the 12-foot high. 100-foot wide stri
to free her She then operated her own small produce farm
15 feet above the street The artist explained "pouncing"
in the Gold Country ratil she died.
"The drawing was made on perforated paper. It was rolled
place and charcoal powder applied. When we removed th
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor rehearse for a revival
of "Private Lives," opening on Broadway in May. Twice
divorced, Burton and Taylor play a divorced couple who
get together at a country house and end up battling. (UPI)
IV
it
12
99
09
Westside star Ross
IS
59
3V
39
12
graduates to tutor
14
39
K
evin Ross, the 6-foot-9-inch
39
college basketball star, con-
19
"
tinues to make good pro-
99
gress among the grade-schoolers at
Marva Collins' Westside Prep,
16
L8
4146 W. Chicago. His reading
18
skills and confidence are so ad-
88
3
vanced now that he is able to help
€2
98
tutor the youngsters on the side.
88
And he'll work with them in sum-
mer activities camp.
Bob
"The children respect him and
Herguth
he's very good with them," said
Collins. "He's not sure whether
he'll go back to Creighton [Uni-
versity] or pursue his [college]
degree here. He's kind of a catalyst and a hope for a lot of
it
11
people here.
€1
V1
Ross entered Westside Prep last September with
DI
Creighton's help, intent on learning the basic educational
9
skills (including reading) he missed even after four years
of college (with no degree). Tests show that with Collins'
help, including some one-on-one teaching, he had zoomed
three school years by late January.
I
"I've been on TV shows and given motivational
speeches at two schools," Ross told us The movie [of his
life] will probably start in a couple of weeks. What am I
reading now? Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude
Brown."
AIMS OF WESTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL:
The school was established to dispel the myth that inner-city
children cannot, do not, and refuse to matriculate as well as
other children. In response to a strong concern for the in-
creased rapidity in which children of the Westside of Chicago
seemed to be dropping out of school, and with an increasing
attitude that these children could never be more than what they
were, I felt it a compelling reason to begin Westside Prepara-
tory School on the second floor of our home in September 1975.
With $5,000 from my teacher's pension fund, help from my husband,
and discarded books, Westside Preparatory School was born with
confidence in the ability of our children and loads of determi-
nation to make certain that these children could dare to dream
of a better future because I made today hopeful.
The needs of our community determines largely the curriculum of
our school, but I feel that children must not only be able to
compete locally, but universally as well. Westside PREPARATORY
School reaffirms its position to be an institution that believes
in the concept and dignity and self-worth of each child. We
do not believe that children are just a bit statistically too
inferior to learn; we do not believe that background has anything
to do with children's performance.
The school attempts to provide each student with an opportunity
to master skills and basic knowledge that will become marketable
AIMS OF WESTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL:
PAGE TWO
Skills enabling that student to function not only in his immediate
locale, but as citizens of the world. It is also our belief that
children need to develop a sense of responsibility, self-reliance,
self-determination and to develop as moral and responsible
citîzens of the world not as leaners of society, but as egali-
tarian lifters of the world.
RESULTS:
Children ranging in ages from four to thirteen matriculate at
Westside Preparatory School. Those students who can pay tuition
pay $150.00 per month; those students who cannot pay matriculate
at the school with the monies earned by Marva Collins through
speaking engagements, book fees, and residuals from the movie.
Two Buildings at 4142 and 4146 West Chicago Avenue have been paid
for by cash. The school now needs more teachers and larger
quarters.
The school does not solicit funds, take federal funds or at this
time apply for grants. IT IS OUR FEELING THAT SOCIETY SEES THE
NEED IN THIS AREA, AND IF THEY ARE TRULY INTERESTED IN THE LIFE-
TIME SUCCESS OF THESE CHILDREN THAT THEY WILL HELP IN WHAT EVER
WAY THAT THEY CAN.
Children go on to high school many times after sixth grade, and
for those children who cannot pay private high school tuition,
again, Mrs. Collins pays the tuition for these children.
AIMS OF WESTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL:
PAGE THREE
This year, Mrs. Collins has a college student who has matriculated
in a well-known college for four years and still reads at a
grammar school level. This student, unlike millions of others has
made the first courageous step to do something about the increas-
ing fetid education that far too many students are presently
receiving. Mrs. Collins does not believe in failure, and it is
her philosophy that a child does not need a teacher in order to
fail, she feels that the good teacher makes the "POOR" student
"GOOD", and the "GOOD" student "SUPERIOR". She does not believe
in excuses and it is her firm belief that when her students fail
that she and her staff has failed.
Children who have formerly been labelled learning disabled,
dyslexic, and socially retarded have all flourished at Westside
Preparatory School and all of these children have been able to
function as normal students and to go on to high school. There
are no miracles at Westside Preparatory School, just hard work
and a firm belief in the self-worth of each student. The staff
often spends many Saturdays working with slower students until
they are able to feel good about themselves. Young students
begin to study Latin and French at grade three and they begin to
read at age four. The great books program is introduced as soon
as children are able to read. The school also teaches logic,
economics, biology, and most of all, each student believes that
they are no longer leaves being blown from here to there
believing what ever they are told.
AIMS OF WESTSIDE PREPARATORY SCHOOL:
PAGE FOUR:
Mrs. Collins has just authored THE MARVA COLLINS' WAY, a book
that she hopes will give hope to millions of frustrated parents,
and hopefully, it will encourage those teachers who feel that
children "can't" will once again, begin to believe that all
children can if they are not taught too thoroughly that they
can't.
Displine problems, drugs, fighting, absenteeism, and other
negative things heard across the country about other schools
do not occur at Westside Preparatory School. The children have
learned how to tick and their goal is to learn how to tick better.
FEB7 1983 BACON'S
1420
Ex-player
stressing
reading
United Press International
CHICAGO - After four years of
a college career spent mainly mak-
ing field goals and free throws,
Kevin Ross says he has come closer
to making a goal that really counts
by improving his reading.
Ross, 24, played basketball at
Creighton University from 1979-82
until a knee injury hindered his ca-
reer. The 6-9 center played for
Creighton in the NCAA Tourna-
ment in 1981, but did not graduate.
Last September, Ross decided to
enroll at Westside Preparatory
School, run by "superteacher"
Marva Collins. At the time of his
enrollment, he was reading at the
sixth-grade level. He has improved
to the 12th-grade level.
Ross said secretaries at Creigh-
ton often helped him make the
grade by reading his assignments
and completing the required work.
"I will not be a part of the fa-
cade," said Ross. "It does make me
angry, but it's a big disappointment
to see kids come out of school
without the skills they need. When
four years are up, you're just out
there like a squirrel on a tree
limb."
Ross towers over his Westside
classmates, who range in age from
four to 14, but is a very "positive
image" to them, Collins said.
"I can see the progress I've made
here at Westside," Ross said. "I'm
trying to reach a goal for myself. I
am no longer in the shadows of
darkness. I see a bright future.
There's no one who can take my ed-
ucation away from me."
Collins, the founder of Westside,
said he was also pleased with Ross'
improvement in school. Collins
said Ross made improvements in
six areas, but regressed in vocabu-
lary because he was nervous when
he took the California Achieve-
ment Test that is used to measure a
student's progress.
"He is well-liked, and rather
than being self-conscious about his
age or size in the classroom, he has
concentrated on tearning," Collins
said.
VA-D28 ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD
NEWS
(M)69,000 (E)49,000 (S)119,600
200
APR 11 1983
CLIPPED BY
BACONS
1420
Trailblazing or just hard work?
4-11-83
M
ARVA COLLINS, the
last time we looked,
was "in" again
The reputation of the Chica-
go teacher of the "underprivi-
leged" has swung wildly. In the
mid-Seventies, when her private,
shoestring school began attract-
ing attention - primarily be-
cause her pupils actually
learned - she was hailed as a
new force in education: the high
priestess of "back to basics."
She was considered for U.S. sec-
retary of education. Her "unor-
thodox" statements on the
Roanoke Times 49,000
problems in public education
caught up with her a few years
again, she is being over-praised,
rent theories about what makes
later, however, and both her
perhaps because she has often
Johnny learn. But her results
work and her theories were chal-
been over-criticized.
speak for themselves.
lenged. She used public funds
and she was little more than a
The latest encomium, in the
She is unorthodox only to
drill sergeant, claimed her de-
The American Spectator, com-
the extent that she adheres to
tractors. Even some of her
pares her with Maria Montesso-
methods that were broadly ap-
school's test scores were called
ri, the Italian educator. But at
plied and broadly accepted a
into question.
the center of all the controversy
century ago, before the educa-
Two years ago the anti-Col-
is a determined woman who
tional theorists swept the field.
lins campaign was at its height;
loves to teach, not an education-
Those methods are based on
magazines and newspapers were
al revolutionary. Her methods
common sense and hard work;
falling all over themselves
- concentration on basic skills
and more and more parents are
pointing out the "flaws" in the
wedded to an uncanny ability to
beginning to realize that it is the
Collins method. Now her defend-
make her students feel their in-
teacher - dedicated and de-
ers are mounting a counterat-
dividual worth and potential -
manding - who is the key to ed-
tack on her detractors: and. once
may well clash with some cur-
ucation.
//
nificant numbers are choosing the latter
experiment conducted by Rich
course
Against Marva Collins
derson and colleagues at the U
This is so, Mr. Monagan and the critics of
Illinois. Two groups-one Indi
coed sports argue, because children normal-
Marva Collins earned a national reputa-
non-Indian-were asked to real
ly prefer to "struggle for their first indepen-
tion by teaching children who were once
similar length, vocabulary, ser
dent sense of skill, recognition, and identity
considered "unteachable." The liberal es-
plexity, and number of idea un
in the security of their own sex." Placing
tablishment only started to question her
the pieces was about an India
unwilling children in a coed situation, he
motives and results when she started ques-
and the other was about a non-
writes, simply creates "new fears of ridicule
tioning their assumptions about what role a
ding.
and failure."
school should play in society.
Both groups did well with the
The argument that engendered coed
That is the opinion of Rita Kramer, the
their own culture and poorly w
sports-that they would produce "more as-
author of several books on education, in a
about the other's culture.
sertive women and more sensitive men"-
profile of Ms. Collins in the April issue of
"Briefly, good style contribu
suggests several further questions, Mr.
The American Spectator.
our reading of unfamiliar mater
Monagan says. One is whether coed kick-
ball and other games can accomplish that.
Another is: "Just what is so urgently in
need of reform in the minds and buddy sys-
Current writing on ec ucation-related subje
tems of American 9- and 10-year-olds?"
"For the possibility is quite real." he con-
in magazines, newspape S, and journals of opi
cludes, "that the physical progress and de-
velopmental needs of many children are be-
ing disrupted for the sake of one rarely
Ms. Kramer paints an admiring picture
we must continuously backtrack
examined presumption-namely: that any
of Ms. Collins, a teacher in the Chicago pub
different hypotheses about wha
means of breaking down the polarity of the
lic schools for 14 years before she started a
or referred to," Mr. Hirsch writ
Education sexes is healthy." Week
school in her neighborhood that stressed
true not only for good reading, 1
hard work and a rigorous reading program.
good writing, he adds.
A backlash was inevitable, Ms. Kramer
Mr. Hirsch recommends that
On Dismantling
writes, in view of the fact that the so-called
curriculum board be established
"miracle worker" from the rundown Gar-
recommend titles that would le
The Testing Apparatus
field Park area practiced a teaching strate-
tural literacy," the term he uses
gy that challenged the views of black lead-
the acquisition of a society's ba
"
[T]he entire portentous and expen-
ers, teachers' unions, and education
edge.
sive apparatus of the Scholastic Aptitude
theorists all at once.
Test [S.A.T.] is irrelevant for determining its
"A lot of careers, which means money and
stated purpose of determining who should
a lot of prestige," writes Ms. Kramer.
go to which college," writes David Owen in
"would be called into question by the idea
Technology in Educ
the May issue of Harper's.
that pounding away at basic skills and old-
Improve Training, M
Mr. Owen would like to see the apparatus
fashioned exhortation could make a differ-
dismantled. In a lengthy attack on the Edu-
ence in the lives of children far more than
Despite the excitement about
cational Testing Service (E.T.S.)-the Prin-
anything money could buy or legislation
of computers in schools, Jan
ceton, N. J., manufacturer of the S.A.T. and
could provide."
writes in the March-April issue
a range of other standardized tests, he
The writer acknowledges that Ms. Col-
nels, there is very little going or
touches on the most commonly voiced criti-
lins may have strayed from her own ideals
of computers now that holds pror
cisms of "aptitude" testing.
with her acceptance of federal funds.
proving education.
He asserts: that the S.A.T. is not as useful
But, she says, "the issue in the Marva
Mr. Traub, an editor of the
a predictor of college achievement as high-
Collins controversy isn't Marva Collins's
notes that there are already 130
school grades and that the testing organiza-
personality or even her past funding-it is
computers in the nation's school
tion's claim that it measures scholastic ap-
the truth or falsity of what she says about
the number is growing fast. H
titude is specious; that the test reflects the
schooling." That, Ms. Kramer concludes, is
the desk-top machine "will not b
educational and social advantages of the
what the teaching establishment fears.
from the schools," regardless of
students who take it and is biased against
it brings.
minority students; that the tests them-
On the other hand, an accomp
selves are faulty and ambiguous (he takes
ticle written by Anne Shahmoon
the reader through a series of sample ques-
Students Need Strong Base
computer use in schools remai
tions to argue this point, questioning
Of Common Knowledge
limited. The number of com
whether some answers are more "right"
schools will have to increase by
than others); and that, for all practical pur-
"Educational formalism" holds that the
percent yearly, until there are
poses, S.A.T. results are not needed by most
content of English courses is simply a vehi-
million terminals, before each e
colleges and universities.
cle for teaching students the formal skills of
and secondary student can us
Citing a 1980 paper by Rodney T. Hart-
reading and writing and therefore should
chines just 30 minutes each day,
nett and Robert A. Feldmesser, formerly re-
be left to a teacher's discretion.
lates.
search scientists at E.T.S., Mr. Owen says
E. D. Hirsch Jr., writing in the spring is-
Mr. Traub says that no matter
that "although virtually all American col-
sue of The American Scholar, says that the-
students have access to compute
leges require their applicants to take a
ory is misguided. Mr. Hirsch says that he,
ous issue of equity, both writers a
standardized admissions test, hardly any
of all people, should know, since "I was,
ing computers will not help schoo
actually use the score in making admis-
like others in the field, a confirmed formal-
ter job until teachers receive bette
sions decisions."
ist."
Education week
and commercial veridors' develop
april 20,1983
Kevin bounces on
-through 6 years
ix-foot-9-inch Kevin Ross is
now about six school years
ahead of last September,
when he enrolled with eighth-
graders at Marva Collins' West-
side Prep, 4146 W. Chicago.
The 24-year-old basketball star
from Creighton U. took another
California Achievement Test this
week at Providence-St. Mel High,
and it showed his over-all rank at
Bob
about the national average for
Herguth
high school seniors.
