What exactly is Pat Conroy's mission? Does he achieve it?

Pat's purpose is to share his teaching style with children who may need a different method of teaching. Sadly, his purpose is not fulfilled, because his unusual teaching methods bring scorn from the other teachers on the island and eventually from the school's administrators.

Pat is fired from his teaching job but enlists the help of the parents who petition to retain Pat and he returns to teach for another year. Pat continues to use his unique teaching style and finds himself in trouble with the school's administrators once again. Pat is once again terminated and even the support of the parents does not help this time.

Pat hires an attorney to fight a wrongful termination case, and the judge upholds the school district's decision to fire Pat even though the judge feels Pat's indiscretions do not warrant dismissal. It is the right of a school administration to fire any teacher it feels to be unfit for the position.

Pat philosophizes that he should have learned to be more obsequious toward the school's establishment in order to retain his position. As it is, Pat's self-respect is intact but he is not able to help the children. Pat also knows he was not able to dramatically change the knowledge levels of his students in the brief time he spent with them but hopes he has given them some experiences that will make their transition to the outside world just a little easier when that time comes.