Teacher Man

It's been a good while since I read Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and 'Tis, but it wasn't long into Teacher Man that I fell back into his style: lilting Irish, but all at once "in your face". The man who must write the longest sentences in modern prose describes his days as a high school English teacher, and a brief stint at the community college level, as well as a failed attempt at a doctorate degree at Trinity College, Dublin. The failures are many for McCourt, but he gives a glimpse of the triumphs as well in teaching teens to think and create. As a parent of a teen, I wish all teachers would spend more time teaching children at all levels of study to think and create, rather than to spew information on a standardized test.