by Steve Mariotti with Debra Devi
This book is a memoir of a white teacher who helped mostly Black and Latino impoverished students better themselves and improve their lives. Some people will immediately dismiss it on those grounds alone. That would be a mistake, I think. The story is real. This memoir is a good example of how one person can make a difference. It makes the argument that teachers need higher salaries and better social/workplace support.
As mentioned Mariotti is from Michigan and in his younger days (I have no idea of his politics now) was evidently something of a libertarian. The book features amusing stories about Mariotti's meetings--really more run-ins-- with Objectivist philosopher, author and Libertarian inspiration Ayn Rand. For my money Rand was a horrible person both on a personal level and a philosophical one. In her later days she wasn't that different from a cult leader. When Mariotti shared his ideas or activism with Rand, Rand insulted him and dismissed him from her presence. Rand went out of her way to write nasty letters to Mariotti calling him a loser and ordering him to never darken her door again.
I found this darkly amusing only because at the time of Mariotti's interaction with her, Rand was at an advanced age and was certainly not, to put it mildly, any sort of beauty. Rand was a narcissist who apparently found it important to use precious time to attempt to crush a young man's ego. Some people.
Moving to New York City to reinvent himself Mariotti started an import-export company. After Mariotti was mugged by teens a psychologist suggested he become a teacher in order to deal with his fears. And so Mariotti did. Having no seniority and actually wanting to do the job, Mariotti became a teacher of special ed students in some of the worst areas of Bed-Sty and the South Bronx. Standing only 5'6" Mariotti wasn't going to be able to win his students' respect via physical intimidation. Most of them had been through or were currently living worse experiences than he could have imagined.
Some students were already earning illicit cash and saw no reason to change. Many school administrators refused to spend energy or money on students they had written off as future criminals or single mothers. Some condescending racist philanthropists were wary of helping Black children become smarter better competitors against white children. They didn't mind training people to be better employees but shied away from creating future business owners. Mariotti ultimately rose above all this to create the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). NFTE gives students life skills, shows them how to create and run a business, and transforms those business skills into greater scholastic achievement. It's not an easy ride. Not every student is a success. And even some who are successes get bad breaks in life.
This is ultimately a positive book. It shows the benefit of self-confidence, community support and determination. The book has many humorous incidents, whether it be Mariotti constantly hitting on (and utterly failing to impress) actress Edie Falco of The Sopranos fame, back when she was a struggling waitress at his favorite restaurant, the aforementioned Ayn Rand encounters, or being held upside down outside a tenement window by enraged drug dealers (I guess that was only funny in retrospect). At just under three hundred pages, this is a brisk read. As with Cooley High, Mariotti provides updates on many of his first batch of students. Read this book.