He equals the norm of graduat-
ing seniors in reading vocabulary
and comprehension, in written ex-
pression, and in math concepts and applications. He
ranks a semester behind that in spelling and math
computation. And he equals high school sophomores in
language mechanics.
All the tests-in September, January and this week-
were administered by Harvey Gross, director of admis-
sions at Providence-St. Mel. Ross ranked at the sixth-
grade level last fall and the ninth-grade level in January.
"I knew he would do it," said Collins. "It just goes to
show that Kevin was not learning-disabled. We have
millions of Kevins out there."
CRONKITE VIEWS '84: Walter Cronkite vis-
ited Chicago Thursday and warned that "too many"
totalitarian trends satirized by author George Orwell in
1984 are "still powerful" in democracies. "Doublethink
today makes Guatemala and Chile a part of the Free
World," the revered anchorman told the Broadcast Ad
Club. Cronkite finds it "most disturbing" that for some in
"the managerial society the test isn't what's true but
what works." He said "respect for fact" is "at the very
core of the survival of freedom." He satirized modern
doublespeak, including new terms for death and taxes. He
said the saying now could be: "In this age, there is
nothing so certain as 'negative patient care outcome' and
'revenue enhancement.'
ECLECTIC TYPEWRITER: "I'm too old to re-
tire," said George Burns, 87.
Jessica Savitch, 35,
might switch networks (NBC hired Connie Chung, 36,
from a CBS station to do the "Weekend Nightly News,"
now anchored by Jessica).
LOCAL CELEBS: Condolences to the family of
Audrey Seaton Sullivan, longtime public relations ex-
ecutive here.
Attorney Patricia A. Russell, ex-FCC
exec, is Women's Day speaker at Operation PUSH.
3
PUNS & FUN: "Cheers for the bishops! No nukes is
good nukes" (Rabbi David Graubart).
"The Russian
submarine commander's theme song must be 'Have You
Driven a Fjord Lately?' (Dave Hansen).
BACONS
1420
Kevin Prepping
for big speech
Y
oung Kevin Ross will give
the commencement address
May 25 to graduates of
Marva Collins' Westside Prep.
4146 W. Chicago. He is the 6-foot-
9 basketball star from Creighton
U. who enrolled fulltime among
eighth graders at Westside last
September, intent on learning the
basic educational skills-especial-
ly reading comprehension-that
Bob
he missed even after four years of
Herguth
college, and no diploma.
"The children love him here,"
said Collins. "And because he has
such rapport with them, we felt
there was no one in the country they could identify with
more" as a speaker. Tests show that Ross advanced three
school years in five months at Westside, which he entered
with Creighton's encouragement.
Ross plans to work this summer at a camp for Westside
youngsters. He also plans to get his degree from a Chicago
college.
LET'S FRISK FRISCO: "Between the Cubs and the
Democrats, you'd think somebody could beat San Fran-
cisco" (Fred K. Rosen).
A ZOOPER OCCASION: Lincoln Park zookeeper
Pam Jensen marries N.Y. electronics technician Chris
Dunn here Friday. They met in a space-age way, through
a computer network. "A company in Ohio has a program
that's a CB simulator," explained Pam, who cares for
Sinbad the gorilla. "It links home computer terminals all
over the U.S. and Canada." Pam's "handle" on the
network was ZEBRA 3 and Chris was CHRISDOS. After
communicating by computer awhile, they met, and termi-
nal love developed.
ECLECTIC TYPEWRITER: Now Mickey Rooney
says he has no intention of quitting movies and throwing
away his honorary Oscar, as he reportedly vowed earlier.
He's angry because the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed his
suit seeking part of residuals for actors when their movies
go on
Chicago TV. Seen Times2
LOCAL CELEBS: Sox organist Nancy Faust's baby
is due any day now.
On May 21, pretty Hilary
Balfour will be the 10,000th grad of Loyola U.'s dental
school, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
A
Channel 11 special, "Ambassadors of Cabrini," features
state Rep. Jesse White's tumbling team and will air at
9:30 p.m. Monday, May 2. PR whiz Margie Korshak
visits May 1 on Channel 2's "Lee Phillip Show".
Prize-winning photog Carmen Reporto shows slides
Wednesday at the Portes Cancer Prevention Center's
dinner in the Art Institute.
PUNS & FUN: "Overweight persons choose desserts
but dieters eschew them" (AI Hamburg).
"A mar-
riage that breaks up early is first-clash" (Rabbi David
Graubart).
"I tried visiting Dracula the other day
but he was out to bat practice" (Eddie Gold).
USA TODAY: Why did you
whether it is Neanderthal man,
have to start your school?
and that is the same with our
children. How do you segment
INQUIRY
knowledge? You certainly
COLLINS: I think the expec-
have to know about everything.
tations of minority children are
very, very low. It seems to be
KIN
REED DIS
It's so sad when people tell me
they have not read Plato's Re-
almost a hypocritical kind of
public, because you have to if
situation. It is OK for them to
you are to understand white so-
be mediocre when they are
THE ISSUE: EDUCATION
ciety.
young, but all of a sudden when
they get older, then they are
USA TODAY: Would you re-
Marva Collins, 46, is a
stupid, they are inferior, they
spond to the recent contro-
private educational ad-
are welfare recipients, and it
very in which you were ac-
ministrator in Chicago
seems a different standard is
cused of leaving children on a
who has earned many
expected of our children. They
awards for her innova-
EECHER
bus if they couldn't pay tu-
are very cute when they are
ition, of taking federal funds
tive methods. She was
small. All of a sudden, they be-
after you denounced that
the subject of the film
come 17, 15, 16, and they are
practice, and of overstating
Welcome to Success: The
no longer cute. I believe that
test results?
Marva Collins Story and
our children did not possibly
the book Marva's Chil-
COLLINS: What do I care
have an opportunity to become
dren. Collins, who was
universal citizens of the world,
about what people say? You
offered and refused the
to be able to compete in the
know, I bought these buildings.
secretary of education
marketplace for jobs.
THANK
I pay the teachers here. I spon-
post in 1981, was inter-
sor the children who can't pay,
viewed by USA Today's
Illustrations by Tom Gibson
so as far as I am concerned,
Barbara Reynolds.
Marva Collins
USA TODAY: Before you
they can continue to predict
opened Westside Prep, you
Marva Collins' method of in-
Taylor, and they almost look
ning around with more and
but I shall continue to deter-
were a Chicago public school
struction?
like K-mart. There is a decline
more degrees. I have more dif-
mine. We kept doing what we
Turn life's lemons
teacher. Are private schools
of merchandise, and services.
ficulty with the teachers here
were doing. In fact, it was very
doing better?
COLLINS: It's all about be-
It's not just in schools. You look
than I ever have with the chil-
good for me. I hope they start
lieving in yourself and not al-
at writers who write articles,
dren.
another controversy because it
into fresh lemonade
COLLINS: Education is de-
lowing people to break your
how many really take the time
will probably increase the
clining not only in public
spirit. It's about determination
to do research or do they take
USA TODAY: Won't Presi-
sales of my books and my
schools, but in education all
and belief in what you can do.
everybody else's clips and you
dent Reagan's emphasis on
speaking engagements. I was
USA TODAY: Your most
school without learning to
over. It's no longer just public
It's not letting people break
see the same article? How
tuition tax credits benefit pri-
gone 15 weeks in a row. I made
famous student at Westside
read? He didn't start school
schools. We get children from
your spirit. You don't run
many of them really take the
vate schools, such as yours?
more money than I have ever
Preparatory School is 24-
playing basketball. What hap-
very prestigious, very wealthy
around with a "poor little me"
time to get the facts?
made in my life, so it was very
year-old Kevin Ross, a star
penned in kindergarten? And
families, which could send
attitude, "poor black me, some-
COLLINS: If we have the tu-
good for me. You know, if life
college basketball player,
first and second grade? Kevin
them to Switzerland, or any-
body is going to do it for me."
USA TODAY: Since the
ition tax credit, what makes us
gives you a lemon, you make
who went through 16 years of
can't remember the teacher
where to school. My own
Our creed here that is recited
more affluent leave for the
think that all schools aren't go-
lemonade. That's what we
school without learning to
that taught him how to read,
daughter is in a prestigious pri-
everyday by the children says
suburbs or private schools,
ing to return to being mediocre
teach our children.
read. How could that happen?
which meant he must not have
vate school, and she isn't being
that society predicts but they
doesn't that mean that public
again? That's not a cure-all. We
been taught. People will ask
taught correctly either. Right
will determine. If society
education is not a success-ori-
keep putting Band-aids on
USA TODAY: Whites are
COLLINS: That's happening
him, "When you were 9 or 10
now, Japan and Germany are
draws a circle that shuts them
ented system?
hemorrhages. I am not looking
trying to integrate your
to millions of children. Kevin
years old, why didn't you tell
incurring difficulties with their
in, they will draw one that
for benefits. I'll make my own
school, which is located in one
had enough sense to say, "I'm
the teacher you weren't read-
children in school. American
shuts them in. .They are taught
COLLINS: I was cleaning my
way. All I want society to do is
of the worst ghettos in the na-
going to do something about it."
ing?" What 9- or 10-year-old kid
children are the victims of
to believe that God is not some
drawer recently, and I found
to leave me alone. I don't want
tion. Isn't that unusual?
People in my own neighbor-
wouldn't play all day if we
Dick and Jane. Yale, Harvard,
cosmic bellboy at their beck
my high school autograph
anybody to do anything for me,
hood do not read. There are
would let him?. What 9- or 10-
the University of California at
and call. We have to get rid of
book. There wasn't a mis-
just get out of my way and I'll
COLLINS: It is not unusual.
around 30 million illiterate
year-old child decides he wants
Berkeley have remedial read-
that zealous, religious fervor,
spelled word in that book. I
do it myself. I really don't want
If I.can make a better mouse-
people in America. Kevin is
to get an education? What child
ing courses.
that God is going to take care of
called my daughter and told
money stuffed in here. I could
trap than my neighbor, the
just one of many people, one of
is mature enough to know what
us.
her that children were able to
be a very wealthy woman. I
world will beat a path to my
millions.
he or she wants?
USA TODAY: What is the
spell and be halfway literate in
have turned down a million
door. We have what the world
USA TODAY: That sounds
racist Alabama, where I grew
dollars, to start 100 Marva Col-
needs here. So, we have a child
USA TODAY: Studies show
more like Marva Collins' phi-
up. We are so busy living now
lins Inc. schools. But I am not
whose father is senior partner
that under your tutelage Ke-
losophy. What do you teach?
that we forget the past. There
turning out Big Macs. Where
of one of the largest law firms
vin has come from a 2.2 read-
was a time when public school
am I going to find the teach-
in the city, whose other chil-
ing level to 12.7 in about four
COLLINS: We teach chil-
children did learn to read. We
ers? At least Big Macs have
dren go to Smith College and
months. How did you improve
dren to think, we teach logic.
aren't talking about being doc-
quality control. How can I go
Vassar.
Kevin's reading scores so
We teach Latin. Marva Collins'
tors, lawyers, chemists, scien-
out and set up 100 Martha Col-
fast?
way is, perhaps, what most
tists, but they were able to read
lins schools and make sure that
USA TODAY: Can you sum
people have forgotten, the way
the menu. They were able to
children are learning? We
up what is happening at your
COLLINS: I worked on vo-
children were taught back in
read newspapers. I don't care
would have the same illiteracy
school?
cabulary, starting with basic
the 1920s. Children were taught
how many excuses we make
that we have now.
vowel sounds, comprehension,
elocution and that Shake-
that might get us off the hook, it
COLLINS: What we are do-
and just constantly working at
speare, Emerson and Thoreau
is not going to save us. My
USA TODAY: It has been
ing here is creating children
it.
were not too difficult for grade
grandmother could read the
said that although you are
who are going to make their
school students.
Bible. We are talking about
teaching an appreciation of
own way. We are creating chil-
USA TODAY: Is Kevin a
people now who can't com-
white literary artists, you are
dren here who will say to the
victim of the athletic system
USA TODAY: Aren't you
plete an application. I mean,
ignoring the works of black
world, "Either take my hand
rather than racism?
saying let's return to the ba-
had Kevin received a degree
scholars.
and come on with me, or I'm
sics?
and graduated, he would never
going anyway without you." We
COLLINS: Kevin just hap-
have been able to do a job be-
COLLINS: That's not true.
have children who do not have
pened to be an athlete and he
COLLINS: We have to return
cause he couldn't really com-
There is not a subject you
self pity. We have children who
didn't get as much as the aver-
to doing the things that built
plete an application. What do
could ask me about that I can-
do not have brakable wheels.
age black child, but how did he
America. Go to the better
we have when our children re-
not talk to you about, whether
We have children whose spirits
ever get through grammar
stores, such as Saks, Lord &
ceive diplomas? We are run-
it is the Dow Jones averages, or
can't be crushed.
Doan Van Toai and David Chanoff
Herb Greer
USSR out of Vietnam
Rebecca West at 90
THE
AMERICAN SPECTATOR.
R
VOL. 16
APRIL 1983
NO. 4
/
Hugh Kenner: The Beauty of Bureaucracy
Werner J. Dannhauser: Jacobo Timerman Lies
Marva Collins, Teaching Our Children Well
by Rita Kramer
$1.75
A MONTHLY REVIEW
$19.00
FOR ONE COPY
EDITED BY R. EMMETT TVRREII ID
HE YEAR
A WGLE185M- 011 8304 1 1 1
M WEIGLE
105 ni
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
VOL. 16, NO. 4 / APRIL 1983
Rita Kramer
MARVA COLLINS AND
AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION
The "controversial" history of a contemporary innovator.
In the fall of 1975, after fourteen years of
In the spring of 1977 Marva Collins sent
brought thousands of letters from parents,
teaching, twelve of them in the Chicago
a letter to a Chicago Sun-Times columnist
thousands of dollars from individual con-
public schools, Marva Collins opened a
who had written about suburban high-
tributors, and more publicity in other
small private school (four pupils to begin
school students who didn't know who
magazines-People, Good Housekeeping,
with, one of them her own daughter) in a
Shakespeare was or anything about his
Saturday Review, etc.-and newspapers.
donated basement room in Chicago's
works, and invited him to visit Westside
Educational journals ran stories about the
run-down Garfield Park. the neighborhood
Prep. His story on the school, including
school. Parents, teachers, press, all
where she lived and had been teaching.
some of the children's compositions on
clamored to visit. School officials came
She made use of books salvaged from the
Michelangelo, da Vinci, Aesop, and Hin-
from as far away as Europe. In the fall of
trash bins of the local public school and a
duism, was syndicated to newspapers
1979 CBS ran a segment on Westside Prep
salary provided by the government-funded
around the country. And Marva Collins has
on "Sixty Minutes." It elicited six thou-
Alternative Schools Network.* Within
been in the spotlight ever since. As
sand letters and made Marva Collins a
months, enrollment had tripled and her
journalist (and co-author of Marva Collins's
nationally known figure. By the end of 1980
previously "unteachable" or "learning
book) Civia Tamarkin puts it, "Readers
she had been mentioned in the New
disabled" pupils all learned to read,
were touched by the story of children who
York Times as a possible Reagan choice for
increased their verbal and math com-
had been discarded as 'unteachable'
Secretary of Education and a year later she
prehension, and went on to read at
climbing to superior achievement in a
was the heroine of a prime-time television
increasingly higher levels. Their attitude
school that was always short of books,
"docudrama" seen by an estimated 19
toward school-and toward themselves—
paper, pencils, and even chalk."
million viewers.
had changed.
