Teacher Man Mccourt
In this excerpt from his memoir Teacher Man, Frank McCourt uses his conversation with a mother of one of his students in order to criticize the curriculum of schools and question the long term benefits of what he is teaching. During Open School Day, a mother of Paulie, a boy in McCourt’s class, tells McCourt that what her son is learning in McCourt’s class will not be beneficial for him in the future. As a result of McCourt teaching at a school in a prominently poor neighborhood, many of the students, as well as their parents, know that he or she will most likely become a craft worker. McCourt is teaching his students words that are not typically a part of the daily vocabulary of someone that is a craft worker. Paulie’s mother questions the
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Paulie's mother asks McCourt if he “thinks [her] Paulie can spell handkerchief” (74). McCourt responds that “[He] do[esn’t] think so” (74), as a result of the word not being on the spelling list. Paulie’s mother becomes enraged and begins to ask McCourt the reasons behind the words that are on the list. She then explains to McCourt that her son is going to be a “[p]lumber. [Her] kid’s gonna be a plumber...so [she] doesn’t see why he needs to clog his head with twenty dollar words” (75). Her directness and sentence fragment makes McCourt understand the reason behind her worries. She knows for a fact that this is what her son is going to be and sees no reason why he should be learning about anything that is not directly related to his future. McCourt responds to Paulie’s mother’s rant by responding that he believes that, “you have to be careful with what you fill your head with. [His] head was so filled with stuff from Ireland and the Vatican [he] could hardly think for [him]self” (75). He is able to relate with the situation that Paulie is in. He was forced to learn things in his past that did not benefit him in the future. In fact, they hurt him by causing him to not be able to think for himself. Through his conversation with Paulie’s mother, McCourt began to wonder why students are forced to fill their minds with information that is useless to them in the
Paulie's mother asks McCourt if he “thinks [her] Paulie can spell handkerchief” (74). McCourt responds that “[He] do[esn’t] think so” (74), as a result of the word not being on the spelling list. Paulie’s mother becomes enraged and begins to ask McCourt the reasons behind the words that are on the list. She then explains to McCourt that her son is going to be a “[p]lumber. [Her] kid’s gonna be a plumber...so [she] doesn’t see why he needs to clog his head with twenty dollar words” (75). Her directness and sentence fragment makes McCourt understand the reason behind her worries. She knows for a fact that this is what her son is going to be and sees no reason why he should be learning about anything that is not directly related to his future. McCourt responds to Paulie’s mother’s rant by responding that he believes that, “you have to be careful with what you fill your head with. [His] head was so filled with stuff from Ireland and the Vatican [he] could hardly think for [him]self” (75). He is able to relate with the situation that Paulie is in. He was forced to learn things in his past that did not benefit him in the future. In fact, they hurt him by causing him to not be able to think for himself. Through his conversation with Paulie’s mother, McCourt began to wonder why students are forced to fill their minds with information that is useless to them in the