Frank McCourt; Liberation of Learning.(Interview)

Byline: Malcom Jones

In his first memoir, "Angela's Ashes," Frank McCourt explored the Old World through memories of his childhood spent in Limerick, Ireland. In his latest book, "Teacher Man: A Memoir," the 75-year-old New York-born author describes his experiences as a teacher in the New World--more specifically, in the chaotic, violent high schools of New York City. NEWSWEEK's Malcolm Jones spoke to McCourt about the memoir, his life and the realities of the world's most thankless profession. Excerpts:

Jones: What was so hard about writing this book?

McCourt: I wrote pages, thousands and thousands of words, but they were argumentative and humorless, and I didn't get into the classroom. What I always wanted was to get into the classroom, show what it's like. All the novels I've ever read about teaching showed you one teacher with one class. It's not like that. You have five classes a day. And you have to handle all this massive material. One hundred seventy kids. That's what I wanted to convey. I kept trying and trying and trying and then I would write down episodes in the classroom, moments, epiphanies, and then the book began to emerge. I didn't write it, it emerged. It's like the sculptor with the granite block.

How difficult was teaching?

It was 15 years before I began to feel slightly comfortable in that platform, and that was halfway through my career. It's what people don't realize about high-school teaching. You're dealing with a hundred and seventy-five ingredients and in each of these ingredients are more ingredients. It was so complex, which is what lost John Kerry the vote. He mentioned one time that things weren't that simple. [Laughs ] The country didn't want to hear it. They want black and white. It was never black and white.

Would you ever send anyone into teaching?