Teacher Man

One main theme of the text is learning from experience. As McCourt presents it, it applies to both life and teaching. In both areas, he begins almost as a blank slate—admittedly clueless, ignorant, naïve. His fears—of life, taking action, asserting himself—hold him back for a while, but whatever happens, he continues to pursue his career. As he writes in the Prologue, he has “one virtue: doggedness. Not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights” (2).

As time goes on, he learns through active experience—including through making mistakes. He also learns to let go of his insecurities, and to engage more directly with life and his students. We see this reflected in his teaching as the book progresses. Chapter 7, for example, is full of failures and regrets for not doing more when students needed it. At McKee, his first teaching job, Augie, Sal, Louise, and Kevin were all students in need of support, of wise advice, and McCourt describes himself as failing to provide what they needed from him. He ends each anecdote by saying he wish he’d done more to help them or handled things differently.