The incredible story of John Corcoran - the teacher who couldn't read or write

The profession of a teacher requires pedagogical education and excellent knowledge of the subject. But what would you say if you found out that your teacher can't read or write? This sounds absurd, but history knows at least one such example. American John Corcoran worked quite successfully as a teacher for 17 years, not only not being able to read and write, but not even distinguishing numbers from letters.

John Corcoran was born in 1939 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His parents were the most ordinary people - his father earned money, and his mother did housework. John had five brothers and sisters, but none of the children was deprived of parental attention. In a word, the Corcorans were quite prosperous representatives of the middle class.

The mother who raised the children tried to ensure that the children were not deprived of attention. The father, despite being busy, also tried to take as much part as possible in the life of his offspring. In an interview, John Corcoran recalled:

John was different from his siblings and seemed to be developmentally delayed. He started speaking later than everyone else and, despite his mother’s efforts, had not learned to read by the time he started school. But the parents believed that there was nothing wrong with this and their son would quickly catch up with everything.

In the 1940s, first-graders in American schools were not taught to read and write. The main emphasis was on learning important life skills and discipline. But in the second year of school, when the children began to gain real knowledge, it became obvious that something was wrong with John. The boy did not distinguish letters and could not put them into words. Things were no better with the numbers, which seemed completely meaningless and identical to the boy.

John's peers quickly learned to read and began to study writing. But Corcoran made no progress in this matter at all, and any written text seemed to him an incomprehensible set of symbols. John and his parents were in despair. No one could understand why an active and intelligent child could not learn something that was given so easily to everyone.

The boy himself was simply tormented by his problem. Classmates laughed at John, thinking he was a fool. At night the boy prayed and asked God to help him gain knowledge. But nothing changed. John would later say, “When you are told every day that you are stupid, over time you begin to believe it.”

Fortunately, young Corcoran had good teachers. They saw that the child was trying, but for some reason nothing was working out. As an exception, John was transferred from class to class along with everyone else. In high school, he completely accepted his situation and bravely endured the bullying of his classmates.

What John Corcoran disliked most was literature classes. To avoid them, he came up with a variety of things. The boy got into fights, feigned illness, and provoked teachers to kick him out of class. To counter the constant bullying, he put on a rebel mask and spent a lot of time in the principal's office.

The boy's parents accepted his behavior and decided that he was mentally unstable. They stopped placing any hopes on him. John was expelled from school for bad behavior. He was placed in another, then a third. Everywhere he behaved disgustingly and he was not welcome anywhere. The family moved often, so there were no problems choosing schools. In the end, Corcoran replaced 17 of them.

But in high school, John changed. He was tired of playing a bully, because in reality he was not one. There were no more schools around where he did not “become famous.” The rebel label stuck firmly to Corcoran and was not easy to get rid of.

And then John discovered sports. He started playing basketball and in just a year became the best athlete in the school. The teenager brought medals from all competitions and teachers began to turn a blind eye to his “successes” in his studies. Corcoran was given grades for no reason, and he himself tried to hide his illiteracy. On tests, he would diligently copy letters and numbers from his classmates or ask someone else to do the work for him.

In the same way, Corcoran managed to pass the final exams and received the most ordinary certificate. He left school as illiterate as he was in 1st grade. Many people believe that John had dyslexia and this is very likely to be true. By the way, many quite successful people live with this problem. But no one has officially confirmed this information, so we can only speculate about the origin of his problems.

But it was impossible to definitely suspect John Corcoran of mental retardation. He managed to go to college like other high school graduates. There the guy realized that the trick of constantly cheating might not work. So he invented a new way to hide his illiteracy. During lectures, John sat with a notepad and moved a pen over it as if he were writing. It was more difficult with the tests, but even here he showed resourcefulness.

The student learned that test items have not changed for years. Students from previous years received the same assignments as him. So Corcoran simply asked the seniors for their tests and, like in school, mindlessly redrew them. John had other ways to deceive teachers, so he always got out.

It was more difficult to hide my troubles from my peers. In his dorm room, Corcoran was forced to lie on his bed for hours, staring at an open book. Everyone thought that he was reading something, but for John the letters did not carry any meaning. Surprisingly, he still received a diploma as an English teacher. It was the early 60s, when there was a catastrophic shortage of teachers in the United States. The leaders of one of the schools quickly contacted Corcoran and offered him a job.

Luckily for John, he was assigned to teach social studies. In classes, he often asked children to repeat names out loud, citing poor memory for names. No one suspected that the teacher simply could not read them in the magazine. The cunning man chose the best students among the schoolchildren and appointed them as his assistants. They made notes on the board and read texts from textbooks aloud.

On tests, he gave specific tasks that had clear answers. When checking them, John simply carefully checked the squiggles from the notebooks with the official answers. He tried to be a good mentor, but constantly suffered from pangs of conscience.

Most of all he was afraid of teachers' councils. The director sometimes called teachers to the blackboard and forced them to write something. But even in this case, John had a plan. He decided that if he was called, he would fake a heart attack. Fortunately for Corcoran, in 17 years of working at the school he was never called in for a report.

In 1965, John began dating a girl named Caitlin. Soon they got married. The man revealed his secret to his wife, but she just laughed and said that not everyone likes to read and there is nothing wrong with that. Soon the couple had a daughter, Colleen.

The child saw through his father at the age of only three years. The girl noticed that mom and dad read the same books differently. But John didn’t read, he just looked at the pictures and made up stories himself.

After working as a teacher for 17 years, John Corcoran quit and opened his own business. It was a construction company that renovated old houses. He got his own accountant and assistant who wrote and read for him. The company was doing well and Corcoran soon became a millionaire.

He was no longer bothered by illiteracy, because everyone attributed his reluctance to deal with papers to the whims of a rich man. But during one of the economic crises, John's company went bankrupt. He even lost his home and fell into depression. And at that moment he firmly decided to master reading. He enrolled in an adult literacy center.

John was able to learn to read only 6 years later, at the age of 48. Having overcome his problem, Corcoran decided to help people with the same difficulties. He founded a charity that helps adults learn to read and write. John still leads it today. He recently admitted that reading is still not easy for him. He loves books, but notices that as soon as he relaxes, the reading skill is quickly lost.