Our reissue of Bel Kaufman’s bestselling 1964 novel timelessly depicts the shambolic joys and myriad frustrations of a young teacher. With an introduction by Diane Ravitch.
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 depicted 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.
Up the Down Staircase stands as the seminal novel of a beleaguered public school system that is redeemed by teachers who love to teach and students who long to be recognised. It is poignant, devastating, laugh-out-loud funny, and — in our current moment of debate around the future of education — more relevant than ever.
- ISBN10 1912854619
- ISBN13 9781912854615
- Publish Date 10 December 2020 (first published 1 December 1964)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 7 November 2023
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Scribe Publications
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 384
- Language English