An article in Time in December of 1977
What she had done and what she
At the end of that first year, she decided
thought about it have now become the
to take over the school herself, and moved
subject of Marva Collins' Way, t a book
it into her own home, changing its name to
guaranteed to incur the wrath of just about
Westside Preparatory School. Again, she
everyone in the education world today. In
scrounged furniture, materials, books. She
it, she explains the ideas and methods that
used her own pension money and her
first brought her acclaim and, more
husband contributed the labor that made a
recently, opprobrium.
classroom out of part of their apartment.
Her success in teaching previously back-
ward and unruly children got around. More
As
millions of magazine and newspaper
parents brought their children, and local
readers and television viewers know by
press reports were followed by national
now, Marva Collins's classroom technique
publicity about the one-room school in
was to begin with a discussion of a book the
which so much was being accomplished by
children had read, writing each new word
means of so little but one woman's
on the blackboard and breaking it down
dedicated efforts.
into its phonetic components and discus-
sing its meaning, letting the discussion
*In 1979 she ended her connection with the
roam over matters of history, geography,
ASN, an arm of the Comprehensive Employ-
poetry, botany, while making sure the
ment and Training Act, but her participation in
children mastered new words and added
the program would eventually become a
weapon in the hands of her detractors.
them to their vocabulary as they added
ideas to their experience. ("The essence. of
Rita Kramer is author of How to Raise a
teaching is to make learning contagious, to
Human Being; Maria Montessori: A Biog-
have one idea spark another. All the
raphy; Giving Birth: Childbearing in
while she would be encouraging and
America Today; and, most recently. In
Defense of the Family: Raising Children in
tJ.P. Tarcher, Inc. (distributed by Houghton
America Today (Basic Books).
Mifflin), $12.95.
8
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL
1983
prodding them, and holding forth on the
'progressive' teaching methods. In an effort to
Collins was brought up on pride. Her
value of learning as the key to success in
follow John Dewey's notion of a student-cen-
father was a strong personality and a
life.
tered rather than subject-centered approach to
successful man and she grew up respecting
learning, schools have too often sacrificed
Instruction was always individualized;
subject matter, being more concerned with how
him and herself. Years later, looking
the day's "lesson plan" grew out of the
they taught than what they taught
It is a
around at many of her Garfield Park
questions asked that day about what had
mistake to assume that in order to stimulate
neighbors and wondering why "my south-
been read by the children. And she was
creativity and critical thinking you must rule out
ern pride stuck while theirs didn't," she
constantly on her feet, checking each one's
any learning by rote. Memorization is the only
reflected that "part of the problem is that
work, making comments, giving help. She
way to teach such things as phonics, grammar,
spelling, and multiplication tables.
people are looking for easy solutions."
insisted on order and discipline in the
I'd ask the children, "How are you going to
classroom. And she succeeded in gaining
They have been led to believe that someone else
is going to do things for them. Too many black
her pupils' respect both for herself and for
the learning she was helping them acquire.
'Children do not need to
people have fallen into the pattern of listening
to the self-proclaimed leaders who find it in
"It seemed to me that the children
read stories that teach
their own best interest to make people feel
would be more anxious to read if they were
there are "free rides" in this world. If so many
interested in what they were reading.
'street smarts. They
foreign immigrants could come to America and
make it, so can people like those in Garfield
Rejecting the look-say method in which
learn enough on their
Park.
children associate words with pictures and
I am convinced that the real solution is
read the same simple words and sentences
own. What they need are
education. We have to teach children self-
over and over until they recognize them,
character-building
reliance and self-respect. We have to teach
she taught phonics, in which children learn
them the importance of learning, of developing
to sound out the vowel and consonant
stories.
skills, of doing for themselves. I am always
reminding my students that if you give a man a
sounds that are part of all words, and in
fish, he will eat for only a day. If you teach him
place of the "Look, Jane" readers she
run a corporation if you can't run yourself?'
how to fish, he will feed himself for a
taught from classics of fable and fairy tale:
I didn't hesitate to discuss crime in the ghetto,
lifetime.
The legacy I want to leave behind
drugs, prison, or teenage pregnancy. I told
is a generation of children who realize that you
I chose those stories because they teach values
them welfare is just another form of slavery.
can't get something for nothing, who are proud
and morals and lessons about life. Fairy tales
I did not teach black history as a subject
and resourceful enough to take care of their
and fables allow children to put things in
apart from American history, emphasize black
own. In this messed-up world, the only children
perspective-greed, trouble, happiness, mean-
heroes over white, or preach black conscious-
who are going to make something of themselves
ness, and joy. After reading those stories you
ness rather than a sense of the larger
are those who come from strong parents or
have something to think over and discuss. More
society
those who have had a strong teacher. Or
than anything, I wanted my students to be
both.
excited about reading. I wanted them to under-
stand that reading is not an exercise in
She told her pupils, "I don't want to
Co-author Civia Tamarkin, who spent
memorizing words but a way to bring ideas to
hear any jive talk in here or any of this stuff
time in the classroom watching Marva
light.
about black English. You must not just
Collins teach, describes her working the
think of yourselves as black children or
audience like an entertainer, an old-time
The emphasis on "relevance" that limits
ghetto children. You must become citizens
preacher, giver of love as well as learning.
reading to stories about lives like their own
of the world, like Socrates." As she put it,
She functions, in fact, like the ideal parent.
in worlds they already know "undermines
"Instead of teaching black pride I taught
Tender and tough, uniting affection and
the very purpose of an education. It
my children self-pride." It was what she
discipline in the same source, so that the
doesn't expand the children's horizons or
had brought with her from her middle-
child must accept the one in order to enjoy
encourage inventiveness and curiosity.
class Alabama upbringing, and what she
the other.
Instead it limits perspective to the grim
found in such short supply in the urban
Much of her success must be attributed
scenes they see every day of their lives.
slums of the North.
not to method but to manner. It is her
Children do not need to read stories that
The child of a well-to-do black business-
character that impresses. Over and over
teach 'street smarts.' They learn enough
man in the segregated South. Marva
again, reading her or listening to her, one
on their own. What they need are
character-building stories. They need to
read for values, morality, and universal
truths." And so she taught classical
literature rather than the books churned
out by publishers today as "young
people's books."
She assigned reading from Plato,
Homer, Tolstoy, Emerson to children
whose reading had begun only months
before, sounding out the new words,
talking about the ideas, and always, always
relating those ideas to the children's own
future lives. Curiosity, ambition, and
self-control were the aims of her method,
and if her pupils did not always understand
the finer points of philosophy or poetry, as
her critics claim, they were familiarizing
themselves with a world of heroes engaged
in adventures of ideas and establishing a
sense of values that might send them back
to these same texts years later.
Over the years, I have come to believe that
some of the problems plaguing modern educa-
tion are the result of the emphasis placed on
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL 1983
9
hears her satisfaction in the process of
programs like those in "black English" or
special-interest groups by suggesting that
hard work and its resulting accomplish-
"black studies," for the idea that a black
the schools were failing-not because they
ment. Her sense of mission is contagious,
child must be taught by a black teacher in
were not doing what only the family could
like her love of well-turned phrases, telling
order to have a "role model," or retain the
do, not because they were not being used
mots, and aphorisms.
language of the streets in order not to
to change society forcibly enough or fast
Marva Collins is an example of what an
damage his "identity." And she had no
enough-but because they were not doing
exceptional individual can accomplish
use for busing, pointing out that ineffective
what they could indeed be expected to
through "determination, perseverance,
teachers and low-achieving pupils can be
do-confront the individual student with
stick-to-it-iveness, and pride' the
found everywhere. "Miseducation is not a
the challenge of a demanding teacher in
personal charisma that enables her to
function of a child's race or neighborhood
love with learning and equipped with
inspire her pupils with those same quali-
disciplinary sanctions. Far from tactful,
ties. When one of the parents of a pupil at
she took on the whole educational estab-
Westside Prep was asked on "Sixty
Whether she was ignorant
lishment when she criticized "the count-
Minutes," "Do you think what happens
less schools across the country that mis-
or duplicitous, the charge
here in Mrs. Collins's school could be
labeled children, simplified textbooks,
made to happen on a grand scale in the
of having accepted federal
diluted curricula, and created special
public schools?" she replied. "Only if you
curricula for 'underprivileged' children."
funds while decrying the
had a grand scale of Marva Collinses."
A lot of careers, which means a lot of
On the same program, she herself said
failure of. federal funding
money and a lot of prestige, would be
she never claimed to be a miracle-worker:
to solve the problems of
called into question by the idea that
"Anyone can do it who's willing to walk
pounding away at basic skills and old-
from desk to desk and really work at it from
schools in the urban slums
fashioned exhortation could make a dif-
dawn to dusk."
is still a smokescreen, if
ference in the lives of children greater than
anything money could buy or legislation
not a smear.
could provide. She is at odds with those
who blame the system as much as with
M
arva Collins's emphasis on traditional
those who blame the victim.
methods of instruction and readings in the
but of the teaching methods he or she is
classics, on the importance of hard work
exposed to from kindergarten on.
and high expectations, could have been
The backlash was inevitable. She had
It was a full-page ad by the SmithKline
forgiven. Even an oversize ego or an
offended the black leaders by stating that
Corporation in the Wall Street Journal and
abrasive personality could have been
black children's educational needs were no
Newsweek in the spring of 1980 that
forgiven. Her scorn for the sacred cows of
different from those of other children and
provided the occasion for the first counter-
the contemporary education world could
were a matter of expectation, hard work,
attacks by those she had so egregiously
not. Along the way to national recognition
and discipline rather than special schools
offended. The ad showed Marva Collins in
she had said things like, "It was my school
and special courses, that individual initia-
the classroom and quoted her on a number
and I felt the public had no right to
tive and not group advantage was the
of her favorite topics including an enthusi-
tell me how to run it. That especially meant
answer to their plight.
astic plug for tuition vouchers. Her
government bureaucrats and special
She had offended organized profes-
espousal of free-market activity in the
interest groups pushing minority rights."
sionals in the teaching world by suggesting
education business referred to "cheats and
She told CBS's Morley Safer, "Buildings
that individual teachers if they worked
profiteers among teachers and administra-
do not teach, people do." and added, "I
hard enough and cared enough could strike
tors" as well as "among the hawkers of
would hate to think a union would have to
the spark that would turn around the
education gadgetry." And she was quoted
protect my job. I have too much pride."
failing pupil, teach the unteachable to
in the Washington Post as saying "most
She had no use for the proliferation of
value learning.
public school teachers she knew couldn't
specialists like curriculum facilitators, or
She offended the whole spectrum of
speak well or spell words correctly them-
selves." This was throwing down the
gauntlet.
United Federation of Teachers president
Albert Shanker responded by devoting one
of his weekly columns in the Sunday New
York Times to defending the public schools
against Marva Collins's charges and rais-
ing questions about the evidence for her
own claims, especially with regard to
reading scores.
But the full fury of reaction was still to
come. By the end of the year she had been
mentioned as a possible choice for Secre-
tary of Education in the new cabinet (and
had immediately rejected the possibility)
and had been the subject of an inspira-
tional drama based on her life and achieve-
ments starring Cicely Tyson on CBS's
"Hallmark Hall of Fame." This was too
much for the public-school establishment,
and retribution was as swift as it was
mean-spirited. Substance. a monthly jour-
nal published by substitute teachers in the
Chicago public schools, claiming to "ex-
pose" the "Marva Collins hoax," accused
her of doing nothing more than success-
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL
1983
10
fully using "a drill-based instruction with
working teacher who is good at motivating
small, select groups of children."
children."
Since Marva Collins had never claimed
Despite red herring and ad hominem
M
arva Collins is the latest example of a
more for herself than drilling children in
arguments, what has brought the wrath of
recurring figure in the history of schooling
the fundamentals in such a way as to
so many down on Marva Collins's head,
-the educational wonder-worker. As such
awaken and sustain their interest, it was
what they cannot forgive and need to dis-
she stands in the direct line from Pestalozzi
hard to find in this charge anything par-
credit, are her scorn for educational
toward the end of the eighteenth century
ticularly damaging.
gimmicks and educational jargon, her
through Froebel, Itard, Seguin, and Mon-
More damaging were the charges that
insistence on a common-sense positive
tessori, all teachers who devised methods
despite her strong stand against public
approach to teaching all children by means
for teaching the unteachable and then
funding of special education programs for
found those methods to have wider
minorities, the money she had accepted
One by one, the labels of
application.
from the Alternative Schools Network to
When Maria Montessori had succeeded
start Westside Prep was CETA money, of
"Superteacher" and
in teaching children previously considered
which she received a total of $69,000
"Miracle Worker,
uneducable to read and write and, indeed,
before taking over the financing of the
to outperform the normal children in
school herself. (Someone had gone to the
pinned on her by the
regular schools, it occurred to her to ask
considerable trouble of digging up the
media, were torn off.
"the reasons which could keep the happy
checks cashed by Marva Collins up to 1979,
healthy children of the common schools on
when her relationship with the program
so low a plane that they could be equalled
ended.) Whether she was ignorant or
of old-fashioned drill and traditional liter-
in tests of intelligence by my unfortunate
duplicitous, the charge of having accepted
ary values. The idea that hard work and
pupils," and thus a new theory and a new
federal funds while decrying the failure of
becoming acquainted with what has stood
method of education were born.
federal funding to solve the problems of
the test of time in the ongoing dialogue of
The story is always the same. The word
schools in the urban slums is still a smoke-
literature is still the best foundation on
is spread, visitors come from all over, the
screen, if not a smear. It attacks the
which to build thoughtful men and women
innovator is hailed as a miracle-worker,
speaker instead of addressing itself to what
and responsible citizens is not popular
books are written, followers gained, a new
is said. The real question-the value of her
today. It is a threat to teachers who want
theory and method are proclaimed-and
approach, the degree of its effectiveness
to feel defeated by the shortcomings of
eventually forgotten as what proves of
and applicability-is left untouched. We
pupils and system rather than make the
lasting value enters the mainstream of
are asked to dismiss the ideas because of
effort to overcome those shortcomings; by
methodology, becomes part of how things
what the woman did.
those blacks, Hispanics, and others who
are done in most schools, until a new
want to feel entitled to reparative public
method emerges in new hands in response
aid on the grounds that society owes it to
to new conditions, and the cycle begins
T
he Substance article was part of a
them; and to those myriad facilitators;
again.
campaign in which a Chicago Tribune
coordinators, and other bureaucrats whose
Nineteenth-century innovations in class-
syndicated columnist and a reporter for
programs are threatened by any departure
rooms that made it possible for the first
local television channel WBBM joined the
from the pious cant of the day on why
time to teach large numbers of poor
attack. She was being used, was the
children come out of so many public
children at once in common schools in the
charge, by white society and "the white
schools having learned so little. It is a
cities of Europe and to socialize the
media,'' by "those who would replace
threat to the tax-supported programs to
immigrant poor in the United States came
public education with private education
ensure racial balance in the schools
to seem rigid, and rote learning gave way
where the government could not ade-
because it insists that what matters is not
to Montessori's emphasis on individual
quately halt discrimination against blacks,
who goes to what school but what is
mastery in the service of independence and
Hispanics and the poor." A disgruntled
expected and even demanded of them
Dewey's emphasis on cooperative expres-
teacher who had recently parted company
there.
sion in the service of democracy. Now
with Marva Collins was found to contribute
a sour word or two about the lack of
"proper testing procedures." Granting all
these things-that she may be difficult
personally for some colleagues and em-
ployees to get along with, that she had
EUROPE
once accepted money of the kind she said
would not solve the problems of the schools
while setting about to show how those
problems could be solved, that she painted
her pupils' achievements in the most
favorable light, none of these is the real
reason for the attack so effectively orches-
trated to tear her down in the same media
that had built her up.
