COLLINS, MARVA 1936-

EDUCATOR

Miracle Worker

Marva Collins, an inner-city elementary-school teacher from Chicago, be-came a national celebrity in the late 1970s and early 1980s when she founded Westside Preparatory School in Chicago. Under Collins's guidance, supposedly "un-teachable" ghetto children turned into avid readers quoting Shakespeare and Socrates to media visitors, who quickly deemed her a "miracle worker" and "a national treasure."

Background

Collins's own education began in rural Alabama, in all-black schools where "teachers were strict and strong; there was no foolishness." When she was denied access to her local library because of her race, she read the Farmer's Almanac, Bible stories, and any books her father could buy in Mobile. She graduated from the all-black Escambia County Training School and obtained her B.A. degree in secretarial sciences in 1957 from Clark College in Atlanta.

From Secretary to Teacher to Critic

Collins moved to Chicago to work as a medical secretary, and although she claimed she "never wanted to be a teacher," she decided in 1961 to enter the teaching profession. Because she lacked teaching credentials, she went to work for the Chicago school system as a full-time substitute, with no seniority or permanent placement. Working in inner-city schools for the next fourteen years, Collins developed a reputation as a caring, though demanding, teacher whose criticism of ineffective teachers was loud and unrepentant. She complained that many teachers came to school unprepared, had no respect for the children, and merely created "more welfare recipients."

Founding Westside Prep

Collins became so disillusioned with the public schools of inner-city Chicago that she quit her job in 1975 and with $5,000 in retirement money began the school that would soon be famous. First called the Daniel Hale Williams Westside Preparatory School and housed in the basement of Daniel Hale Williams University, the school's first class consisted of Collins's daughter and three neighborhood children. Soon it moved to Collins's own home. Within three years twenty-eight children were enrolled, and there was a waiting list of 175 applicants willing to pay the requested $80-a-month tuition. Collins insisted that "all you really need for teaching is a blackboard, books, and a good pair of legs that will last through the day," and she claimed she would refuse all federal aid because, she said, "I don't want any experts telling me what's good for these kids or telling me how to teach." Instead, she accepted funds from churches and the community. Chicago insurance magnate W. Clement Stone, for example, gave her a $50,000 grant after he learned of her methods and her success.

Old-Fashioned Curriculum

The curriculum at Westside Prep emphasized the basics of reading and language, but there were no specifically designated subjects or periods. From 9 A.M. until 2:30 P.M., with no recess or gym and only twenty minutes for lunch, students read works of literature, wrote daily compositions, and memorized a quotation of their own choosing each day. When studying mathematics, they simultaneously learned ancient history and language roots by talking about the life and times of Pythagoras and discussing Latin and Greek roots of mathematical concepts.

Fame Brings Opportunity, Questions

In 1980 members of the Ronald Reagan transition team promoted Collins as a prospect for the post of secretary of education. She declined to be considered, citing a desire to remain in teaching. She also declined a seat on the Chicago school board and the post of superintendent of the Los Angeles county school system. When a Hallmark Hall of Fame CBS television special, "The Marva Collins Story," starring Cicely Tyson, aired in 1981, her reputation grew exponentially. She moved the school to an expanded facility with the fees from the special and from her many speaking engagements. Westside Prep in 1982 had five teachers, two hundred students, and a waiting list of nearly one thousand. In 1982, however, George Schmidt, a Chicago teacher who had lost his job as a result of budget cuts, released an "investigation" into Collins's accomplishments that labeled her story of success as a "hoax aimed at crippling public education" in Chicago and throughout the United States. Furthermore, he charged that Collins's claims about students' accomplishments were exaggerated. Most Westside Prep parents expressed support for Collins, and Harvey Gross, admissions director at Chicago's prestigious Providence-St. Mel private high school, revealed that he had tested eleven of the Westside students and they did, indeed, average more than one year's growth academically during the school year.

Collins's Legacy

Marva Collins's ability to create an effective school in which impoverished children succeeded coupled with her severe critiques of the Chicago public school system helped to focus national attention on the best ways to educate poor children. Her work highlighted the abilities of motivated children to learn, and her demanding curriculum demonstrated that some-times asking more, rather than expecting less, of children is the best way to teach.