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Up the Down Staircase - Bel Kaufman
Up the Down Staircase
by: (author)
Sylvia Barrett arrives at New York City's Calvin Coolidge High fresh from earning literature degrees at Hunter College and eager to shape young minds. Instead she encounters broken windows, a lack of supplies, a stifling bureaucracy, and students with no interest in Chaucer. Her bumpy yet... show more
Sylvia Barrett arrives at New York City's Calvin Coolidge High fresh from earning literature degrees at Hunter College and eager to shape young minds. Instead she encounters broken windows, a lack of supplies, a stifling bureaucracy, and students with no interest in Chaucer. Her bumpy yet ultimately rewarding journey is narrated through an extraordinary collection of correspondence–sternly worded yet nonsensical administrative memos, furtive notes of wisdom from teacher to teacher, 'polio consent slips,'' and student homework assignments that unwittingly speak from the heart. An instant bestseller when it was first published in 1964, Up the Down Staircase remains as poignant, devastating, laugh-out-loud funny, and relevant today as ever. It timelessly depicts a beleaguered public school system redeemed by teachers who love to teach and students who long to be recognized.
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Format: ebook
ISBN: 9780525565666
Publisher: Vintage
Pages no: 368
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
danae
danae rated it
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The last older teaching book I had read was extremely disappointing. This one, however, was great. I think any non-teachers reading Up the Down Staircase would think it greatly exaggerated, but it's really not. It's pathetic how much of the book could have bee...
Sheila's Reads
Sheila's Reads rated it
5.0 UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE by Bel Kaufman
Classic story of a first year teacher in the NYC school district in the 1960's. It tells of her ups and downs, successes and failures. It is relatable even if you are not a teacher. The absurdity of the bureaucracy is very believable. It is a wonder the students learn anything with all the rules and...
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