Bel Kaufman - Up The Down Staircase

The following day he appeared in class in a cap and gown—a black graduation gown and mortarboard, borrowed or rented at what trouble or expense I could only guess, and a large hammer for a gavel. He bore a look of such solemn dignity that no one dared to laugh.

He sat at my desk and said: "The court clerk is supposed to say they gotta rise."

There was such authority in his voice that slowly, one by one, the class rose. It was a moment I don't think I will ever forget.

The class was directed to sit down, and the wheels of justice proceeded to turn. The prosecution and the defense testified; witnesses were called, examined, cross-examined; excitement ran high. When anyone spoke out of turn, Jose would pound on the desk with his hammer: "This here court will get quiet. Call the next witness. You keep quiet, or you'll be charged with contempt."

He overruled every objection: "Maybe I'm stupid, but I'm the judge and you gotta listen."

And when Harry Kagan challenged him on court procedure, he said, with quiet assurance: "I ought to know. I been ."

The court ruled for the defense.

When the bell rang, Jose slowly removed his cap and gown, folded them neatly over his notebook, and went on to his next class; but he walked as if he were still vested in judicial robes.

I don't think he will ever be quite the same.

And that's it; that's why I want to teach; that's the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.

The Willowdale offer is not so tempting, after all.

Love,

Syl

P.S. Did you know that out of the 77,000 dropouts in New York City 90% are Negroes and Puerto Ricans?

S.

MISS BARRET'S CLASSES

(USE LEFT SIDE OF BULLETIN BOARD ONLY)

"THOSE WHO EDUCATE CHILDREN WELL ARE MORE TO BE HONORED THAN PARENTS, FOR THESE ONLY GAVE LIFE, THOSE THE ART OF LIVING WELL."

ARISTOTLE

LOST & FOUND

LOST: Green plad jacket, tore lining broke zipper. Urgent need!

Lou Martin

LOST: Make Up kit imitation red aligator.

Linda Rosen

LOST: "Hollywood Horoscope of Stars" magazine. Reward ....

Alice Blake

LOST: (Or stole!!!) My left lense from my eyeglases between here and History.

Edward Williams, Esq.

LOST: Poster, printed with Indian Ink, saying that Government of the Students, by the Students, for the Students, shall not perish from Calvin Coolidge .

Harry A. Kagan The Students Choice

FOUND:

BEST STUDENT SAMPLES:

"The Theater of the Absurd and All the Angry Young Men"

A Comparative Study

by Elizabeth Ellis

If there is a connection between absurdity and despair, and I believe there is, then Edward Albee, John Osborne, Harold Pinter and Arthur Kopit are all brothers trapped under the same skin. In examining both the symptoms and the more obvious manifesta

(cont. on next page)

Excellent as always!

SPELING QUIZ ? 100%

Vivian Paine

1. accept

2. acquainted

3. advice

4. artichoke

5. ascend

"READING MAKETH A FULL MAN, CONFERENCE A READY MAN, AND WRITING AN EXACT MAN."

SIR FRANCIS BACON

HUMOR

St. Peter: "Who is knocking at my gate?"

Voice: "It is I."

St. Peter: "Go away, we don't need any more school teachers here!"

Teacher: "There are two words in the English language you must never use. One of them is swell and the other is lousy."

Pupil: "What are they?

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Experiencd Baby Sitter. Apply Office 211.

MISS LEWIS' CLASS

(USE RIGHT SIDE OF BULLETIN BOARD ONLY)

(USE RIGHT SIDE OF BULLETIN BOARD ONLY)

THE 3 C's CHARACTER + CONFLICT = CLIMAX

THE 5 E's: EXAMINE, EVALUATE, EXPRESS, ELUCIDATE, END

"CUE" = COHERENCE, UNITY, EMPHASIS

BEST STUDENT SAMPLES:

TRUE OR FALSE TEST - 100%

Kurt Werner

1. T

2. F

3. F

4. T

5. T

6. F

7. T

8. F

9. F

10. T

COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN:

Paper Distribution Committee—Luis Ramos

Blackboard Committee—Judy Thornwald

Sanitary Committee—Sybelle Klopotkin

Room Traffic Committee—Wong Gee

CLASS ACHIEVEMENT GRAPH;

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea—

Thank you for letting me observe your Senior Honors and Creative Writing classes; it was worth giving up my unassigned and lunch periods to see! How wonderful to hear a discussion of Hamlet’s relationship to Ophelia on such an adult level! Their insights, their involvement, their comments on their outside reading were a revelation to me. And your Creative Writing class made me aware of how much is going on inside them; how serious and yet how touchingly young they are. I wanted to hug each and every one of them. And you.

I realize these are specially selected groups, the cream off the top, but at least I know that this kind of student exists, and this kind of teaching is possible.

Can we meet for a few minutes? I'm bursting to talk to you about it!

(You promised to let me see the paragraphs they were writing in class.)

Enviously,

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl,

Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It's the skim milk that needs good teachers.

Enclosed are a few of their papers; I haven't corrected them yet.

Sorry can't meet you now: Am with child.

Bea

MRS. SCHACHTER’S CREATIVE WRITING CLASS ASSIGNMENT:

Write one paragraph, asking a probing question on any topic you wish. Give it a suitable title. Remember what you’ve learned about the use of imagery in conveying emotion.

THE WORLD'S INDIFFERENCE

Stink and stench assailled his nostrils as he reeled drunkenly into the room. The whisky lay heavy in his gut. His belly rumbled. "I think I'll puke", he thought. But by then they had him. Handcuffs, the works. "Why?" he shouted from his very gut. "Why me?" But the world kept rolling along.

SPRING REMEMBERED

I remember Spring. The lilacs and the stars. The rose and the dew. You and the night. I remember. I remember holding hands beneath the moon which was suspended like a silver locket upon a chain of stars from the neckline of a cloud. I remember the leaves whispering like lacy gossips in the trees. I remember the lake lapping. I remember how sharp like a thorn was love. Why do I not remember your Name?

IMAGES

I see the cat. The cat is on the mat. I can spell cat. But what is cat? That is the question! The cat is a fog or smudgey smoke from a cigarette or a purry furry ball or a tiger ready to spring at you. You never know.