The Water Is Wide [Versión Kindle]

Pat Conroy's teaching experience on an impoverished South Carolina island in 1969 is reminiscent of Eliot Wigginton's situation in Rabun County, Georgia, during the same time period. (Read Wigginton's book, _Sometimes a Shining Moment: A Foxfire Experience_, if you can locate it.) In each instance, a well-meaning and hopeful young teacher was dropped into what seemed to be an almost impossible educational situation -- an isolated community with seemingly backward students, nonexistent funds for decent materials, and goals and textbooks that didn't come close to meeting students' needs. In Conroy's case, the added strains of regional racism and administrative power games were too much to overcome, and he had to leave after serving a little more than a year there.

And yet, _The Water is Wide_ is a humorous book. We laugh at the white teacher's ignorance of the Gullah children's lifestyles, and we laugh at the children's reactions to the facts he tries to teach them. It's one "fish out of water" gag after another, so to speak. We applaud Conroy's dismissal of the educational chain of command and we cross our fingers that field trips to the mainland will come off without a hitch. We hope that the students will be better off than they ever were before his arrival; for this commentary on one year at one small elementary school stands for all the rest of us, across time, at all the other schools in the nation.

The most disturbing fact here is that those of us working in public education today can easily recognize practices that we still have to deal with: superintendents as dictators; ineffective or intimidating school boards; administrators who rule from afar and never set foot in any classroom. Most of us squeeze the living daylights out of the scantiest of budgets and rebel against the pressure to see the kids as testing statistics rather than human beings. It's all right there, in Conroy's book, and it's still in our schools today. So you can read his words and say to yourself, "Geez, at least we don't have it THAT bad," or you can find yourself commiserating with him and saying, "Wow. We're not that different. I hear you, Pat. Go for it."

"Conrack" may not have made as much of a difference in his students' lives as he would have liked. (Who among us does?) But Pat Conroy has given teachers an inspirational, impactful story: one we can learn much from.

In Pat Conroy's first book, The Water is Wide, he writes of a universal theme: young idealistic man sets out to change the world and runs into a brick wall. But while this story has been told by other writers, nobody writes with the passion and emotion of Conroy.

The Water is Wide is based on Conroy's experiences of teaching on Daufuskie Island in the late 1960's (thinly disguised as Wamacraw Island in the book). After his application was turned down for the Peace Corps, Conroy applied for a job teaching black children on this isolated sea island off the South Carolina coast. His 18 charges were from the upper elementary grades. What he discovered was an unbelievable shock. These 18 students did not know what country they lived in, the name of their president, or what ocean lapped their beach. Some couldn't read or write, recognize the alphabet, write their names or count to ten. Also, none of these children who lived surrounded by water could swim. Everything Conroy had learned about teaching was obsolete on Daufuskie, and he had to be flexible in his methodology in teaching his students to learn. Unfortunately, he hits one roadblock after another from supervisors, the superintendent, the school board, his only colleague and even the parents (who liked what Conroy was doing, but didn't want their children leaving the island for trips). He also runs into hypocrisy, inertia, prejudice, and jealousy.

While Conroy is trying to teach his students, they are giving him an education as well. While the kids from nearby Beaufort are worrying about the homecoming dance, what costume to wear for Halloween, dating, and a host of other non-serious topics, the Daufuskie kids have to deal with poverty, substandard levels of education, alcoholic parents, violence and a host of very serious issues for children so young. Yet, his students are honest to a fault and very endearing. Conroy is amazed and enlightened to see the world through their eyes.

But Conroy wasn't fated to remain at Daufuskie very long, and not all endings are happy. He claims to have not made much of an impact on his students (most readers will disagree). Much of the pristine Daufuskie Island has been turned into a golfing resort. Many of the same problems still plague the islanders. Yet, his short-lived career as a teacher gave him the story that really began his literary career. Not many young writers can boast that their first commercial effort not only became a major bestseller, but also a major motion picture (Conrack with Jon Voight). Conroy's agent, Julian Bach, first read The Water is Wide and told him that he was a natural writer and would write many more successful books. Bach's crystal ball was certainly working well that day as Conroy has since published The Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides, My Losing Season and Beach Music. It doesn't get any better than that.

Set on a small island off the Carolina shores, where Conroy spent a year teaching a small group of black children, who were so lost in time that the name of the ocean that surrounds their island was unknown to them. This colorful and delightful memoir will warm your heart and open your eyes to a system that has not delivered on its promises. Those promises being, the right to an education funded by taxes and delivered in the appropriate manner by someone who can get the job done.

Ever upbeat we find the protagonist working his way into the lives of the children on this all but forgotten island. We watch them attempt to bloom like so many different flowers, and enjoy their trials and tribulations as well as their ability to conquer their ignorance when given half a chance. Different than his novels, PRINCE OF TIDES and BEACH MUSIC, but none the less just as good, this is an endearing and sweet taste of a champion among the children. Kelsana 7/24/01