Success Story: Teacher In Chicago

A month ago or so, “60 Minutes” revisited former students of Marva Collins, the inspirational teacher who founded the Chicago Westside Preparatory Academy. A former public schoolteacher, Collins ran the school for poor children of her neighborhood out of her home.

In 1979, the CBS-TV program had done a special report on the school, where the children in hand-me-down shirts and worn jeans were introduced to Shakespeare and Greek mythology while in grammar school. A national audience was held spellbound seeing these children reciting poetry, delivering speeches, excelling in subjects beyond their grade level and overcoming the perceived intellectual disadvantages of low socio-economic status.

A TV movie later was made about Collins; Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman starred.

Last year, however, Collins, who still runs the school, was wounded with the publication of Charles Murray’s controversial “The Bell Curve.” In it, Murray suggested that since so much intellectual ability is inherited, remedial efforts such as the school Collins runs and government programs such as Head Start really are pointless. They don’t dramatically alter the prospects of uneducable, low-IQ children, and the supposed gains made in a Head Start program quickly fade for most children, Murray says.

But CBS newsman Morley Safer, who has defended Collins against critics before, wanted to see for himself.

So, “60 Minutes” talked to 34 of the 35 students who had attended Westside Academy in 1979. They’re now in their mid-20s.

And the “60 Minutes” crew discovered that all of them are doing quite well. Several are lawyers or in law school; some have become teachers; others are in businesses; a few have joined the police force or are doing clerical work around the Chicago area.

Safer then asked demographers to estimate how an average child from Chicago’s rough West Garfield Park ghetto probably would wind up. Of a typical group of 35 children born in these same disadvantaged circumstances, he was told, several would be dead, a few more in prison, some unemployed and others on welfare.

Of the Westside graduates whom “60 Minutes” had sought out, none was dead, none had gone to prison and none was living on welfare.

Phoenix Central High School counselor Betty Fairfax says she is not surprised. “These kids can learn. But no one expects much from them. We put them into special ed, and they get bored and disinterested. They can learn, but you have to challenge them and you have to start early,” she said.

One Westside student explained how Collins had helped her overcome her timidity and lack of self-confidence. The woman, who had been dismissed as borderline-retarded at the local public school, said Collins kept telling her how special she was, that she had something to say. “When you hear this several times a day, every day, you begin to believe it,” she said.

Collins, with her frequent praise and her touching encouragement, convinced her students they could learn, they could succeed.

The real-life experiences of Collins’ students offer a practical rebuttal to Murray and the social Darwinists so prominent today in political debate.

But Collins offers an important pedagogical and psychological lesson as well - a particularly timely one, it seems to me, in an age when pop psychologists emphasize self-esteem as the key to success.

Marva Collins indeed praised her students. But she did so while also demanding they learn, pushing them to accomplish more than others dared to. Her praise came because of their effort. Self-esteem was earned, not given. If success were easy, why would it be precious?

Remember how you learned to ride a bike. Your father took off the training wheels and ran alongside the bike, holding it upright. When he let go, you fell. But you got up and tried it again. After several tries and scraped hands and knees, you did it. You felt success. Your self-esteem instantly skyrocketed; you had achieved something.

Life is like that. Marva Collins understood that the surest path to self-esteem is by working hard to accomplish something difficult. We gain selfesteem by achieving success.

And we succeed through perseverance and effort, not by fawning over our children, shielding them, cushioning every failure and making excuses for every defeat.

After all these years, Marva Collins still is providing some valuable lessons.