One by one, the labels of "Super-
teacher" and "Miracle Worker," pinned
on her by the media, were torn off. As
Variety put it, "the media giveth and the
media taketh away.' Newsweek and the
New York Times did wrap-ups in a sadder-
but-wiser vein. Only the Wall Street
Journal pointed out that the issue was not
education but the politics of education,
quoting the co-author of her book, "She
never pretended to be more than a hard-
11
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL
1983
Marva Collins appears as the apostle of a
no use for the Italian Catholic woman and
fierce loyalty and equally fierce hostility.
return to fundamentals, to the mastery of
her gospel of individual development
Like Montessori, who came to teaching
skills and appreciation of tradition that has
through self-directed mastery of pre-
serendipitously from medicine (she was
come to be known as "back to basics."
scribed tasks. It was not a doctrine that
the first woman to graduate from medical
Technology has made it all happen faster
accorded with his understanding of the
school in Italy), psychiatry, and the study
today. It took decades for word of
needs of citizens in a participatory democ-
of retarded children, Marva Collins took
Pestalozzi's accomplishments to reach all
racy, in which the emphasis was to be on
some education courses ''because they
of Europe from his school in Yverdon,
group cooperation.
interested me, though I had no intention of
years for the world to hear about the
becoming a teacher. Like Montessori, she
Kindergarten, the radical innovation
T
retained the perspective of the outsider. "I
undertaken by Froebel in Thuringia,
he parallels between the personalities
didn't know anything about educational
months for Montessori's accomplishments
and careers of the two women are striking.
theory, and I have often thought that
in Rome to be spread by newspapers and
worked in my favor. Without preconceived
magazines in both the Old World and the
ideas and not bound by rules, I was forced
New. The electronic media create instant
Montessori's influence
to deal with my students as individuals, to
heroes today-and have a way of devour-
was diminished in this
talk to them, listen to them, find out their
ing them almost as soon as they have
needs."
served them up. Educators, philanthro-
country when she too ran
Exactly like Montessori, Marva Collins
pists, religious leaders, political figures
afoul of the educational
set up and took complete charge of a school
came to observe the goings-on at Montes-
in a run-down neighborhood where little
sori's Casa dei Bambini, and were followed
establishment
had been expected or achieved in the way
by the journalists who made her name a
of education and where she could proceed
household word. A series of articles in
in her way without interference from
McClure's magazine made her famous in
While Marva Collins's importance and
authorities-where, in fact. she herself
North America. In Marva Collins's case it
influence are not in the same league with
would be the only authority. And from the
was a television program followed by
Montessori's, the parallels between the
beginning, she devoted herself unreserv-
countless interviews with her and articles
two "miracle workers,' the one in the
edly to her pupils. Some of them arrived
about her school.
Roman slums at the beginning of the
before breakfast, not many hours after she
Montessori lectured and published
century and the other in the Chicago slums
had finished going over their assignments.
widely, but in a year of tireless effort she
of today, tell something about the nature of
Here is Montessori describing her early
could not have hoped to reach the audience
the relationship of teaching to learning and
efforts: "I gave myself over to the actual
Marva Collins can address in a single half-
of the maverick teacher to the pedagogical
teaching of the children, directing at the
hour appearance on a television talk show.
establishment, now as then.
same time the work of the other teachers."
But neither could her detractors command
Both women were raised by parents
She was there from eight in the morning to
the resources of Marva Collins's enemies
committed to old-fashioned values, strict
seven at night, teaching, observing, ex-
in the organized teaching community, and
discipline, and a traditional code of
perimenting. For Marva Collins as for
it took them longer to bring her down. In
behavior, and both, despite being mem-
Montessori, her school became a testing
the end, Montessori's influence was
bers of disadvantaged classes (women
ground for her ideas and methods. And
diminished in this country when she too
enjoyed no greater equality in turn-of-the-
within a surprisingly short time children
ran afoul of the educational establishment,
century Italy than rural blacks did in the
who had been considered hopeless, un-
which in her day meant the policy-makers
Depression South), were made to feel they
teachable, and/or incorrigible, the with-
at leading teacher-training institutions like
were special children, with special gifts,
drawn and the rebellious, began to learn,
Columbia University's Teachers College,
of whom much was expected. Both
took fire, "exploded," in Montessori's
where John Dewey's disciple William
were charismatic personalities working
phrase, into reading and writing in a
Heard Kilpatrick held sway. Kilpatrick had
outside the establishment and inspiring
matter of weeks. In both cases one can see
the effect of a strong personality influen-
cing the outcome, of a woman tirelessly
engaging the student with challenges in a
way that implies a belief in his capacity to
meet them. And in both cases the
psychological effect of the personal appeal
was presented in the context of a system of
phonics by which the children learned to
read by sounding out the letters that made
words.
Like Montessori, Marva Collins has the
kind of strong personality that invites
identification, and she treated the children
she taught with respect, a fact that did not
go unnoticed by the children or their
parents. Like Montessori, too, Marva
Collins worked out a way of teaching she
insisted on; she could use another pair of
hands but not another mind at variance
with her own. The history of education is a
history of innovators who become remark-
ably intolerant of change.
But however authoritarian in the running
of their schools and the application of their
very different methods-the one relying on
the child's progressive mastery of a set of
programmed materials, the other on books
12
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL
1983
and verbal mastery-both Marva Collins
What Marva Collins has done is to
shabby room with a few books and some
and Montessori before her had the same
suggest a return to an earlier vision of the
paper and pencils, what are we to think
aim-to make children independent, to
role of the school in American society, as
about the millions spent on teachers'
teach them to do things for themselves.
the key that unlocks the gates of opportu-
salaries, elaborate curricula, instructional
Fiercely independent individualists them-
nity for everyone by providing every
materials, government-funded special-
selves, both women took on the educational
individual with what he needs to go as far
interest-group programs, and a vast ad-
establishments of their time singlehand-
as his own talents and abilities and
ministrative superstructure that year after
edly in order to implement a system of
ambitions will take him, a force for
year continues to turn out nonfunctioning
teaching which aimed at producing-no
socializing those of different backgrounds,
and uncaring illiterates?
surprise here-individuals like themselves.
bringing everyone alike into the main-
Despite what her critics have been able
For Marva Collins as for Montessori, the
to dredge up against her, the issue in the
end result of this upbringing was to be in
Marva Collins controversy isn't Marva
control of one's self. This was the most
What Marva Collins had
Collins's personality or even her past
important attribute of an individual, and to
done is to suggest a return
funding-it is the truth or falsity of what
teach it as a value and inculcate it as a
she says about schooling. And what she is
characteristic was the ultimate aim of the
to an earlier vision of the
saying about elementary schools is no
educational process.
role of the school in
different from what James Coleman says in
Like Montessori, Marva Collins has been
his latest report on the schools#: that while
criticized for having, after only a couple of
American society
family background and parental expecta-
years of intensive work with relatively few
tions are crucial determinants of who will
children, put forward a statement about
learn how much, private and parochial
how children learn and a plan for
stream of American culture by trans-
schools do better than public schools-
reforming schools and, by implication,
mitting the best of the past along with the
even for children from similar homes—
society. For nothing cuts closer to the bone
skills needed to make contributions in the
because they impose stricter discipline and
of social philosophy than the question of
future. It is a vision which is at odds with a
demand more in the way of academic
the education of the young. Since the
system organized in the interests of
performance, and that even public schools,
advent of common schooling the classroom
disparate entrenched special-interest
when they enforce attendance, assign
has been perceived as the crucible for the
groups each promoting what are perceived
homework, and insist on discipline in the
reform of society. The schools can be made
as the special needs of a particular sex,
classroom, reach significantly higher levels
to serve the ideas of egalitarians, as we
race, language-speaking group, or those
of student achievement. This is something
have had occasion to learn, through a
afflicted with unfortunate physical or
most caring parents have long ago figured
forcible implementation of plans for such
mental conditions, and with a philosophy
out for themselves, but it is nice to have it
goals as achieving racial parity or such
that aims at distributing certification in
official, wrapped in statistics and delivered
ideals as redistributing the benefits accru-
proportion to numerical representation in
to the door of the educators. Not teacher
ing to holders of professional and other
the population rather than according to
credentials but teacher commitment, not
higher degrees. Or they can be used in
merit as evidenced in individual achieve-
buildings, facilities, audio-visual and other
another way, by removing restrictions but
ment.
fancy aids-i.e., not money-but hard
imposing no other kinds of regulation, to
What has gotten Marva Collins into
work and high standards make all the
ensure that equality of opportunity, if not
trouble is her adherence to this old-fash-
difference.
necessarily of outcome, is available to all
ioned belief in the necessity for thinking of
comers.
education in terms of the individual and
High School Achievement: Public, Catholic
not the group. If one eager and indefati-
and Private Schools Compared, by James S.
T
gable woman can excite and instruct
Coleman, Thomas Hoffer, and Sally Kilgore.
he year that Montessori's book on her
lethargic and backward children in a
Basic Books, $20.75.
method appeared in English and was
reviewed in newspapers, magazines, and
professional journals everywhere, and in
which her fame was assured by a series of
articles in McClure's in America and the
Fortnightly Review in England, also saw
the publication of a book called The
Promised Land. The number-one nonfic-
tion best-seller of 1912, it was the ringing
testimonial of an immigrant to the public-
school system that had "made an Ameri-
can" of her. The author, Mary Antin, saw
the promise of America as an opportunity,
not an assurance. In America, everybody
had a chance, but it was up to the
individual to secure the fulfillment of the
promise. "That is what America was for.
The land of opportunity it was, but
opportunities must be used, must be
grasped, held, squeezed dry.' This atti-
tude seems quaint, if not actually obsolete,
in a time of Acts, Titles, regulations,
guidelines, quotas-all enforced by the
threat of withdrawal of federal funding or
at the least of protracted; complicated, and
prohibitively expensive legal procedures—
intended to supersede individual merit and
effort as determinants of success.
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
APRIL
1983
13
Casualty of a Failed System
After 16 Years of School,
"They actually applaud and really make me feel
good. They help me and sometimes they ask me for
help."
Kevin Ross Starts Over
Kevin Ross's story is both surprising and sad. It
can be said to be surprising because a major univer-
sity is apparently owning up to its responsibility and
trying to help a failed athlete. But it can also be said
By EDWARD MENAKER
to be sad because Kevin Ross failed so miserably
throughout 16 years of school that he not only never
CHICAGO
learned to write proficiently, but he never really
K
EVIN ROSS once was courted by college re-
learned how to read.
cruiters and says he had his class papers
"Maybe, we all share the blame for Kevin's fail-
typed by school secretaries. Now Ross is
ure," says Creighton University's athletic director,
struggling in a storefront grammar school in what
Dan Offenburger.
amounts to an eighth-grade class, filled with pig-
"The system failed him, Kevin failed the system,
tailed girls and little boys who carry lunch boxes. He
maybe his mother failed him, maybe I failed him.
is 23 years old and 6 feet 9 inches tall.
"But does the school get 60 percent of the blame,
Ross arrived at Creighton University in Omaha a
the mother 30, the high school 10? I mean how do you
little more than four years ago, a 23-point, 20-re-
assess who's to blame?"
bound-per-game sensation from Wyandotte High
School in Kansas City. Boosters and alumni greeted
him with a cake and a party and applause. Now, he is
Kevin Ross never became at Creighton the basket-
enrolled at what has become a fabled grade school in
ball star that he had been in high school. Offenburger
Chicago run by Marva Collins. Now he hears a differ-
confesses that Ross's talent may have been mis-
ent kind of cheering.
judged even as he was being recruited by Creighton.
"Maybe, we believed a little too much in his high
"I go up to the board to do an algebra problem and
the little kids clap for me," Ross says with a smile.
Continued on Page 27, Column 1
'I go to the
board to do a
problem and
the kids clap
The New York Times/Steve Kagan
for me.'
Kevin Ross, former Creighton basketball player, in class last
week at Westside Prep in Chicago.
Kevin Ross: Another C
Continued From Page 25
school press clippings," Offenburger
says now.
Ross says that Creighton promised
him he would become the starting cen-
ter. He wound up starting fewer than
10 games. Even in his best season, as a
junior, Ross averaged only 6 points.
"Let's face it," says Offenburger.
He "was not a great basketball
player. He would have had trouble
making it as a pro.
"But he was a good kid and he never
stopped trying."
Opal Ross never stopped believing
in her son's press clippings. She raised
five other children besides Kevin.
Now she's on disability retirement
from the post office, where she
worked as a mail sorter for nearly 19
years. She lives alone in a small
apartment in Kansas City, Mo. Today
she feels that her son never received a
fair chance in basketball at Creighton.
"I feel he was robbed of his career,"
says Mrs. Ross. "I feel he was used by
the athletic department, as far as bas-
ketball was concerned, and that they
didn't treat him fairly."
Tom Apke, now the head basketball
coach at Colorado, was the coach at
Creighton when Ross was recruited.
