Too Cool for School: A Memoir

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL is an exciting new memoir by award-winning essayist and teacher Elizabeth Collins. Elizabeth Collins was considered an excellent, highly qualified high school English teacher, but a sudden partisan attack against her purpose and character left Collins reeling and nearly destroyed her teaching career. Collins became an unwitting target, “a too-liberal” teacher with an Obama sticker on her car and a Ms. in front of her name who, a couple people feared, might “indoctrinate” conservative, Catholic girls into her own intellectual, independent ways. What began with a petty complaint spiraled into heinous threats against Collins’ family, relentless legal harassment, heart problems, and an internationally reported fiasco. Lauded as “a hero and a martyr” for refusing to give in after the threats and for daring to write about her experiences as a teacher, Collins was also considered dangerous because of her open-minded politics and willingness to speak. TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL explains the kind of teacher Collins was and is, what she wrote about teaching on her widely-read blog, Pretty Freaky, and how she survived the madness of being the center of a story that is still reported—and misreported. When a good teacher can be targeted for having interesting ideas about teaching, and using social media to share her thoughts, who is safe? Who will want to teach in the current teacher-hating climate where teachers are not allowed to do their jobs? Collins’ fascinating memoir is at once heartbreaking, deeply funny, uplifting, and terrifying. Filled with invaluable teaching tips and lesson ideas, along with the provocative story of Collins’ educational background and unconventional classroom experiences, TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL is essential reading for all teachers, parents, students, and anyone concerned with the state of American education today.