The true story of a black American teacher who, disillusioned with educational standards and attitudes in the depressed westside of Chicago, decided to set up a school in her own house. Cicely Tyson plays the eponymous heroine with gusto and is extremely convincing as a teacher of rare quality. Indeed, Marva Collins' revolutionary stance in improving the lot of under-stimulated and under-motivated youngsters so impressed President Reagan that he offered her the post of Secretary of Education; she declined. Directed by Peter Levin, The Marva Collins Story is a simplistic venture full of cute little children and fighting talk from Miss Tyson. In one scene, after turning from a ding-dong with a bureaucrat, she hears him say: `That's one tough broad.' Back comes the reply: 'You bet I am, mister. But let me tell you something - it's a tough world out there.' Schmaltzy and sometimes too altruistic for words (how many teachers do you know who would invite their pupils to kick them? ) this is still a good story convincingly told.


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