In the case of Pat Conroy's “The Water Is Wide,” it's rural ed ucation “Southern style” or, more precisely, Sea Islands style. With the urban education angle having been pretty much exhausted, a new angle has emerged-rural education.

This pattern is clearly evident in publishing, particu larly as it relates to the pub lication of educational litera ture. A par ticular notion about some prob lem emerges, becomes fashion able and may almost achieve a realistic breakthrough and raise our social consciousness, but then it is deserted and we move on to some new area of concern. Source: en. and America, fads occur as frequently with our concern for social problems as they do with dress or music.

In 2006, Hallmark Hall of Fame TV made the movie titled The Water Is Wide, starring Jeff Hephner and Alfre Woodard. The 1974 film adaptation, titled Conrack, starred Academy Award-nominated, Jon Voight. Brown over his unconventional teaching methods and with the administrators of the school district, whom he accuses of ignoring the problems at the Yamacraw school. Conroy, or “Conrack,” does battle with the principal Mrs.

He struggles to find ways to reach his students, ages 10 to 13, some of whom are illiterate or innumerate, and all of whom know little of the world beyond Yamacraw. These Islanders have had little contact with the mainland or its people. Nearly all of them are directly descended from slaves. The book details Conroy’s efforts to communicate with the Islanders. Yamacraw is a poor island lacking bridges and having little infrastructure. It won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The Water Is Wide identifies as nonfiction and other times as a novel. He refusal to use corporal punishment on students and lack of respect for the school’s administration led to his firing. The teaching experience changed Conroy’s life and introduced a group of poor isolated children to the world beyond their isolated island.Ĭonroy was fired at the conclusion of his first year on the island for his unconventional teaching practices. The book changed the name from Daufuskie to the fictional Yamacraw Island.

The school was the actual Mary Field School. It is based on his work as a teacher in a two-room schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island. The Water Is Wide is a 1972 memoir by acclaimed author, Pat Conroy.

The river is wide pat conroy