Marva Collins Short Biography

Marva Collins was a American educator and civil rights activist. Marva was born in Monroeville, Alabama and was raised in the small town of Atmore. Marva says her childhood was “ wonderful “ she rode in luxury cars and had her own horse. Her father, Alex Nettles was the main source of the money for her family. Alex Nettles owned a general store and would later purchase a ranch and funeral home. Alex was very supportive of his two daughters by challenging them to use their minds and making them feel confident in everything they do. Marva Collins attended Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1957 with a degree in secretarial science.

After graduating Marva Collins went back to Alabama to teach typing, bookkeeping, and business

This article caused national attention and would later put Marva on “60 minutes “ and a segment of “The Marva Collins Story”. In the 60 minutes segment on Marva Collins the reporter Morley Safer states the author of the book “The Bell Curve”, Charles Murray writes on page 399 of his book that the success of Marva Collins “was too good to be true and that there is no hard evidence of her success”.On the segment, the 60 minutes crew tracked down 33 of the 34 students that were on a previous segment on Marva Collins 16 years ago. These students are all grown up now and have jobs from a 6th grade teacher to a sergeant in the US Air Force. Many of the students became teachers after being inspired and told they are brilliant by Mrs.Collins. Students who were marked border line unteachable were able to read Shakespeare in 4th grade because of Marva. Many things that Marva Collins has said is being repeated by teachers she has trained at three elementary schools in Chicago and by other teachers all over the US. Students say that they are living proof that Marvas methods work. Students also say that if Charles Murray wants evidence then he can “come on down” and see the success of these students. Marvas children, who were once students at the Westside preparatory school and now a principal and teacher at the south campus teaching students who they were once like.Marva Collins opened The Wells Preparatory School as a free method for

Many parents of the students that were enrolled in the school said that their children had shown major improvement since joining and that they hope their kids make much more. Even though Collins did not have a degree in teaching she still had better teaching methods and overall high test scores than most of the public white only schools in Chicago ]. Marva Collins turned the school over to her daughter and it ended up closing in 2008 due to parents trying to argue the tuition of $5,500 a year. This lead to a decrease in funding which cause the school to not have enough money to run