Marva Collins: the Collins creed

Ebony, Dec, 1996 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

One of her more famous students was Kevin Ross, who spent four years in college only to come out functionally illiterate. He voluntarily enrolled at her school to improve his skills. He entered reading at slightly below third-grade level and left reading at a 12.9-grade reading level.

Another extraordinary former pupil is Ayinde Jean-Baptiste, the young man who electrified the country when he spoke at the Million Man March in October 1995. Now 13, Ayinde was just 4 years old at Westside Prep when he memorized and recited Dr. King's famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. Since age 6 he has tested above the 11th and 12th grade levels in some categories.

"Bad choices--bad consequences; good choices--good consequences," the first- and second-graders chant.

Collins has a gold medal in good choices. In 1975, after 14 years as a substitute teacher in the Chicago public schools, Collins changed course. Disgusted with the disregard many students faced in that system, the Clark College graduate took her $5,000 teacher's pension and started her own school on the second floor of her home. Some of the children she taught there had been labeled learning disabled, troublemakers or unteachable.

"If Abraham Lincoln were enrolled in public schools today, he would probably be in a learning disability program. Lincoln didn't learn to read until age 14. No one should rule any child out of the educational picture," the maverick educator says. Parents, particularly Black parents, have to be willing to make sacrifices to make sure their children are educated properly, she says.

Collins can often be found mopping floors, cleaning the toilets and emptying trash at her schools. Students who offer to help are shooed back to class with the admonition: "You're here to learn. If the janitor doesn't show up, this is my job," she says.

Today there are three schools that bear Marva Collin's name and many more that follow her philosophies. The Cincinnati, Ohio, Marva Collins Preparatory School has been operating since 1990, inspired by Collins' methods and success. Collins is an adviser to the school, which has 160 students and a waiting list.

One of the founders of the Cincinnati school attended a Collins teacher-training seminar. Collins has trained thousands of teachers in her methods since 1985 when she began conducting seminars at Westside Preparatory for teachers and principals around the country.

She divides her time between the two Chicago schools and leaves the administrative duties to one of her former pupils, her son, Patrick. Collins' daughter, Cynthia, teaches first- and second-graders at Westside Preparatory and son, Eric, coordinates the schools' computer data systems.

Patrick and Cynthia have been involved with their mother's dream from the beginning. She taught them both in the original school on the second floor of the family home. "We're all on the front lines," Patrick Collins says. He has been administrator and principal of the South Side location for the last two years. Among his many duties are hall monitoring and uniform enforcement. "Young man, where's that tie? Young lady, tuck in your blouse," he directs students as they pass in the hallway. He says the school is for "children who want an education, and parents who value an education."