| Frank McCourt speaks gently and methodically, his skill as a storyteller always present. That’s no surprise to anyone who’s read his beloved memoir Angela’s Ashes, its sequel, ’Tis, and his new work detailing his life in the schools of New York, Teacher Man.
McCourt went to college after returning to the U.S. following the Second World War. While he never saw himself becoming a teacher, it wasn’t something he regretted. His gift for storytelling was partly developed in New York classrooms, as he told students his stories of growing up in the streets of Limerick, Ireland.
"When I landed in New York, I just hoped I’d get a job," says McCourt. "I certainly didn’t have any self-esteem. I’ve said my rise in American life was shaky."
In Teacher Man, he recounts his teaching career as well as a divorce and the birth of his daughter. As he portrays it, teaching is a surreal experience, and McCourt is as uncertain as his students. His skills at directing a classroom are organic and unique, to say the least, from using recipes as poetry to asking students to write excuse notes to God from Adam and Eve.
The experiences McCourt writes about here are immediate and situational, but telling the story of his teaching career was painstaking in comparison to the writing of his first book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes.
"This was a bitch to write," he says. "I was in such a state of despair, feeling like maybe I was being paid back for my arrogance. Angela’s Ashes and ’Tis appeared within three years of each other, but those stories had been building for decades. With Teacher Man, I didn’t know what to do. I spent a year and a half writing it as a novel."
Old students (his "spiritual empire," as he puts it) have written to McCourt since the book’s publication to offer him their thanks, including a letter recently published in The New York Times. More importantly, Teacher Man describes his inspiration to chronicle his own family history.
"When I talked to the kids about life writing, I made a series of discoveries along the way," says McCourt. "I was bothered by the indifference of many about discovering their family’s histories and pasts, talking to their parents and grandparents. Jesus! These people are going to die without telling their experiences."
Teacher Man is an homage to those who work long hours and teach our kids. It’s a system that seems to be getting worse over time, and the culprit, as he sees it, are the politicians who give lip service to the preciousness of education and children, without putting in the effort to create an effective and respected educational system. In response, McCourt offers his wisdom and a rallying call to teachers.
"First of all, they should tell the politicians to fuck off. They’re getting rid of fun and critical thinking. I remember, growing up, we would start each day in class with discussing what we’d done that day. Now they talk about what they watched," he says. "Time should be set aside each day for dreaming. Now that TV is the new mythology, and supplies the images, there’s the danger of corporations dominating kids, and then what are they going to write about?"
Perhaps he’d like another chance to get back in the classroom? "I’d like to deal with teachers – they need to be liberated," he says. "My resentment increases at politicians and bureaucrats who interfere with teaching. It’s ironic that those in the trenches are paid less than those in the hovels – the offices. The farther you get from the classroom, the more you’re rewarded. Teachers should start teaching teachers."
On the reading front, author Susan Musgrave gives two of them this week. The first is a presentation of her poems on Wednesday, February 15 at 8 p.m. at the University of Calgary’s Social Sciences Room 12. The next evening, Thursday, February 16 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson, she’ll be launching her new memoir, You’re in Canada Now.
Also at McNally Robinson this week: the latest instalment of filling Station’s Flywheel Reading Series takes place Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. with readings by Samuel Garrigo-Meza, Kevin Lee, Kirk Miles and Caleb Zimmerman, hosted by Mark Hopkins. On Friday, February 10 at 6 p.m., Peter Tertzakian presents his new work, A Thousand Barrels a Second, looking at the future of the world’s oil reserves. And on Wednesday, February 15 at 7 p.m., John Perry reads from his new work exploring human rights, Torture: Religious Ethics and National Security. |
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