In an interview last week Apke said,
"I had no knowledge of him coming
into Creighton that he had any prob-
lems." But later in the interview Apke
said: "Kevin Ross was viewed as a
gamble. We accepted him knowing
that we were taking a chance." Apke
said that Ross was "a little bit over a
C student at an average inner-city
high school. Ross tested below the na-
The New York Times/Steve
tional average in his college entrance
Kevin Ross with Marva Collins last week at Westside Prep in Chicago.
exams. But sometimes those standar-
ized tests are not necessarily a good
indicator because they can be cultur-
recalls some of his early classes, such
that there were more people
ally biased."
as theory of baseball, and ceramics.
cerned with him, and more peoj
Apke said that Ross was accepted
Ross contends that it was not until his
concerned directly."
mainly on the strength of recommen-
junior year that he even understood
Ross showed several of his gra
dations of high school counselors and
which classes were required for
cards to The New York Times. Amor
his high school coach.
graduation.
the courses he took in the first seme
"But while he was an exception
Mrs. Ross describes Kevin's prob-
ter of his freshman year were two
Ross was not the only borderline case
lems this way:
hour courses in theory of track an
that's ever been recommended and
"You know, he was a big kid, tall,
field (grade satisfactory) and theor
accepted by Creighton."
and sometimes he didn't understand
of baseball (grade A); a one-hou
Apke and every other official of a
what was happening in class, I guess,
course in squad participation (basket
school interviewed for this article re-
and you know how kids are, afraid to
ball, grade A); a three-hour course in
fused to discuss specifics about Kevin
ask questions at all.
introductory ceramics (grade C); a
Ross's classroom record, citing the
"I think they gave him courses just
three-hour course in photography
Family Education and Privacy Act.
to keep him eligible."
(satisfactory), a two-hour course in
The Wyandotte principal, Thomas
Offenburger concedes that at mid-
first aid (grade C) and a three-hour
J. Rhone, remembers Ross as "hav-
term of his freshman year, Ross was
theology course (grade D). In the nex
ing deficiencies," and that his reading
struggling and that he was given an
semester he took a similar course
and writing were behind grade levels.
easier course load.
load. He had four A's, and a C in the
"But he was not the lowest of the low-
"We found he could do better with
theology course.
est," Mr. Rhone said.
physical activities and theory
Offenburger says that Ross was
He made it through Wyandotte in
courses," says Offenburger. "My
able to maintain his basketball eligi
the normal four years, according to
recommendation for a lighter load for
bility, though he might not have beer
Mr. Rhone, but not without special
Kevin was approved by the Dean of
completing enough requirements for
classes and tutoring by teachers.
Arts and Sciences."
graduation. It was as Ross proceeded
"Millions of kids get through schools
Offenburger maintains that Creigh-
through his second year at Creightor
each year with problems like
ton did not stretch its standards for
that, according to Offenburger, "we
Kevin's," Mr. Rhone said.
Ross, saying, "Kevin took legitimate
began to identify the difficulties with
courses with the different depart-
which we had to deal."
ments of the college, courses avail-
It was also at this point that Offen
Kevin Ross says he had been told by
able to any student, not just Kevin.
burger took a step he had not
the recruiters that if he just went to
"He was treated no different than
to take with Kevin
class, he would get his degree.
any other disadvantaged kid at
He is slightly embarrassed when he
Creighton. The only
alty of a Failed System
that he not return to Creighton," Of-
er. "But I think it would be naïve to
to the basics and being with children,
fenburger says, "because of the aca-
think that a student could not get close
some of whom are less than half his
demic challenges involved.
enough to office staff or a secretary
age.
"But Kevin told me he felt he could
and that she would give in and do the
"You deal with kids on their level,"
overcome the challenges. I thought it
favor.
Ross says.
would be tough but I respected
"I never remember this happening
"They're people just like you and
Kevin's sincerity."
but I won't say that it didn't happen."
me," he adds. "It makes me feel good
It was Offenburger who broached
to see them getting something at their
the idea that although Kevin had not
age that I didn't get."
In 1980, Offenburger and Apke had
reached his potential in basketball,
Ross denies that he had a reading
Ross evaluated in a special program
perhaps he could reach his potential in
deficiency and says that the explana-
at the University of Missouri in Kan-
education.
tion of his eyes skipping spaces was
sas City.
"The crime at this point would have
"They suggested he see an optome-
been walking away from him, letting
just Creighton. being used as an excuse by
trist," Offenburger says. "They said
him drop into oblivion," says Offen-
that Kevin had some kind of defi-
burger.
ciency for his eyes, skipped spaces as
"Maybe, there was some guilt. But I
he read.'
think more importantly, we just felt
Ross says that in just the short time
Offenburger says Ross underwent
responsible to this kid. We had prom-
that he has been at Westside Prep his
special tutorial help at Missouri and
ised him an education and now we
reading has improved. He turns to a
when he returned to Creighton, "he
were going to follow through on it.
book-lined shelf and pulls out a small.
was able to maintain his eligibility."
"It's just that we didn't feel that we
pocketbook from which he begins
Ross's being tutored at Missouri
were equipped at Creighton to handle
reading. It is Edith Hamilton's my-
raised a problem with the National
Kevin's problem."
thology, "Timeless Tales of Gods and
Collegiate Athletic Association be-
Offenburger remembered a school
Heroes." He reads slowly but cor-
cause he was attending another
in Chicago called Westside Prep that
rectly and says that he understands
what he has read.
school, and N.C.A.A. regulations pro-
had been profiled on the network tele-
hibit a college from providing a spe-
vision program "60 Minutes.' It was
He squeezes himself under his
cial service for an athlete that it does-
run by a woman who was called a
make-shift desk. In front of him are
n't provide for other students. But, Of-
"miracle worker," and a "super
books like Plato's Republic, The Port-
fenburger says, "when we proved that
teacher." The school supposedly
able Machiavelli and Introduction to
we do this for other students, the
reached out to children considered to
Algebra. Kevin Ross is in the last seat
N.C.A.A relented."
be at an educational dead end. Kevin
at the back of the first row as you
At the end of his junior year, Ross
Ross seemed to fit the bill.
enter the room, almost sticking out
had arthroscopic surgery to remove
Offenburger proposed the idea and
into the doorway.
bone and tissue fragments from his
even flew Ross and his mother, at
"I don't care how people look at
left knee. This incident seemed to
Creighton's expense, to Chicago for a
me," says Ross. "All I know is that
focus the bitterness and confusion of
look at the school.
I'm here trying to better myself.
his three years at Creighton.
"We talked and talked," says Offen-
"I feel like I was in a bottle and that
"Kevin went to the doctor alone,"
burger. "But in the end we realized it
I just escaped," Ross says. "Many
Ross says, using his first name to
had to be Kevin's decision and Kevin's
nights I actually went home and cried.
make his point. "Kevin went to sur-
decision alone."
"Sure, they're helping me. But, they
gery alone.
Ross remembers it this way:
put me through a hell of a test. You
"Nobody seemed to care. I did
"Offenburger called me in and said
can't slap a dog or treat a man bad
everything on my own. I busted my
'you haven't got the guts to go to that
and then give him gold and expect him
tail to do everything for them basket-
school in Chicago. You haven't got the
to forget about the past.
ball-wise and then they just left me
guts to be with those little kids.'
"I'm the one who has to live with
alone."
"I told him that he was wrong, that I
this the rest of my life.'
In his senior year, Kevin wound up
wanted an education and that I'd go
When Offenburger was asked if
on academic probation. His course
anywhere to get
Creighton would take Ross back after
load included three physical education
Offenburger worked through the
his 10 months at Westside Prep, he
courses, a ceramics course, and an
Creighton administration, eventually
said, "when my phone rings and
English course. His grades were two
even getting the Westside Prep idea
Kevin tells me where he is and what
F's, two D's and a satisfactory. It was
approved by the school president.
he needs, I'm going to do everything I
also another lost year in basketball.
Creighton agreed to bankroll the idea,
can to help him."
He averaged about 3 points a game
in essence extending Ross's scholar-
"I'm prouder of Creighton than ever
during a season in which the team
ship another year. He enrolled at
before, Offenburger says. "You can
went from Missouri Valley Confer-
Westside Prep last month. He lives
look at it this way, you know, that a lot
ence champions to one with seven vic-
with a family in Chicago.
of educational institutions have to
tories and 20 losses in its first season
take the blame for its failures. In
under Coach Willis Reed. By the end
Kevin's case Creighton has accepted
of the year Kevin still found himself a
After 16 years of schooling, Kevin
the blame and done something about
year to a year-and-a-half short of his
Ross is back at the start, this time at a
it.
degree.
school that faces a busy street lined
"When you try things that are crea-
Ross maintains that along with his
with factories. It is sandwiched be-
tive, sometimes they work and some-
reading difficulties, he also had prob-
tween places like the Hawthorn Grill
times they bomb out. But at least
lems with his writing, that he had used
and the Dessent Sheet Metal Company
we're giving it a shot."
cursive writing in high school but did
on West Chicago Avenue. Over its
not use it at Creighton when he found
Says Kevin Ross:
storefront facade are the simple white
out he could get by with printing. And,
"Basketball is tucked away in the
metal letters spelling "Westside
he maintains, class papers that he
Prep."
attic now. I want to be a somebody.
printed were handed over to athletic
Ross is now in the hands of Marva
"I could say a million nice things
department secretaries to be typed.
Collins, who started the school in a
about Creighton, or about my high
Neither Offenburger nor Apke said
school, but it all still comes out the
room of her home and has gone on to
they had any knowledge of this, but
gain an international reputation for
same way in the end.
each conceded that they would not
"Where did I miss out?"
success. She says that she will do in 10
have been surprised if it had hap-
months what was not done for Kevin
pened.
Ross in 16 years.
Edward Menaker is a news writer-
"We would not approve a secretary
Ross appears determined to get his
producer at WLS-TV, the ABC-owned
typing for a student," says Offenburg-
education even if it means going back
station in Chicago.
Tribune photos by Ernie Cox Jr.
After four years in college, basketball
player Kevin Ross couldn't keep up with
a class of 3d graders. Now basketball is
taking a back seat-Ross is learning how
to read and write.
In college, all he could
read was the defense
By Linda Kay
Six-foot-nine-inch Kevin Ross, a highly
regarded prep athlete in Kansas City, Kan.,
HE COULD NOT punctuate a sentence.
the basketball team captain his senior year
He never capitalized the pronoun "I." Un-
at Creighton, could barely read and write
able to write cursively, he printed. He could
when he entered Westside Prep. Today, he
not differentiate between the words are and
is making slow but steady progress.
our, knew and new, or too, to and two. He
"I just don't know how I made it through
had never read an entire book.
all those years of school without those
Yet Kevin Ross possessed a high school
skills," says the 24-year-old Ross, a sof-
diploma and attended Creighton University
tspoken giant, as he sits at a table piled
in Omaha for four years.
with books and magazines. "I sure knew
Last September, Ross made news when
how to play basketball, though."
he enrolled at Westside Preparatory School
ROSS' STORY, which will be told in a
in Chicago. "The plan was to put Kevin in
made-for-television movie at the end of the
the classroom," says Marva Collins, the
year, is shocking even to those familiar
school's founder, "but he couldn't keep up
with my 3d graders."
Continued on page 8, col. 6
OVER
Ross probably would not have
come to Westside Prep if hadn't been
injured in his junior year at
HE LIVES IN an apartment near
Creighton. "I knew I was passed
the school and does little else after
along in school because I was a good
athlete," he says. But when he hurt
class except read [he recently
finished his first book, "Five Smooth
Ross
his knee and required surgery, that
lesson really hit home.
Stones"] and play with some of the
No longer of great value to the
students, who view him as a big
brother.
team, Ross suddenly found himself
Continued from page 1
on academic probation in his fourth
"Kevin doesn't have a lot of time
with academic scandals in college
year at the school.
to fool around," Collins says. "He
"I was supposed to return to
has a whole life to make up. If Kevin
sports.
It is also very timely in light of a
Creighton for a fifth year, but I got
wants to succeed, he can't go to
rule recently adopted by the Nation-
the worst grade card I ever got,"
discos. People criticize me. They say
al Collegiate Athletic Association.
says Ross. "They put me on academ-
Kevin needs a social life. But he
That rule, which takes effect in 1986,
ic probation. Then I knew I had
can't afford those luxuries."
stipulates that to compete as fresh-
gotten a free ride for four years.
Nevertheless, Ross is brimming
men at a Division I school, incoming
Then everything started coming to
with plans. He wants to take lessons
me. They told me I couldn't come
in speech and drama so he can talk
athletes must have a 2.0 average
[out of a possible 4.0] in a specific
back to school."
comfortably to high school students
FOR ALMOST FOUR years, Ross
about his life. He is thinking about
number of core curriculum courses
and a combined score of 700 [out of
took college courses designed to keep
playing himself in the television
1,600] on the Scholastic Aptitude Test
him eligible, not to help him obtain a
drama, he thinks about one day re-
or a 15 [out of 36] on the American
degree. Education courses and
turning to basketball, and he would
like to start other schools like West-
College Testing exam.
classes in philosophy and religion
"Either pay for it now and get
were blended with courses like theo-
side Prep, perhaps with the money
he makes from the TV show.
yourself educated, or pay for it
ry of baseball and theory of basket-
later," says Ross. "You're going to
ball "to help balance out the grade
pay one way or the other.'
point," Ross says.
Ross is proof of that. But unlike
"If I had a report to turn in, I'd
many athletes who suffer in silence,
get a book, try to read a chapter or
Ross admitted his illiteracy and
two and write the report by copying
sought help.
some of the book," he says.
At Westside Prep, Ross is attempt-
In addition, a school secretary
ing to learn in nine months what he
would read books for Ross and type
failed to learn in 16 years of school:
up the pertinent points. Ross would
how to read and write.
submit that as his paper. "I went to
AT FIRST, KEVIN joined the
class, I did my work to the best of
children aged 4 through 14 who
my ability. It really hurts when you
attend the private school founded by
want to do something so bad but you
Collins, a commanding woman both
just lack the skills.'
praised as a miracle worker and
ROSS, WHO SAYS he was ready to
criticized for her unorthodox
"explode" with frustration when the
methods.
school denied him another year, says
Within days, Collins pulled him out
the athletic department offered to
of the classroom and began working
help him explore a couple of options.
with him one on one.
"I could have gone to Australia to
"I made the mistake of not testing
play basketball,' he says, "or gone
Kevin before he came here," Collins
to the police academy. But what
says bluntly. "I thought he at least
good is it if you can't fill out a police
knew the basics. But Kevin still has
report? And if I went to Australia,
to pick up the skills we teach to the
I'd come back three years later and
4-year-olds. And it would be too de-
still be a dummy.
meaning for him to be in the
"I want to be looked on as a
classroom with them."
successful and intelligent person, not
Ross was unfamiliar with rudimen-
just a jock. I want a woman to love
tary phonetics. "The thing she has
me for my mind and the knowledge I
taught me which has helped me the
have, not for being a super athlete."
most," he says, "is the vowel
Interestingly, it was the athletic
sounds: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes
director at Creighton who suggested
y."
still another option: Westside Prep.
After three months, Ross took an
"They didn't think I'd have the guts
achievement test to gauge his prog-
to come," Ross says. "They said I
ress. He had improved the equiva-
wouldn't last a week."
lent of two grades in reading skills.
But after visiting the school last
THAT WAS A BIG disappointment
spring and seeking the advice of his
to Collins, who counted on Kevin
family, Ross decided to enroll.
jumping five or six grades.
Creighton is footing the bill for the
"A lot of the teachers here thought
tuition.
I did very well, but she's pushy,"
says Ross. "Instead of settling for in-
between, she wants total im-
provement. I believe I will increase
my scores a heck of a lot when I'm
tested again." Ross will take the
achievement test a second time Jan.
