Going Home to Teach

by Anthony C. Winkler

This autobiographical account of the year Winkler spent at a rural teacher training college flashes back to the Jamaica of the narrator's childhood, recounting incidents and vignettes that shed light on the muddle of competing personalities, doctrines and images of self, currently vying for centre stage in the tumult of Jamaican life. Emerging form the story are the hilariously drawn characters, contrasts between the Jamaican and the American outlook, and the lessons about the perils of superimposing a foreign ideology onto a native culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

318 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2006

About the author

Anthony C. Winkler was a successful Jamaican novelist and popular contributor to many post-secondary English literary texts.

See Wikipedia

Reviews

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthony Winkler was a white man born on an island with a predominantly black population governed by the British Empire until 1962.

He makes clear his disdain of the British and rails against his early colonial British education which, as it happens, is what prepared him for the opportunity to be accepted into and succeed glowingly at academic institutions of higher learning in the USA from which he went on to write text books dealing with the English language widely used in US colleges and universities. This is where Winkler made his mark.

Homesickness dogged Winkler until in 1975 he took the leap to go home to teach. He ended up in the bowels of a rural government teacher’s training college where he struggled with the daunting difficulties with which he was faced.

The straw that broke Winkler’s back was the bitter disappointment for two of his students who he had dedicated his own time to coaching when in the end the students were prevented from taking an exam that would allow them to apply for a position at the University of the West Indies.

There are many LOL moments which likely will be missed by a general audience unless they are familiar, at least to some degree, with the island’s language and culture.

It is my obligation to mention that this book may not be for everyone.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this autobiographical novel, the life of a teacher in 1970s Jamaica is told in true Winkler fashion, full of wit and sarcasm. Of course, Anthony Winkler’s experience was not quite the norm. He had studied in the US and was doing quite well for himself but due to the shortage of teachers in Jamaica, he decided to return home. This he did at a time when all those who could afford to leave the island, didn’t hesitate to do so. Nevertheless, he settled in a small rural village and prepared for the numerous challenges that any average do-gooder must face before he decides whether or to stay or to go. His daily adventures in rural Jamaica are hardly surprising but very entertaining.

[Jennifer Webb Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again coming from Jamaica and having left around the time where the book began...it really struck a cord...
You cannot be from the island and not just love reading this book. With every page I turned it was like turning a corner on the road to home...makes you just want to be there...

[Nadine Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going Home to Teach is an autobiographical novel by Jamaican author Anthony Winkler. He writes of his time spent as an instructor at a teacher-training college in Jamaica in 1975, during the tenure of then-Prime Minister Michael Manley, and discusses the history behind black/white and white/black racism in Jamaica. He also flashes back to his own boyhood experiences, the struggles endured by himself and his family (individually and as a collective group), and the anti-white sentiment he faced while growing up. His account of the year spent in Jamaica teaching at a rural teacher training college is filled with incisive social commentary, including contrasts between the American and Jamaican outlooks, insights into the dilemma of being a member of a privileged minority, and lessons about the perils of superimposing a foreign ideology onto a native culture. He writes with zany humor and entertaining characters from his past and present but also teeming with frustration, anger and ultimately a passionate love of country, Going Home to Teach is significant both as a work of literature and a period in Jamaica’s modern history.

[Doug Frizzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read by Anthony Winkler. I discovered the author's books when we visited Jamaica a couple of years ago. This autobiography is of just two years back in his homeland. It is both enjoyable and sad. His achievements are many...

[BookOfCinz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a fan of Autobiographies but Winkler's "Going Home To Teach" really resonated with me. There were some things that I felt I didn't have to read and his opinions on the Manley Government was a big eye opener for me as a Jamaican.
I am sad that his experience with coming home to teach wasn't a walk in the park but then I wouldn't have this book to read.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Gina-Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

White Jamaican. Didn’t agree with Manley. Went back to JA to teach. Faced institutional barriers. Left.
One of the first biographies I’ve read by a Jamaican, and definitely the first by a white Jamaican- a Master status highlighted by the author in his narrative. I prefer his fiction 🙃.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny. Interesting read.

[Riz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written with a good command of both English and patois, the author provides great insight into Jamaican culture. Plus the book is humorous to boot.

[Peta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that opened my eyes to reverse racism that I did it know existed on my island