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    Up the Down Staircase
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    Up the Down Staircase
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    Up the Down Staircase
    Ebook436 pages4 hours

    Up the Down Staircase

    By Bel Kaufman

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    For every teacher fighting to make a difference—the timeless bestseller about the hope, heartache, and hilarity of working in the public school system.

    When Sylvia Barrett arrives at New York City’s Calvin Coolidge High, she’s 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. Narrated in “an almost presciently postmodern style” through interoffice memos, notes and doodles, lesson plans, suggestion-box insults, letters, and other dispatches from the front lines, Up the Down Staircase stands as the seminal novel of a beleaguered American public school system perpetually redeemed by teachers who love to teach and students who long to be recognized (The New Yorker).
     
    Hailed as “the funniest book written in America since Catch-22,” Up the Down Staircase spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list, has been adapted for the stage, and was made into an award-winning feature film starring Sandy Dennis (New York Herald Tribune). It remains an essential and highly enjoyable read that will leave you laughing and shaking your head at the same time.
     
    This ebook features an illustrated biography of Bel Kaufman including photos from the author’s personal collection.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781453256046
    Unavailable
    Up the Down Staircase
    Author

    Bel Kaufman

    Bel Kaufman was an author and schoolteacher. Born in Berlin in 1911, she spent her childhood in Odessa and emigrated with her family to the Bronx when she was twelve. Her grandfather was the Yiddish humourist Sholem Aleichem. In addition to Up the Down Staircase, she is also the author of the novel Love, Etc. She died in 2014

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    Reviews for Up the Down Staircase