29.
Ross: Plays of Life Most Vital Lessons
By Robert Dorr
cation, including four years at
Ross said there is a 50-50 chance he
Creighton.
will return to Creighton at the end of
World-Herald Staff Writer
One test put his writing at the second-
the current school year. He might work
Former Creighton University basket-
grade level. Creighton officials said oth-
toward a degree at another college, he
ball player Kevin Ross says his decision
er tests indicated Ross' reading and
said.
to return to elementary school to learn
writing, while poor, were a few grades
Ross' story has received nationwide
to read and write was difficult, but nec-
higher.
attention in newspapers and on tele-
essary "to learn the plays of life."
"Everybody thought he was a dum-
vision. MGM has decided to make a
In an essay, he wrote: "It is not easy
my," said his teacher, Marva Collins.
documentary movie, Mrs. Collins said.
to take the road seldom taken. It was
Now, she said, Ross "IS doing very,
Ross titled his essay "A Modest Pro-
not easy to return to
very well."
posal." The title comes from an essay
grammar school to
She said she read Ross' essay, one of
written by 18th century British satirist
get the basic skills
many he has written since enrolling at
Jonathan Swift. Ross recently read the
that I had missed
the private school, before he sent a
Swift essay, Mrs. Collins said.
for 16 years. Ho-
copy to The World-Herald. "I thought it
Ross said he wrote the essay "from
wever, no problem
was good," she said.
my heart. This is how I feel."
can be solved until
In a telephone interview, Ross, 24,
Mrs. Collins confirmed that Ross
it is faced."
said he continues to be enthusiastic
wrote it. The thoughts and grammar
When he arrived
about his schooling. He said his self-
are his, and it shouldn't come as a sur-
at Chicago's West-
confidence is increasing and he thinks
prise that he is capable of writing such
side Preparatory
more clearly.
an essay, she said.
School last fall,
Mrs. Collins said she has stressed the
"I expect a lot - the best - from
tests indicated he
need for Kevin to improve his reasoning
Kevin. I expect a lot from everybody,"
was reading and Ross
ability "to get him to establish his own
she said.
writing at the el-
opinions." She still tutors him individu-
The unedited text of the essay fol-
ementary level despite 16 years of edu-
ally on reading and writing, she said.
lows:
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR 1983
by Kevin J. Ross
As the turbulent noise of 1982 dies away, we must
begin to think of alternatives for 1983. To repeat the
same mistakes is to say that there are no cures for the
fetidness of our time.
As a former athlete, I have just one proposal for
the betterment of our youth. They must learn early that
they cannot conquer the world in a pair of gym shoes.
I feel that sports is emphatically needed in every
curriculum. I however, feel that sports must not be given
priority over the future survival of a student. One must
begin to think of the time when the scoreboard is no longer
lit, and the crowds no longer cheer, and we are only as
good as the last day that we were on the playing field.
The playing field of life is forever, and we must let
our children know that we appreciate their every effort
to participate in sports, but too, they must be able to
participate in life as literate citizens of the world,
and not as past sports heroes.
Today's fetid facts must awaken us to the reality
that something is drastically wrong with a country
who can put men on the moon, a country which is envied
by other countries, and most of all a country that is
far too powerful to be illiterate. Illiteracy and power
simply do not mix.
The denouement of what is must be faced with
stark reality, and wishing that our children could be
academically superior and superior on the academic
fields at the same time may simply be the American
nightmare rather than the American dream. Alliterative
jingles and prettily wrapped packages with decadent
goods inside is simply just another way of avoiding
fact. Nothing can be solved until it is faced.
It is about time that we all admit that we have paid
sports figures such phenomenal figures that all children
feel that the way to share the American dream is to be-
come good in sports. The foundation of our nation
however, is truly the preparation of our youth, and if
we continually make children think that sports is more
important than academics then we shall surely all suffer
at the hands of our reluctance to act. The same children
that ill prepare today will one day lead us
What then?
CHICAGO
UN-TIMES
Views
PAGE
31
UESDAY, MAY 31, 1983
An address by a very special graduate
he word "graduate" means to
The slaves of the past found their way in the dark. Surely
motivators. You made my confidence soar. So tonight I
have completed a course of
those of us today in the view of the light can do better.
say: "Thanks; you gave me hope and determination."
study. You will never, howev-
We Americans have become complacent, accustomed to
The best brains in the world are in this room. Not to
er, finish the challenges of life.
"good enough." That is what now has us in such a
use them to answer the sad calls of our society would be a
You must never see difficulties
decadent state. If we continue our present course, trying
sin.
as insurmountable. You must nev-
to dig from underneath our mistakes, we will be pretty
People with locked, rusty hearts attempting to force
er be afraid to believe in your own
much like trying to clean up the San Francisco quake
you to sit on the sidelines and catch the crumbs of the
self-worth, since it can only be
with a toothbrush.
mainstream of society will be a recurring theme of your
measured by you.
Everything has its price, even success. There are no free
lives. Spend your lives, however, unifying for good, not
Much has been given to you by
rides. There can be no fudging of answers, no easy
pacifying your critics.
your parents and by the teachers
facades. The heights cannot be attained by flight. Great
To be your own agent and not somebody else's advocate
Kevin
at Westside Preparatory School.
men work while others sleep.
is not always popular. But remember, your own
Therefore, much will be expected
When others saw flags of failure waving above our
conscience must guide your actions.
Ross
of you.
heads, Mrs. Collins saw success. We must never negate
One thing must be clear: It is easier to tag and label
You must carve your own
this faith. We must never let the dream of "I can" and "I
than it is to care and teach. The hypothesis is that
dreams on shapeless stone. The
will" die.
students watch too much television, that we don't care,
PERSONAL
pursuit of success will demand
Life has always marooned the hesitant, but you were
that we are a drug-crazed generation. I say to you, it is
VIEW
more of you than the pursuit of
taught to be inspired, to etch and carve your own
the adults who have created our illiterates. It is you who
failure. As Shakespeare said in
must heal the academic wounds of this world.
"Julius Cacsar": "Our fate is not
I also urge you to give back to others a portion of the
within the stars
it is within ourselves."
66
Learning and succeeding is a
rich blessings we have all received during our stay at
Believe in the good and the right. Each time one of you
Westside Prep.
stands for an ideal, or acts to improve your own life and
lifetime pursuit.
"
Others will never demand as much of us as teachers
the lives of others, you will send forth a tiny ripple of
have. But you must continually demand much of
hope to those who may not dare to hope.
yourselves. You must become the Roman candles that will
A true education makes people easy to lead but difficut
ignite others, and you must shoot off sparks to the
to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave.
statistics. Plato's "Republic" reminds US that "education
hopeless.
You must become addicts-addicted to the reality that
is cumulative, and it affects the breed." Your breed has
Michelangelo once walked the streets of Florence with a
your skills are not failure-proof. We will never be in the
been affected for the very best, because the best has been
piece of marble, and he said, "Inside this piece of marble
land of the done. Learning and succeeding is a lifetime
given to you.
is an angel just dying to get out." I, too, was like that.
All the glorious places in the world have not been
Inside was a real live person just dying to breathe literacy.
pursuit.
Each day will bring its new challenges. Some people
taken. The greatest book has never been written. The
Thank you, Mrs. Collins, for giving me a new lease on life.
will call them problems. You must see them as opportuni-
greatest song has never been composed. The greatest
May each of you have enough success to make you an
ties and not belabor why they happened, but think of
success is yet to be accomplished. Never yield your place
asset to society. And enough failure to make you avoid
solutions.
in the line. Stand up and shout: "I can, I will, and I shall
complacency. Life is always calling you. Your luck is your
Alexander Pushkin once said: "I know my power, for
not retreat until I have accomplished my goal."
own pluck. When society draws a circle to shut you out,
me this knowledge is sufficient." Each of you must use
Nine months ago my life seemed rather bleak and
drawn your own circle that will shut you in.
yours to eradicate persecution, callousness and tyranny in
dismal. I had to begin to wipe out 16 years of bad
You know that envy is ignorance. You know that only
all its forms.
education. Yet I gained three years in just four short
in dreams is a ladder thrown. The climbing must be your
Westside Preparatory School has been a beacon of
months! I knew I did not want to go through the rest of
own.
hope. When the world saw darkness, Marva Collins saw
my life as one of 23 million illiterates. I knew I could
Kevin Ross is the basketball player who ompleted
light. When society drew circles that shut us out, she
afford to fumble on the basketball court, but a faux pas in
four years of college and came out illiterate. This
taught us to design our own circles.
life could be fatal.
testimony that he no longer is was adapted from his
heat
The students et Wosteide Pron have been my greatest
graduation address.
Westside Prep
200
Sub-Times
5-26-83
grads get-some
towering advice
By Bob Herguth
City, Kan. And he finished to
Sun-Times Columnist
standing applause from pupils
and their relatives.
Kevin Ross, 24, stood tall and
Only last September, Ross had
triumphant as he gave the com-
difficulty reading and writing
mencement address to fellow
when he arrived at Westside Prep
graduates of Marva Collins'
from Creighton University in
Westside Preparatory School.
Omaha, Neb. He had just fin-
"Learn, learn and learn some
ished four years at Creighton
more," the 6-foot-9-inch Ross
with no degree or any immediate
told his classmates from the sev-
hope of one.
enth
and
He charged
eighth grades
that the school
Wednesday
"
Learn, learn
had put him on
WESCHE PREPARATORY
evening.
"Never cease
and learn some
Mickey
Mouse
learning," the
former college
more.
"
courses to keep
him eligible for
basketball star
basketball.
said, because
-Kevin Ross
And he had
then "the acri-
undergone
monious de-
knee surgery in
bate about inner-city students
his junior year that diminished
will become as obsolete as COV-
his chances for a professional
ered wagons on the expressway.
basketball career.
The best brains in the world
He attended Westside Prep
Kendrick Felder (left) and Nicholas Wells look up
located right here in this
Wednesday from Marva Collins' Westside Pr
with Creighton's financial help,
to classmate Kevin Ross after the three graduated
oom tonight," he said.
determined to learn the basics he
tory School. (Sun-Times Photo by John Ke
Ross's topic at the crowded
had missed. Since then, he has
What now? Ross plans to at-
Ross one-on-one, said she hopes
Collins, a former public
graduation ceremony in the Cor-
advanced a year in age, two
tend Roosevelt University or the
he attends college part-time next
teacher, founded Westsid
Cafe, 501 N. Rush, was "Re-
pounds in weight, and six school
University of Illinois at Chicago
fall and also works at Westside
in 1975 to teach supposed
ighting the Candle of Excel-
years in most subjects.
and get his degree. "It will take a
Prop as a tutor.
teachable children)in the
ence."
He tests out at at the high
year or two," he said. "If it takes
- "The children love him and
The school 19 at 4146 W. CI
He had written the speech
school senior level in reading and
10, I'm going to do it. It doesn't
automatically behave for him,"
Before giving his 8
imself, and he read it with feel-
math, and at the sophomore level
matter." A TV movie, of his fight
she said. "And I asked him to
Wednesday, Ross said b
in language mechanics.
for a meaningful education, is
promise he'll come out with all
"excited. This is the way
He was wearing a pin-striped
The certificate he received
planned. And he and Collins are
A's and B's" in college. "I don't
before a basketball game. I
a graduation gift from his
Wednesday evening attested that
writing a book.
want him to ever fail academical-
I was an astronaut and 1
nother, Opal Ross of Kansas
he had reached these levels.
Collins, who sometimes taught
ly again."
jump in my shuttle."
18 PRESS-TELEGRAM (AM/PM)/THURSDAY, MAY 12. 1983
College 150 athlete finally Press Pelegram learns california to read
Andy Knott
"The progress is amazing, Collins
high school diploma and was vigorously
"The facade of acting like I could read
icago Tribune Service
said. "But it is not unusual for a moti-
recruited by several Midwestern univer-
was too much. I confessed to the whole
vated student to progress rapidly.
sities.
world."
CHICAGO - Kevin Ross, a 24-year-
Remember, he has had 16 years of prac-
di former college basketball player,
tice."
When he enrolled at Creighton Uni-
Creighton officials reacted by send-
ill graduate from high school this
versity in Omaha, Ross said that he
ing Ross to Collins and paying his tui-
onth for the second time, but this
The testing was conducted by Har-
could not read a restaurant menu.
tion. "But they didn't think I was seri-
me he will take with him the basic
vey Gross, director of admissions at
ous," said Ross, who added that the ex-
lucational skills he never got his first
Providence-St. Mel High School, who
He played four years at Creighton
perience made him bitter at first. "But
me around in high school or col-
first tested Ross in September and
and claims he attended class regularly.
I knew I must show them. I was never
ge.
again in January.
And yet, when he left there in 1982
embarrassed. The best revenge is to
without graduating, his abysmal read-
achieve."
Ross gained national attention last
The results show his reading skills to
ing and writing skills prevented him
eptember when he enrolled at West-
be at the national average for high
from writing a personal check. His lack
His future appears much brighter
de Preparatory School to improve his
school seniors. In spelling and mathe-
of education might never have been
than it was last fall. Ross said he is con-
xth-grade-level reading skiils, despite
matics, he is one semester behind the
known had it not been for a knee injury
templating enrolling this fall at the
ur years of high school and of college.
national average. He equals sophomores
that sidelined Ross much of his senior
University of Illinois at Chicago to fin-
"The children love him. He is a sym-
in language mechanics.
year.
ish his degree. He will support himself
bl to the millions in this country who
from money he received for the rights
on't have basic skills and believe they
"I feel like I have learned a lot,"
He claims the school attempted to
to his life story, which may be made
in never help themselves," said Marva
Ross said Wednesday. "I have confi-
"unload" him by taking his scholarship
into a movie, he said. Ross also hopes to
ollins, who runs the school.
dence that I can achieve anything now.
away and forcing him to drop out be-
play professional basketball.
I have learned that education is a life-
According to results of an achieve-
cause of the injury. He fought the
ent test administered early this
long pursuit, and I will spend the rest of
school and stopped hiding his igno-
May 25th is graduation day at West-
onth, Ross now reads and computes
my life learning."
rance, he said.
side, and Ross will give the commence-
KEVIN ROSS, seen last year with junior hig
The story of how Ross wound up at
"I realized I was tired of hiding the
ment address.
class, has now advanced to the equivalent
A
athematics as well as the average high
hool senior. On Wednesday, Collins
Westside Prep last fall has dismayed
fact that I could not read," Ross said.
"It is fitting," Collins said.
a high school senior.
leased those results, which show Ross
many. Ross, a 6-foot-9-inch prep bas-
now about six years ahead of last
ketball hero from Wyandotte High
eptember.
School in Kansas City, Mo., received a
VA-D28 ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD
NEWS
(M)69,000 (E)49,000 (S)119,600
200
APR 11 1983
CLIPPED BY
BACONS
1420
Trailblazing or just hard work?
