America’s schools are in crisis right now.
After COVID took its toll, and forced remote learning on millions of kids, school boards all over the country are now dealing with loud, sometimes ferocious, debates over everything from mask mandates to gender pronouns to critical race theory.
But debate over education is nothing new.
A generation ago, a Chicago educator with unusual methods was both widely praised and roundly criticized.
Yet it was hard to argue with the success that Marva Collins had with the students who attended her private inner city elementary school.
I met her some 31 years ago as we have a conversation about the state of education, and her unusual methods.
So here now, from 1990, Marva Collins.
Marva Collins died in 2015. She was 78.