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      From the book jacket: Never before has a novel so compellingly laid bare the inner workings of a metropolitan high school. This is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose clash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents – anyone concerned about public education. My reactionsThis is written in a kind of epistolary style – notes in the suggestion box, memos from the school principal or nurse or clerk, letters written to a college friend, messages from fellow teachers, items posted on the bulletin board, etc. There are misspellings and doodles (where the kids are writing in the suggestion box or school assignments), ALL CAPS (memos from the “all important” vice principal), and bureaucratic gobbledygook psychobabble (from the school counselor who fancies herself a Freudian psychoanalyst). Guess we can be thankful that Kaufman wrote this before texting abbreviations! It makes for a fast and very engaging read, and lends an air of verisimilitude.The novel crams much truth into this wild ride of a semester’s experiences for this brand new teacher. It’s interesting to watch Sylvia Barrett come to recognize her students’ hidden talents, aspirations and needs. It’s also interesting to witness her growth as a professional educator, how she learns the ins and outs of the system, whom to trust, where to seek mentoring, and determining where her future lies. I loved the way her students interpreted the classics! Some were hilariously off the mark. But many were poignant and reflected their modern-day experiences. Some of these students have heartbreaking back stories. Children having to take on responsibility for ailing parents and younger siblings, or fearing for their own safety. Kids facing homelessness, tempted by gangs, or struggling with prejudice or bullying. Girls worrying about their appearance; boys concerned with looking tough. As in real life, this good teacher managed to connect to a few of these students, and tragically lost others. Hard to believe this was written in the ‘60s and still stands up today. I’ve never seen the movie, but am tempted to track it down.
    • 5/5
      The author uses a unique and distinct style to tell the story of a young woman who accepts a teaching job at an inner-city high school. No narrative to speak of, just scraps of notes, fragments of assignments, blackboard jottings, and episodic letters to an old school chum, but in spite of that, the story flows and engages the reader. You begin to see the characters, and the seemingly disjointed style, jumping from wastebasket to blackboard to hall notes, fits the material very well, and gives a sense of being part of the school world.
    • 5/5
      I can NOT believe I have missed this 1964 classic until now. But... I know that I have an appreciation for this book after five years of teaching under my belt that I never would have before. Wow. Just wow. This book started out as a short story entitled "From a Teacher's Wastebasket," and the author was nudged to turn it into a book at the urging of an editor. What emerged was the correspondence, student contributions, administrative memos, board of education communications of Sylvia Barrett, a first year high school english teacher in New York City. The style of the book ("weird-looking typographically") was groundbreaking in the 1960s, but could be any book's today: a collection of typed and handwritten -- complete with doodles and embellishments -- notes and directives. While the style doesn't seem all that odd to a 21st century reader, unfortunately neither do teaching conditions and the state of education. OMG, truly not much has changed in the 60+ years since the book was written. The only thing that truly dates it is a broken foot, which lands the sufferer in the hospital for some weeks!From Ms. Kaufman's preface:Some reviewers paid me the ultimate compliment: They thought I had merely collected and arranged the material in the book. But the novel is invented -- except a few directives from the Board of Education, which I had to tone down for credibility (emphasis mine). I made up reports, memos, notes, records, forms, announcements, confidential files of the school nurse and the school psychologist, class minutes, lesson plans, administrative circulars, and comments from the kids themselves. All of it sounded so authentic that I was delighted to learn that when the assistant principal of my former school sent directives to his teachers, he would add in red pencil, "Do not show this to Bel Kaufman."I loved it. LOVED it. I laughed frequently, cried a lot (sometimes because the book was sad), and fell in love with the students. Ms. Kaufman absolutely "got" them, and their voices, channeled through her, were brought to glorious life by Barbara Rosenblat in one of the best narrations I've ever heard.
    • 5/5
      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 regulations and disregard this memos that fly between teachers and administration. Sylvia Barrett made a difference to her students. I would like to know what happened to her, Joe Ferone, and Alice. The others seem to have made it out alive.
    • 4/5
      Humorous novel with many grains of truth--just as true today as when written 50 years. I laughed and cried. Neophyte idealistic teacher, Sylvia Barrett's first semester teaching at an inner-city NYC school, contending with the horrendous bureaucracy, paperwork, and red tape and trying to instill the love of learning in her students, persisting despite setbacks. Ms. Kaufman is the granddaughter of the noted Yiddish humorist, Sholom Aleichem, who is famed for the Tevye the Dairyman stories.
    • 4/5
      What a delightful story, of a graduate in her first position, teaching English in an inner city high school. Miss Barrett is overwhelmed by the bureaucracy, the apathy, but tells us of her experiences through notes, office pronouncements, and letters to a good friend. There are situations that should make the reader angry, even tearful, but the author infuses this tale with enough humor to bring a smile to the face. Nicely done.
    • 4/5
      Wow, what a great and unique read!This is the story of a young, and perhaps idealistic, new teacher in a New York City public high school. We follow the new career Miss Barrett through most of her first year of teaching -- not through a traditional narrative, however, but through various letters, memos, notes, and selections from the "Suggestion Box" she installs in her classroom.The pace, like the day-to-day routine of Barrett, is delightfully hectic, and occasionally conveys a feeling of disorientation that I'm sure would be quite matched by the confusion of a new faculty member. It is at times screamingly funny, and at others it will almost break your heart.Most amazing, to me, is how relevant it still seems, even though it was published almost 40 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose! The only thing that baffles me is that this book is often advanced as a Young Adult book? Why? I'm sure many teachers wish that their high school students could read a novel like this and come to better understand what it is like to be a teacher -- but the kids in Kaufman's novel wouldn't have and neither will your average teenager. Not to say some wouldn't enjoy its humor and clever construction, but rather that I do not think that can possibly be the best target audience.While the ending is a bit, shall we say, Hallmark, the sum total of the book is refreshingly realistic, engaging, and fun! What a treat to read.
