Crossing the River
There are countless books in the world that narrate the inspiring tales of teachers in search of an opportunity to make this world a better place. Most of the time these books are directed at an audience of bright eyed future-teachers desperate to leave their mark in this world. The Water is Wide however, proves to be a wonderful book for any audience that may consist of people who still have faith in the goodness of mankind. In this book Pat Conroy (2002) recounts the tale of his journey to an island where children are in desperate need of education. He arrives at Yamacraw Island optimistic and anxiously prepared to contribute to such a benevolent cause, only to find that most of the children in his class can barely write their own names. In this journey, Conroy faces numerous obstacles because he is not given everything he needs as a teacher on a plate of gold. He also discovers that having good intentions is not enough sometimes. Conroy’s stay at the island teaches him that in education, one cannot assume that all children will learn in the same manner. Conroy’s philosophy of education is that every child has to be encouraged to learn in any way possible so that they can stay interested in and excited about their education. Conroy is far more concerned with the education of these children rather than with all the trivial rules and politics of education. In order to prepare the children of this island for the world on the other side of the river, Conroy finds he must modify his wonderful philosophy of education as well as his teaching methods.
*Graphic found at www.overstock.com*
When Conroy arrives at the island, he is overwhelmed by his discovery of how little these children have been taught. When he meets the principal of the school, Ms. Brown, he begins to understand why these children have learned so little. Ms. Brown is passionate about pleasing the school board. She believes that all the children need in order to succeed is discipline and drive. She constantly beats the children with her whips, and repeatedly reminds them how “retarded and slow” they are (p. 26). She gets angry at them when they can’t answer her questions about topics in books they can’t even read. She maintains the same attitude and teaching methods throughout the years, thus providing Conroy with a class full of borderline illiterate children who can barely write their names.
At this point in the book, Conroy realizes that the only way he will ever be able to teach these children anything is by adapting his philosophy and methods to them. He begins by observing the children and evaluating how much they know. Then he starts from scratch, teaching them the most fundamental things. It doesn’t take long before Conroy realizes that these kids need to learn about the world they live in, much more than they need to know what two plus two is. His attitude about keeping his students motivated remains partial, but his philosophy is modified so that preparing them for life holds the same importance as teaching them the basics. Instead of pounding them with things they don’t know, he teaches them songs and tells them about different places in the world with a map as his teaching guide. Any question or comment that any of his kids have is the basis for the lesson of the day. On one particular day after watching a film on the Salem witch trials, one child asks Conroy if it is true that witches melt when water is thrown at them. This question is enough to launch the class into a discussion on superstitions of the island, and the mystical land of Oz (pp. 100-105). On another occasion, Conroy learns about the cruel things the children do to the animals of the island, so he teaches them proper ways to care for their pets (pp. 117-119). When Conroy discovers that the children don’t know the correct way to play basketball, he makes it the lesson of the day (pp.203-204). He transforms real life situations and knowledge into his own Yamacraw curriculum.
As the school year continues, Conroy begins to feel the need to give the Yamacraw children real world experiences. He wants his students to see things they would never see on their little island, even things as simple as the yellow lines on a paved road. He wants them to know about the world around them, so that when they are ready to cross the river and journey into the real world, they will know enough about it to be able to thrive. He needs so badly for society to accept his students, so in order to give them a feel for the world around them via somewhere other than their television sets, he begins taking his students on field trips to expose them to the “outside world.” When Conroy discovers that none of the children have ever gone trick-or-treating, he arranges a class trip to his hometown of Beaufort. The trip turns out completely chaotic and nothing goes as planned, but the students walk away with an experience they will treasure their entire lives. Conroy sees the trip as a complete disaster, but the children love it because for once in their lives, they are not in Yamacraw performing Yamacraw life’s daily routine (pp. 123-158). Throughout the rest of the school year, Conroy takes the children on field trips to Washington D.C., to his own home for Valentine’s Day, to a Globe Trotters game, and to a pool outside the island where he teaches them to swim. Although Ms. Brown disapproves of these field trips, the children learn more from them then they did from her. Conroy uses these field trips in the same way he uses the map, movies, and music in his class. The children can not learn from text books, so Conroy avoids them and teaches the children in a way that will spark their desire to learn.
At the end of The Water is Wide Conroy loses his job due to the trifling politics he always hated, and he leaves the island a very disappointed teacher. Conroy feels the injustice of a school board who did not even take the time to visit his classroom. He never teaches at Yamacraw again, but walks away optimistically hoping that the children learned something useful from him. His biggest hope however, is that life is fair to them if they ever cross the river into the real world outside the little universe of Yamacraw Island. When I finished the book, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the students on the island who never had Mr. Conroy as a teacher. They never got to experience the delights of trick-or-treating, or the opportunity to listen to Beethoven’s Fifth. They never saw their nation’s capitol, and never learned (and ignored) the proper way to play basketball. Conroy taught these among many other things to the children in his class and no matter how insignificant they seemed, they prepared the children for the lives that awaited them outside of Yamacraw. Conroy touched the lives of these children in many ways. Through his wonderful philosophy of education, he was able to introduce to these children the proper education on life that they so desperately needed. After all, what is the point of knowing two plus two when you know nothing about surviving in a world that is not as simple as a little island called Yamacraw?
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