Up the Down Staircase
Bel Kaufman, 1964
A first-year teacher's dispatches from a New York City high school, assembled from memos, notes and student voices — funny, furious and still familiar.
Bel Kaufman
Bel Kaufman was the granddaughter of Sholem Aleichem and drew on her own years teaching English in New York City public schools.
Feels like memory, time and wonder.
The private language of institutions, translated by someone who has learned to hate it.
The clerical work is par for the course. “Keep on file in numerical order” means throw in wastebasket. You’ll soon learn the language. “Let it be a challenge to you” means you’re stuck with it; “interpersonal relationships” is a fight between kids; “ancillary civic agencies for supportive discipline” means call the cops; “Language Arts Dept.” is the English office; “literature based on child’s reading level and experiential background” means that’s all they’ve got in the Book Room; “non-academic-minded” is a delinquent; and “It has come to my attention” means you’re in trouble. Books by Bel Kaufman
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