I never read the book Up the Down Staircase, but the movie made a big impression on me when it came out in 1967. I was living in the "ticky-tacky" suburbs and attending junior high, the old name for middle school, so the depiction of an inner city high school deeply fascinated me. I'm not sure how the story would hold up today.

From the NY Times obit:

Amid the laughter, Ms. Kaufman’s book explored deeply serious issues, from classrooms with chronically broken windows and too few chairs to teenage pregnancy, trouble with the law and a student’s attempted suicide. The world of the novel, she often said, was based closely on her own experience as a teacher in New York City high schools.

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