4-11-83 11-83
M
ARVA COLLINS, the
last time we looked,
was "in" again
The reputation of the Chica-
go teacher of the "underprivi-
leged" has swung wildly. In the
mid-Seventies, when her private,
shoestring school began attract-
ing attention - primarily be-
cause her pupils actually
learned - she was hailed as a
new force in education: the high
priestess of "back to basics."
She was considered for U.S. sec-
retary of education. Her "unor-
thodox" statements on the
problems in public education
Roanoke Times 49,000
caught up with her a few years
again, she is being over-praised,
rent theories about what makes
later, however, and both her
perhaps because she has often
Johnny learn. But her results
work and her theories were chal-
been over-criticized.
speak for themselves.
lenged. She used public funds
and she was little more than a
The latest encomium, in the
She is unorthodox only to
drill sergeant, claimed her de-
The American Spectator, com-
the extent that she adheres to
tractors. Even some of her
pares her with Maria Montesso-
methods that were broadly ap-
school's test scores were called
ri, the Italian educator. But at
plied and broadly accepted a
into question.
the center of all the controversy
century ago, before the educa-
Two years ago the anti-Col-
is a determined woman who
tional theorists swept the field.
lins campaign was at its height;
loves to teach, not an education-
Those methods are based on
magazines and newspapers were
al revolutionary. Her methods
common sense and hard work;
falling all over themselves
- concentration on basic skills
and more and more parents are
pointing out the "flaws" in the
wedded to an uncanny ability to
beginning to realize that it is the
Collins method. Now her defend-
make her students feel their in-
teacher - dedicated and de-
ers are mounting a counterat-
dividual worth and potential
manding - who is the key to ed-
tack on her detractors; and, once
may well clash with some cur-
ucation.
WA-D14 SEATTLE POST
INTELLIGENCER
(M)197,100 (S)223,000
150
CLIPPED BY
MAY 7 1983
BACONS
P-I EDITORIALS
Seattle
Urban League's Post
May 2, 1983
timely speaker
The Seattle Urban League's choice of speaker, Marva
Collins, for its annual dinner this week was a master-
stroke of timing, coming as it did in the immediate
aftermath of the National Commission on Excellence in
Education's scathing report on America's schools.
Collins had taught for 14 years in a Chicago elemen-
tary school when, in 1975, she got fed up with a daily diet
of disinterested and sometimes stoned teachers dishing
out what she considered junk education to unchallenged
children. It was then she opened her alternative West-
side Preparatory School in an upstairs room of her
home. Since then the success of her teaching methods
have received widespread national attention and ac-
claim.
She told her Seattle audience many of the nation's
school systems continue to offer the lowest common
denominator of educational mediocrity, through pre-
packaged lesson plans and simplistic textbooks whose
chief contents are large pictures. Meanwhile, she argued,
the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic
continue to recede in classroom significance. Rather
than have children use their brains learning multiplica-
tion tables, they. are given automatic calculators.
"We are now introducing illiterates to computers,"
she said, noting that such prestigious seats of higher
learning as Yale, Harvard and the University of Califor-
nia at Berkeley had been forced to introduce remedial
reading classes for some entering freshmen.
Collins' prescription for educational change in many
ways echoes the national commission's recommendations
for a return to basics. Two Collins comments, in particu-
lar, regarding the role of teachers, deserve thoughtful
attention:
"Things do not teach, people teach"
and "dull
teachers produce dull students."
Westside Prep
Sun-Times
5-26
grads get-some
towering advice
By Bob Herguth
City, Kan. And he finished to
Sun-Times Columnist
standing applause from pupils
and their relatives.
Kevin Ross, 24, stood tall and
Only last September, Ross had
riumphant as he gave the com-
difficulty reading and writing
encement address to fellow
when he arrived at Westside Prep
raduates of Marva Collins'
from Creighton University in
Vestside Preparatory School.
Omaha, Neb. He had just fin-
"Learn, learn and learn some
ished four years at Creighton
ore," the 6-foot-9-inch Ross
with no degree or any immediate
his classmates from the sev-
hope of one.
and
He charged
ghth grades
that the school
ednesday
" Learn, learn
had put him on
wrensing which
vening.
"Never cease
and learn some
'Mickey
Mouse''
arning," the
college
more.
"
courses to keep
him eligible for
asketball star
basketball.
because
-Kevin Ross
And he had
"the acri-
undergone
onious de-
knee surgery in
about inner-city students
his junior year that diminished
become as obsolete as cov-
his chances for a professional
wagons on the expressway.
basketball career.
The best brains in the world
He attended Westside Prep
Kendrick Felder (left) and Nicholas Wells look up
located right here in this
Wednesday from Marva Collins'
\
with Creighton's financial help,
to classmate Kevin Rose after the three graduated
tonight," he said.
tory School. (Sun-Times Photo
determined to learn the basics he
Ross's topic at the crowded
had missed. Since then, he has
What now? Ross plans to at-
Ross one-on-one, said she hopes
Collins, & for
aduation ceremony in the Cor-
advanced a year in age, two
tend Roosevelt University or the
he attends college part-time next
teacher, found
Cafe, 501 N. Rush, was "Re-
pounds in weight, and six school
University of Illinois at Chicago
fall and also works at Westside
in 1975 to tead
the Candle of Excel-
years in most subjects.
and get his degree. "It will take a
Prep as a tutor.
teachable child
He tests out at at the high
year or two," he said. "If it takes
"The children love him and
The school 19 at
He had written the speech
school senior level in reading and
10, I'm going to do it. It doesn't
automatically behave for him,"
Before givi
mself, and he read it with feel-
math, and at the sophomore level
matter." A TV movie, of his fight
she said. "And I asked him to
Wednesday, R
in language mechanics.
for a meaningful education, is
promise he'll come out with all
"excited. This
was wearing a pin-striped
The certificate he received
planned. And he and Collins are
A's and B's" in college. "I don't
before a basket)
a graduation gift from his
Wednesday evening attested that
writing a book.
want him to ever fail academical-
I was an astro
other, Opal Ross of Kansas
he had reached these levels.
Collins, who sometimes taught
ly again."
jump in my sh
Chicago
Chicago Tribune Thursday, May 12, 1983
Tribune photo by Ovie Carter
Marva Collins and Kevin Ross, former college
Westside Prep school in September. Ross, 24, left
basketball player, discuss his achievement-test
college with reading skills so poor that he was
scores that show him gaining six years' worth of
unable to write a personal check. "The best
academic skills since he enrolled in Collins'
revenge is to achieve,' he now says.
'Best revenge is to achieve'
Ex-collegian finally learns how to spell, read
By Andy Knott
The testing was conducted by
cation might never have been
Harvey Gross, director of admis-
known had it not been for a knee
KEVIN ROSS, a 24-year-old for-
sions at Providence-St. Mel High
injury that sidelined Ross much of
mer college basketball player, will
School, who first tested Ross in
his senior year.
graduate from high school this
September and again in January.
He claims the school attempted
month for the second time, but this
The results show his reading
to "unload" him by taking his
time he will take with him the
skills to be at the national average
scholarship away and forcing him
basic educational skills he never
for high school seniors. In spelling
to drop out because of the injury.
got his first time around in high
and mathematics, he is one semes-
He fought the school and stopped
school-or college.
ter behind the national average.
hiding his ignorance, he said.
Ross gained national attention
He equals sophomores in language
"I realized I was tired of hiding
last September when he enrolled at
mechanics.
the fact that I could not read,"
Westside Preparatory School, 4146
"I feel like I have learned a lot,"
Ross said. "The facade of acting
W. Chicago Ave., to improve his
Ross said Wednesday. "I have con-
like I could read was too much. I
sixth-grade-level reading skills, de-
fidence that I can achieve anything
confessed to the whole world.
spite four years of high school and
now. I have learned that education
Creighton officials reacted by
college.
is a lifelong pursuit, and I will
sending Ross to Collins and paying
"The children love him. He is a
spend the rest of my life learning."
his tuition. "But they didn't think I
symbol to the millions in this coun-
The story of how Ross wound up
was serious," said Ross, who
try who don't have basic skills and
at Westside Prep last fall has
added that the experience made
believe they can never help them-
dismayed many. Ross, a 6-foot-9-
him bitter at first. "But I knew I
selves," said Marva Collins, who
inch prep basketball hero from
must show them. I was never em-
runs the school.
Wyandotte High School in Kansas
barrassed. The best revenge is to
According to results of an
City, Kan., received a high school
achieve."
achievement test administered
diploma and was vigorously re-
HIS FUTURE appears much
early this month, Ross now reads
cruited by several Midwestern uni-
brighter than it was last fall. Ross
and computes mathematics as well
versities.
said he is contemplating enrolling
as the average high school senior.
WHEN HE enrolled at Creighton
this fall at the University of Illinois
On Wednesday, Collins released
University in Omaha, Ross said,
at Chicago to finish his degree. He
those results, which show Ross is
he could not read a restaurant
will support himself from money
now about six years ahead of last
menu.
he received for the rights to his life
September.
He played four years at
story, which may be made into a
Creighton and claims he attended
"THE PROGRESS is amazing,"
movie, he said. Ross also hopes to
class regularly. Yet when he left
play professional basketball.
Collins said. "But it is not unusual
there in 1982 without graduating,
for a motivated student to progress
May 25 is graduation day at
his abysmal reading and writing
rapidly. Remember, he has had 16
Westside, and Ross will give the
skills prevented him from writing
commencement address.
years of practice."
a personal check. His lack of edu-
"It is fitting," Collins said.
SCORECARD continued
Creighton, where he loaded up on such
courses as Theory of Track and Field,
Squad Participation (basketball), Intro-
ductory Ceramics, Photography and
First Aid. A recent test revealed Ross's
SCORECARD
reading skills now to be at the national
average for high school seniors, and he
says proudly, "I know about Plato's Re-
COLLEGE ATHLETICS III
public now. I didn't know who Plato was
Now that we've discussed college ath-
when I came here."
letes 1) who can't read and 2) who get run
Ross's dramatic academic improve-
off by their coaches, we move on to the
ment at Westside demonstrates, as does
subject of Kevin Ross, who was still vir-
the progress of some of the athletes in
tually unable to read or write after play-
Iowa State's remedial program, that col-
ing center and forward for Creighton's
leges could do a far better job of provid-
basketball team for four years and who
ing a real education to the disadvantaged
cláims that in his senior year he had to re-
athletes they lure onto their campuses. It
sist the efforts of Coach Willis Reed, who
also underscores the need to modify the
was disappointed in his play, to hound
NCAA's recently enacted Proposal 48,
him into quitting the team.
which starting in 1986 will make mini-
Belatedly accepting its responsibility
mum scores on standardized tests a con-
for Ross's academic failings, Creighton
dition of academic eligibility. Such mini-
in effect extended his scholarship for a
mums would throw the baby out with the
fifth year by paying his tuition at West-
bath water, barring eligibility-and
side Prep in Chicago, an innovative pri-
probably as a practical matter, the
vate school with a reputation for helping
awarding of athletic scholarships-to
youngsters overcome educational defi-
many academically deficient students
ciencies. After he enrolled at Westside
who need only the proper opportunity
last September, photos of the '9", 23-
and appropriate catch-up help to succeed
year-old Ross in a classroom with sev-
in the classroom.
enth-graders attracted national attention,
Instead of Proposal 48, the NCAA
as did the news that he'd tested at the sec-
should adopt and enforce proposals that
ond-grade level in reading.
will require its member schools to edu-
The Ross story now has an almost hap-
cate those athletes they now only exploit.
py ending. On May 25 Ross will graduate
Then we wouldn't have to qualify occa-
from Westside Prep, and he'll take with
sions such as Ross's graduation as being
him academic skills he failed to acquire
"almost" happy. Ross says he's consider-
either in high school in Kansas City,
ing returning to college to pursue a de-
Kans., where he received a diploma, or at
gree in earnest-he's thinking about the
continued
University of Illinois-Chicago or Roose-
velt University-and he pronounces
himself pleased with his academic turn-
around, saying, "Creighton labeled me
'rejected,' and I turned it over, and I put
'accepted.' But he also says, "This is no
time for me to celebrate because I know
there are a lot of people out there like I
was." Ross will have an opportunity to
expand on this theme on graduation day
at Westside Prep. He's scheduled to give
the commencement address.
1420
Blame the teachers,
not the schoolchildren
Maill, 1983
It will take superteachers, like Marva Collins,
to bring high standards Angeles back to Herald the classroom
By Rita Kramer
LOS
apartment. Her success in teaching
previously backward and unruly
n the fall of 1975. after 14
children got around. More parents
years of teaching. 12 of them
brought their children, and local
in the Chicago public schools,
press reports were followed by
Marva Collins opened a small
national publicity about the one-
private school (four pupils to begin
room school in which so much was
with, one of them her own daugh-
being accomplished by means of so
ter) in a donated basement room in
little but one woman's dedicated
Chicago's run-down Garfield Park,
efforts.
I chose those stories because they
the neighborhood where she lived
In the spring of 1977, Marva
teach values and morals and lessons
and had been teaching. She made
Collins sent a letter to a Chicago
about life. Fairy tales and fables
use of books salvaged from the
Sun-Times columnist who bad writ-
allow children to put things in
trash bins of the local public school
ten about suburban high school
and a salary provided by the
students who didn't know who
perspective -- greed, trouble, happi-
government-funded Alternative
Shakespeare was or anything about
ness, meanness, and joy. After
Schools Network. Within months,
his works and invited him to visit
reading those stories you have
enrollment had tripled and her
Westside Prep. His story on the
something to think over and discuss.
previously "unteachable" or
school, including some of the chil-
More than anything, I wanted my
"learning disabled" pupils all
dren's compositions on Michelan-
students to be excited about read-
learned to read, increased their
gelo, Da Vinci, Aesop, and
verbal and math comprehension,
Hinduism, was syndicated to news-
ing. I wanted them to understand
and went on to read at increasingly
papers around the country. And
that reading is not an exercise in
higher levels. Their attitude to-
Marva Collins has been in the
memorizing words but a way to bring
ward school - and toward them-
spotlight ever since. As journalist
ideas to light.
selves - had changed.
