Cindy M. (cindymcc) reviewed on 4/19/2010 + 44 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

This book was first published in 1972. An autobiographical account of Pat Conroy's year teaching on an island off the coast of SC, the author draws a compelling picture of island life and the way the education system failed the children. Curiously, though, although Conroy exposed the children to a far larger world, I was not left with an understanding that he had achieved any educational breakthroughs with the children. There is only a brief reference to some of these older children beginning to read and others to count. I was left wondering what became of these children as adults, and if their children and grandchildren have been better served by our educational systems. Since my copy was published in 2002, an updated afterword from the author would have been most welcome.

And even as I was torn between my hope that this book was dated, that society has changed, and my suspicion that the world has not changed as much as I would like, I found an article in the April 16th (2010) Wall Street Journal about a lawsuit proceeding about evidence of racial discrimination at Turner Industries, in Louisiana. The article describes, nooses, racist graffiti, and pay discrimination and notes that the EEOC "makes reasonable cause findings such as the one issued on Turner Industries in only a small fraction of the cases that are filed with it each year. In fiscal 2009, for example, the EEOC received 33,579 complaints involving racial discrimination; only 1,201, or under 4%, received the reasonable cause determination." And I wonder - how many complaints are never filed? And how many pockets are there in our country in which children are never really given a chance to learn?

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