    • 5/5
      What an enjoyable book! I wish I would have read it sooner. Originally published in 1965; Bel Kaufman uses a unique style in writing this humorous novel. While the first and last chapters are wholly dialog, the middle chapters are epistolary. We are introduced to Sylvia Barrett, a young English teacher who has begun teaching in an inner-city school. Syl quickly becomes discouraged. Her students are unruly and often difficult. The administration at the school is more concerned with minutia than with actual education, and she is finds many of her coworkers are utterly incompetent. She is someone who is dedicated and who went into teaching to make a difference. This atmosphere is frustrating to say the least. She begins to entertain the idea of moving to a smaller, private school where she feels she will be more appreciated, as well as less frazzled. This was a book that I read very quickly, as I found it nearly impossible to put down. Heartfelt, touching, and yet humorous, this is a truly delightful read.
    • 4/5
      Last fall, I saw that one of the books that I loved as a high school student, Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman, was being reissued as an ebook. I can vividly remember reading the slim book, a fictionalized account of Kaufman's experiences teaching in the New York City schools system in the 1950s and 60s.The book became a movie starring Sandy Dennis, and I loved that too. Although at times it paints a very bleak portrait of NYC public schools, what shines through is the main character Miss Sylvia Barringer's love of teaching and her students. This book was responsible for many young women choosing teaching as a career.The book covers Miss Barringer's first year teaching in a poor city high school. Most of the students came from poverty stricken families, and had so many other problems at home that school was either a refuge for them or a place they went to until they dropped out to get a job to help support their families.Miss Barringer is baffled by the students' actions and the ridiculous clerical work required from the administration. She quickly learns the language:"Keep on file in numerical order" means throw it in the wastebasket. "Let it be a challenge to you" means that you're stuck with it; "interpersonal relationships" is a fight between kids; "ancillary civic agencies for supportive discipline" means call the cops. "Non-academic minded" is a delinquent and "it has come to my attention" means you're in trouble.She makes friends with an older teacher, Bea, who shows her the ropes and encourages Sylvia to hang in there and try to reach her students. (I think the author is a combination of Bea and Sylvia.) She puts a suggestion box in her classroom and she shares many of the notes that her students leave there.The notes are funny, profane, and sometimes heartbreaking. We meet many of the students through them, including Edward Williams, who deigns to be class president and tries to impress Miss Barringer with his knowledge. Joey Ferrone is a tough guy, the one kid Barringer really wants to reach. She believes he hides his intelligence behind his rough exterior, and they have one interaction that is filled with tension.The book started out as a magazine article containing many of the real student notes that Kaufman kept from her teaching days. The magazine liked it so much, it became a full-fledged novel.I thought that in reading this book, it might feel dated to me, but it did not, and I'm not sure how that makes me feel. Schools are still filled with bureaucratic nonsense, and students in poor schools still get the short end of the stick. It makes me sad that in some ways we haven't come very far.After we saw the heroic teachers in Newtown who gave their lives to save their students, it is the right time to read or re-read Up the Down Staircase. It's good to be reminded of the many people who believe in the importance of teaching our children, and the challenges they face as they do it.
    • 4/5
      I read this book shortly after it was published in 1965. I am not sure what led me to the book other than perhaps the topic of high school education as I was a student at the time. It told the story of Sylvia Barrett, an idealistic English teacher at an inner-city high school (very unlike my own small-town school) who hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature (especially Chaucer-I was not a fan of this writer) and writing. She quickly becomes discouraged during her first year teaching, frustrated by dumb bureaucracy (what other kind is there?), the indifference of her students, and the incompetence of many of her colleagues. She decides to leave public school to work in a smaller private setting. Her mind is changed, however, by the realization that she has indeed touched the lives of her students (this did happen in my school and I benefited from it).The novel is epistolary in form: aside from opening and closing chapters consisting entirely of dialog, the story is told through documents, such as memos from the office, fragments of notes dropped in the trash can, essays that are handed in to be graded, lesson plans, suggestions dropped in the class suggestion box, and letters written by Barrett to a friend from college who chose to get married and start a family rather than pursue a career. The letters serve as a recap and summary of key events in the book, and offer a portrait of women's roles and responsibilities in American society in the mid-1960s as well. The book's title comes from a memo to teachers, instructing them to make sure that students "do not walk up the down staircase."I remember this as a delightful read full of humor - a book that I truly could not put down.
    • 5/5
      The author uses a unique and distinct style to tell the story of a young woman who accepts a teaching job at an inner-city high school. No narrative to speak of, just scraps of notes, fragments of assignments, blackboard jottings, and episodic letters to an old school chum, but in spite of that, the story flows and engages the reader. You begin to see the characters, and the seemingly disjointed style, jumping from wastebasket to blackboard to hall notes, fits the material very well, and gives a sense of being part of the school world.