(and co-author of Collins' book,
The emphasis on "relevance,"
At the end of that first year, she
"Marva Collins' Way") Civia Tamar-
decided to take over the school
kin puts it, "Readers were touched
which limits reading to stories
herself, and moved it into her own
by the story of children who had
about lives like their own in worlds
home, changing its name to West-
been discarded as 'unteachable'
they already know, "undermines
side Preparatory School. Again, she
climbing to superior achievement
the very purpose of an education.
scrounged furniture, materials,
in a school that was always short of
It doesn't expand the children's
books. She used her own pension
books, paper, pencils and even
money, and her husband contrib-
chalk."
horizons or encourage inventive-
uted the labor that made a class-
As millions of magazine and
ness and curiosity. Instead, it limits
room out of part of their
newspaper readers and television
perspective to the grim scenes they
viewers know by now, Collins'
see every day of their lives. Chil-
classroom technique was to begin
dren do not need to read stories
with a discussion of a book the
that teach 'street smarts.' They
children had read, writing each
new word on the blackboard and
learn enough on their own. What
breaking it down into its phonetic
they need are character-building
components and discussing its
stories. They need to read for
meaning, letting the discussion
values, morality and universal
roam over matters of history,
truths." And so she taught classical
geography. poetry, botany, while
making sure the children mastered
literature rather than the books
new words and added them to
churned out by publishers today as
their vocabulary as they added
"young people's books."
ideas to their experience. ("The
She assigned reading from
essence of teaching is to make
Plato, Homer, Tolstoy and Emerson
learning contagious, to have one
idea spark another.") All the while
to children whose reading had
she would be encouraging and
begun only months before, sound-
prodding them, and holding forth
ing out the new words, talking
on the value of learning as the key
about the ideas and always, always
to success in life.
relating those ideas to the chil-
Instruction was always indivi-
dualized; the day's "lesson plan"
Marva/F-4
grew out of the questions asked
M
that day about what had been read
by the children. And she was
constantly on her feet. checking
each one's work, making com-
ments, giving help. She insisted on
order and discipline in the class-
room. And she succeeded in gain-
ing her pupils' respect both for
herself and for the learning she
was helping them acquire.
Rejecting the look-say method
in which children associate words
with pictures and read the same
simple words and sentences over
and over until they recognize
them, she taught phonics, in which
children learn to sound out the
vowel and consonant sounds that
are part of all words, and in place
Marva
desk to desk and really work at it
for busing, pointing out t
from dawn to dusk."
fective teachers and low-a
pupils can be found ever
Marva Collins' emphasis on tradi-
"Miseducation is not a funo
Continued from page F-1
tional methods of instruction and
child's race or neighborhoo
dren's own future lives. Curiosity,
readings in the classics, on the
the teaching of the teachir
ambition and self-control were the
importance of hard work and high
ods he or she is exposed
aims of her method, and if her
expectations, could have been for-
kindergarten on."
pupils did not always understand
given. Even an oversize ego or an
The backlash was in
abrasive personality could have
She had offended the black
the finer points of philosophy or
poetry, as her critics claim, they
been forgiven. Her scorn for the
by stating that black c)
were familiarizing themselves with
sacred vows of the contemporary
educational needs were n
a world of heroes engaged in
education world could not. Along
ent from those of other
adventures of ideas and establish-
the way to national recognition she
and were a matter of exp
ing a sense of values that might
had said things like, "It was my
hard work and discipline
send them back to these same texts
school and I felt the public had no
than special schools and
courses, that individual i
years later.
and not group advantage
Over the years, I have come to
answer to their plight.
believe that some of the problems
She had offended o
plaguing modern education are the
professionals in the teachir
result of the emphasis placed on
by suggesting that in
'progressive' teaching methods. In
teachers if they worke
an effort to follow John Dewey's
enough and cared enoug
notion of a student-centered rather
strike the spark that wordbox
than subject-centered approach to
around the failing pupil, t
learning, schools have too often
unteachable to value lear
sacrificed subject matter, being
She offended the who
more concerned with how they
trum of special-interest gi
taught than what they taught.
It
suggesting that the scho
is a mistake to assume that in order
failing - not because th
to stimulate creativity and critical
not doing what only the
thinking you must rule out any
could do, not because th
learning by rote. Memorization is
not being used to change
the only way to teach such things as
forcibly enough or fast er
phonics, grammar, spelling and
but because they were n
multiplication tables.
can't run yourself?'
I
Associated Press
what they could indeed
I'd ask the children, "How are
pected to do - confr
you going to run a corporation if you
individual student with t
didn't
lenge of a demanding te
hesitate to discuss crime in the
Marva Collins teaching this year.
love with learning and e
ghetto, drugs, prison or teen-age
with disciplinary sanctic
pregnancy. I told them welfare is
from tactful, she took on t)
just another form of slavery.
I
educational establishmen
did not teach black history as a
she criticized "the c
subject apart from American his-
schools across the coun
tory, emphasize black heroes over
Marva Collins
mislabeled children, sir
white, or preach black consciousness
textbooks, diluted curric
rather than a sense of the larger
offended black leaders
created special curricula
society.
by stating that black
derprivileged' children."
She told her pupils, "I don't
careers, which means a
want to hear any jive talk in here
children's educational
money and a lot of prestig
or any of this stuff about black
be called into question by
English. You must not just think of
yourselves as black children or
needs were no
that pounding away at ba
and old-fashioned exh
ghetto children. You must become
citizens of the world, like Socra-
different from those of
could make a difference
lives of children great
tes." As she put it, "Instead of
other children. She
anything money could
teaching black pride I taught my
children self-pride." It was what
offended organized
legislation could provide.
odds with those who bl
she had brought with her from her
middle-class Alabama upbringing,
professionals by
system as much as with tl
blame the victim.
and what she found in such short
suggesting that
Despite what her crit
supply in the urban slums of the
been able to dredge up aga
North.
I am convinced that the real
individual teachers if
the issue in the Marva
controversy isn't Collins'
solution is education. We have to
teach children self-reliance and self-
they worked hard
ity or even her past fundir
respect. We have to teach them the
enough and cared
the truth or falsity of what
about schooling. And wh
importance of learning, of develop-
ing skills, of doing for themselves. I
enough could turn
saying about elementary :
no different from wha
am always reminding my students
around the failing
Coleman says in his latest
that, if you give a man a fish, he will
the schools: that while
eat for only a day. If you teach him
pupil.
background and parental
how to fish, he will feed himself for a
tions are crucial determ
lifetime
who will learn how much
Co-author Tamarkin, who spent
and parochial schools d
time in the classroom watching
than public schools -
Collins teach, describes her work-
children from similar h
ing the audience like an enter-
right to tell me how to run it. That
because they impose strict
tainer, an old-time preacher, giver
of love as well as learning. She
especially meant government bu-
line and demand more in
reaucrats and special interest
of academic performance,
functions, in fact, like the ideal
groups pushing minority rights."
even public schools, wl
parent, tender and tough, uniting
She told CBS's Morley Safer,
enforce attendance, assig
affection and discipline in the
same source, so that the child must
"Buildings do not teach, people
work, and insist on discipl
do," and added, "I would hate to
classroom, reach sign
accept the one in order to enjoy
think a union would have to
higher levels of student
the other.
protect my job. I have too much
ment. This is something
When one of the parents of a
pupil at Westside Prep was asked
pride."
ing parents have long ag
She had no use for the prolifera-
out for themselves, but it
on "60 Minutes," "Do you think
what happens here in Mrs. Collins's
tion of specialists like curriculum
have it official, wrapped
school could be made to happen on
facilitators, or programs like those
tics and delivered to the
in "black English" or "black
the educators. Not teache
a grand scale in the public
studies," for the idea that a black
tials but teacher commiti
schools?" she replied, "Only if you
child must be taught by a black
buildings, facilities, aud
had a grand scale of Marva Collin-
teacher in order to have a "role
and other fancy aids
ses." On the same program, she
model," or retain the language of
money - but hard work
herself said she never claimed to
the streets in order not to damage
standards make all the di
be a miracle-worker: "Anyone can
do it who's willing to walk from
his "identity." And she had no use
Grading the state of education in America today
Santa Ang Register
Can't we get to the heart of the matter?
May 2, 1983
By Alan W. Bock
Instead of thinking, we get media-wise
and has acceptable grammar, but doesn't
slogans like "unthinking, unilateral educa-
know the difference between mouthing slo-
tional disarmament" and "a rising tide of
gans and thinking, who has never been
W
e'll probably see a flurry of media
mediocrity that threatens our very future
exposed to the rich tradition of inquiry and
attention and purported analysis
as a nation and as a people," and, most
thought that is our heritage.
in the wake of the report of the
outrageously, "if an unfriendly foreign
Of course the commission was inquiring
National Commission on Excellence in
power had attempted to impose on Amer-
into "public" education. An institution fi-
Education that was released last week. It's
ica the mediocre educational performance
nanced by the state will naturally be de-
inlikely that much of the discussion will
that exists today, we might well have
signed to produce the kind of people who
to the heart of the matter.
viewed it as an act of war."
are useful to the state - people who have
As is often the case, H.L. Mencken years
Those are cute phrases well calculated
been trained to stand in lines, obey orders,
was more relevant to the present than
to catch the attention of headline writers
respect "duly constituted authority," con-
nost current commentators can hope to
and those who write teasers for the eve-
fine their original thinking to technical im-
and his commentary itself offers a clue
ning news, but they betray more of the
provements, and perform the tasks
the paucity of good thinking. His 1908
teaser mentality than profound thought.
deemed useful to the rulers with a fair
ook on Nietzsche had the following com-
Insofar as they betray thought at all, what
degree of efficiency and a minimum of
nents on education:
can be inferred from them, and from most
complaining.
"Education, as everyone knows, has two
of the discussion that has surrounded the
The commission's complaints boiled
nain objects: to impart knowledge and to
release of the report, is downright alarm-
down to whining that the products at the
mplant culture. It is the object of a
ing.
end of the assembly line didn't have the
eacher, first of all, to bring before his
The tone of the report and of most of
competence required to be efficient ser-
oupil as many concrete facts about the
those who have discussed that report is
vants of the designs desired by society's
iniverse - the fruit of long ages of inquiry
concern about whether, with our mediocre
masters.
and experience - as the latter may be
educational system, America will be able
I have a suspicion that the coming high-
capable of absorbing in the time available.
to compete in the high-tech world of tomor-
tech, service society everyone is predict-
After that, it is the teacher's aim to make
row. The implication is that the "educa-
ing so facilely may require a much more
pupil's habits of mind sane, healthy and
tional" system should mass produce
fundamental rethinking of what we mean
manly, and his whole outlook upon life that
technically competent cogs in the produc-
by education than is dreamt of in govern-
of a being conscious of his efficiency and
tive machinery rather than independent,
ment commissions.
eager and able to solve new problems as
thinking individuals.
Private, individualist innovators like
they arise.
What "solutions" does the commission
Maria Montessori and Marva Collins in
"The educated man, in a word, is one
offer? The usual. Longer school days,
Chicago have demonstrated that a com-
who knows a great deal more than the
more school days per year, more disci-
bination of individual attention, high
average man and is constantly increasing
pline and homework, more attention to
expectations, loving discipline and enthu-
his area of knowledge, in a sensible, or-
math and science. The kind of "education"
siasm can bring certified "low achievers"
derly, logical fashion; one who is wary of
contemplated by such recommendations is
in deprived minority groups to a level of
sophistry and leans automatically and al-
a travesty on the word itself.
achievement far above the mass-man
most instinctively toward clear thinking.
Education is derived from the Latin
respecters of authority turned out by the
"Such is the purpose of education, in its
words "e" and "ducare," meaning
public schools. We may need those in-
ideal aspect. As we observe the science of
(roughly) "to draw out" or to help individ-
sights.
teaching in actual practice, we find that it
uals reach the potential that lies within
often fails utterly to attain this end. The
It may be that children can learn what
them. When you're talking longer hours
concrete facts that a student learns at the
they really need - to read, write, figure
and more days, you're talking about some-
and believe in themselves - in just a few
average school are few and unconnected,
thing to be drilled into or imposed (in-
and instead of being led into habits of inde-
years, maybe a few months, in circum-
flicted?) on people. That may be training
stances far different from standard class-
pendent thinking, he is trained to accept
or it may be indoctrination. It isn't educa-
authority. When he takes his degree, it is
rooms. There may be literally dozens of
tion.
usually no more than a sign that he has
ways the essentials can be imparted, and
joined the herd."
The compilers of the report spend a lot of
we might do well to start ridding ourselves
The very language of the report last
ink despairing over the future of the na-
of the myth that spending hours and years
week that was supposed to criticize mod-
tion. They seem less concerned about the
in a classroom absorbing respect for au-
education is an indicator of the low
future of the actual individuals SO ill-
thority is the only or the best way to reach
esteem in which true education helping
served by educational mediocrity, the
the goal of independent, inquiring, adapt-
individual people to become clear-think-
daily tragedies of functional illiteracy or
able and competent individuals.
capable, independent people open to
(perhaps more important) the person who
culture - is held.
did well in school by boning up for exams
Bock is a Register editorial writer.
MAY
7
1983
CLIPPEDBY
BACONS
Easy schools
Seattle Post
May 7, 1983
ruin the kids,
expert argues
By Darrell Glover
P-I Reporter
America's schoolchildren have be-
come "robotized idiots" who can't
read or write, says the founder of the
nationally publicized Westside Pre-
paratory School in Chicago.
Recent changes in our educational
system have made it easier for both
students and teachers, and as a conse-
quence "our children have little more
to do than check true or false an-
swers," Marva Nattles Collins said.
Collins, the guest speaker Thurs-
day at the 53rd annual dinner meet-
ing of the Seattle Urban League at
the Sheraton Hotel, argued that:
"To continue to travel our present
course of consistency (in education) is
mental suicide. Until there are
changes in our present system, our
children will never reach their true
potential.'
'Admit defeat'
Marva Collins, who runs a pri-
This generation of students will
vate school, says books that are
differ from all others because today's
easy to read "should be burned."
students "will be less educated than
their parents," she saiddd.
should be burned," Collins said, not-
Children watch too much televi-
ing there are no easy methods to
sion because they can't read, Collins
teaching and learning.
said, and this development has helped
Dull teachers beget dull students,
create an epidemic of teenage alcohol-
Collins said. Teachers must create an
ics and suicides.
atmosphere of learning, and they
More studies won't solve the edu-
must motivate and teach children not
cational problem, she said.
to be afraid to make mistakes or
"We must admit defeat in educa-
"express their latent thoughts."
tion and begin anew," Collins said.
Has own school
"All of us will suffer from our reluc-
tance to act."
Current teaching methods and
Classrooms must become work-
curriculum in the nation's schools
shops again, she said, and "we must
have been devised by "experts who
make the curriculum in our schools
have never taught a class in their
fit the needs of our children."
lives," said Collins.
If children could learn to read by
Fed up with the school system in
tackling difficult passages from the
Chicago, Collins opened her own
Bible 50 years ago, "what then is our
school in 1975. The school has grown
excuse today?" she asked.
to more than 200 students. Her story
was made into a television movie.
Unable to punctuate
"Our 4-year-olds learn to read by
First-grade readers contained
Christmas," Collins said. Fifth and
more than 870 different words several
sixth graders in the school take,
years ago, Collins said, but today they
among other courses, Latin, geògra-
contain only 72 words. "That's pro-
phy and reading, she said, and "each
gress?"
must write daily."
The decline in test scores,are
The success of the school has pro-
caused, in part, because students can't
moted visits from more than 2,000
read the tests, Collins said. Students
educators from the United States and
are unable to punctuate because they
eight other countries, Collins said.
are not taught how to write.
There are no hall guards in the
Teachers must inspire students
school, no policemen have ever visited
and return to using books that teach
the school, and there is no graffiti on
determination and courage, she said.
the walls, she said.
"In teaching children to read we must
Children in the school "don't be-
teach them to learn to love to read."
lieve in can't, impossible or might
If books are easy to read "they
have been," Collins said.