    • 4/5
      A story that gives a surprisingly vivid—accurate or not I don't know as it's not my profession—portrayal of the humor and frustration of being a teacher. The epistolary style works surprisingly well.
    • 4/5
      This is a 1964 book written by a New York City high school English teacher. It is denominated fiction, but one suspects it is derived from the author's experiences. I laughed aloud a lot of times, and found the book worth reading--but would have preferred a book holding itself out as relating actual events . The fictional teacher, Sylvia Barrett, is new to Calvin Coolidge High and this novel depicts events from September to Christmas of her first year there. I read Backboard Jungle in 1961 and suspect this book was inspired by that one; if I recall correctly that book also had a "down staircase" not to be used as an "up staricase."
    • 4/5
      I'm not usually a big fan of the epistolary style, but Kaufman makes it work beautifully in Up the Down Staircase. I'm always (this is my second read? third?) startled by how much I connect with Sylvia's students even though we only see them through little snippets of their writing and through Sylvia's letters to her friend. The final moment with Joe Ferone is heartrending. Excellent depiction of the hardships and the joys of teaching, with a predictable but believably-rendered outcome. I boggle at administrative life before the advent of electronic mail (I date myself as a young'un, I know)--imagine sending a conventional memo to several hundred people that says only "Ignore the bells." And then sending several more memos to all those people later in the day. And then again tomorrow. And the next day. I mean, the paper.
    • 4/5
      In the spirit of every new-to-the-business, green educator, Sylvia Barrett is no different than all the rest. Every first year teacher can claim Up the Down Staircase illustrates his or her career. When Sylvia begins her first term in New York's Calvin Coolidge high school she has nothing short of big dreams and great expectations. Within days she discovers her classes, her students, fellow teachers and the entire school administration are nothing like she imagined. Getting through to the students is an exercise in swimming in quicksand. Getting through to the administration is like screaming into the wind. In both situations Sylvia plods through with humor and grace. What makes this book such a pleasure to read is how the story is communicated. Through "intraschool communications," homework assignments, suggestion box missives, and letters to a friend Sylvia's teaching triumphs and tragedies come to life.
    • 3/5
      I know this book was hugely successful, but to me it came across as glib, shallow and cliched. Yes, serious things occur, but overall the whole "If I can touch just ONE child" thing is just tired. Maybe it was fresh in 1961. Up the Down Staircase compares unfavorably with another teaching novel I read immediately after: I'm not Complaining by Ruth Adam, a much less idealistic look at teaching in a poor school in industrial England in the 1930s.
    • 5/5
      I don't think I've ever been able to relate to a character in the way that I related to Sylvia. When you're a teacher, you realize that the hopeful expectations, the unbridled giving of yourself, and the love of your subject matter is constantly in contrast with the never-ending, mundane administrative "to-do" list, the constant bullying of helicopter parents, and the reality that most students don't covet, value, or respect the material that you cherish. A work that is even more relevant now that it was when it was written.
    • 4/5
      Wow, what a great and unique read!This is the story of a young, and perhaps idealistic, new teacher in a New York City public high school. We follow the new career Miss Barrett through most of her first year of teaching -- not through a traditional narrative, however, but through various letters, memos, notes, and selections from the "Suggestion Box" she installs in her classroom.The pace, like the day-to-day routine of Barrett, is delightfully hectic, and occasionally conveys a feeling of disorientation that I'm sure would be quite matched by the confusion of a new faculty member. It is at times screamingly funny, and at others it will almost break your heart.Most amazing, to me, is how relevant it still seems, even though it was published almost 40 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I suppose! The only thing that baffles me is that this book is often advanced as a Young Adult book? Why? I'm sure many teachers wish that their high school students could read a novel like this and come to better understand what it is like to be a teacher -- but the kids in Kaufman's novel wouldn't have and neither will your average teenager. Not to say some wouldn't enjoy its humor and clever construction, but rather that I do not think that can possibly be the best target audience.While the ending is a bit, shall we say, Hallmark, the sum total of the book is refreshingly realistic, engaging, and fun! What a treat to read.
    • 5/5
      The harried and overwhelming life of a new teacher in a big inner-city high school, told in memos, letters, snippets of conversation, suggestion box slips, and other ephemera. While the paper load might be a little better now that we have email, the devotion of good teachers and the aching need of teenagers for real connections never changes. This is an excellent book.
    • 3/5
      Fun to read. Sometimes confusing. Good book. Still applies today.
    • 5/5
      Written in 1964, but still relevant today. Some of the specifics have changed, but the general tone is the same. The ending is certainly uplifting if a bit cliché. Overall, a must read for any teacher!
    • 4/5
      No wonder this novel has sold so well! It is brilliant. The experience of a high school english teacher is told through school memos, teacher notes, student assignments, etcetera over the course of one semester. The teacher's anxiety and despair are made obvious by the ludicrous expectations and politics throughout the school. A little depressing at times, this book was so witty that I couldn't put it down.
    • 4/5
      I love epistolary books. This is a quick read, satiric and funny yet a bit sad too. I'm not a teacher, but from all appearances the US educational system hasn't improved in the half-century since this book was written.
    • 3/5
      Amusing more or less memoirs of the introduction to school life from the front of the school room. It was well liked at the time. The tone is light rather than the tragic overtones such a choice of materials might convey today. it was a breath of calming air in the early 1960's when it appeared.