Customer Reviews

Up the Down Staircase

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Schoolteachers make up a pretty small percentage of the population, but "Up the Down Staircase" gives us a little glimpse of exactly what it is like to be one. Especially an idealistic-to-a-fault one who has to deal with a... well, shall we say, interesting group of students. (That is to say, more than a little insane)

Miss Barrett arrives at Calvin Coolidge High, to teach English to a motley band of students. Among them are: Hormone-addled Linda; resentful, angry Joe Ferone; woman-hating Rusty (who repeatedly tells Barrett that he would like her if she weren't "a female"); Edward Williams Esq., who thinks that everything is racially-prejudiced; soppily romantic Alice, and a slew of others. Miss Barrett realizes over time that the kids are screaming out not just for education, but for love and understanding. But will her idealism break through to them?

This isn't really a novel as people generally think of it -- it's composed of skits, letters, notes, and occasionally stretches of dialogue between the teachers and students. Sounds awful? It isn't. Instead it's cute and quirky, and if you get past the odd format it will become immensely enjoyable and coherent. The dialogue is funny, especially since quite a few of the students don't spell-check. ("Fuk"?) There are also suggestion box excerpts ("You think it's fair when a teacher takes off 5 points on a test just because I misspelled his name wrong?"; "We're behind you 85%!") and book reports ("We study myths to learn what it was like to live in the golden age with all the killings"; "We read it because it's a classicle"). One chapter is even devoted to the extremely imaginative lies that the students think up to explain what happened to their homework ("Some one stole it") with a bit of honesty as well ("I didn't know we were supposed to do it").

There are more serious moments, such as one young woman dying after a botched abortion, and a lovelorn girl jumping out of a window because her crush read one of her love letters. And Barrett's disillusionment near the end is as saddening as the response of the students is uplifting. It's also rather pleasant to read that a teacher with genuinely good intentions and hopes can make a positive difference, even though it lacks in realism. The peculiar narrative drags a bit during the first fourth, but picks up after that with more about the students and less chitchat between teachers.

"Up the Down Staircase" is touching and funny, a novel in the barest sense but immensely enjoyable. It's a little weird and drags at times, but it's still fun. And if you're a teacher, you'll probably be weeping at the traumatic memories it brings back.

I first read this book back in the 1960s before I entered the teaching profession. I have read it several times since. Having just retired from teaching after 34 years, I can say that kids are still basically the same as described in this book. They may have laptop computers now, but their personalities are the same. We still have the teacher pleasers, the lovesick girls, the politicians, the misfits, the loners, and all the rest. My mind has gone back to this book many times as I encountered situations similar to those that faced Miss Barrett. As a matter of fact, as English Department chairman, I often quoted her boss, Mr. Bester: Let it be a challenge to you. I recommend this book to all who would venture into the exciting and wonderful world of the school teacher.

Don't be put off by my title. An antinovel is merely a book that rejects the traditional elements of a novel. In "Up the Down Staircase", the story is told through letters, memos, notes left in suggestion boxes, and scribblings in notebooks. Some people may consider the letters the clumsiest part of the novel, as they are too detailed and precise to have been written directly from the protagonist's memory (as they are supposed to have been). That is not the point, however, as this clumsiness is something you only notice after you've finished reading (hopefully), assuming that you're really into the story.

Like all other books about teachers-who-touch-the-lives-of-students, this novel is touching, poignant and funny--and properly depressing at the right times. It is also full of the strangest characters, teachers and students alike. Yet real life teachers will recognize their own students in the fictional ones and real life students will agree that the weird teachers in the novel are pretty realistic.

What makes "Up the Down Staircase" different from others of its kind (e.g. "The Blackboard Jungle") is that even though it is "messagey", it was not written by someone who had an axe to grind. Yes, Bel Kaufman exposes the terrible working conditions and lack of respect public school teachers get, as well as the poor education students are subjected to--but Kaufman is no Dickens! (Thank goodness!) The crusade to help teachers and students is put in the background, where it belongs; and the story of Miss Barrett, her students, and the other colorful people of Calvin Coolidge, remains in the foreground.

I have to admit that when I first read this book, I didn't think it would be that good - especially considering the awkward structure of the novel. The story is told through a series of notes and letters which is a big shift from any "standard" novel I have read before (aside from "Dracula" - which becomes "standard" later on). Even so, after a few chapters to adjust to the new style I quickly found myself deeply involved with the characters and the plot. At times I was so moved or laughed so much that I just had to stop reading and reflect for a while. I found myself both rooting for my fellow students and backing the teacher.

Bel Kaufman does a great job of characterization of the heroine and uses the letters effectively to sway the reader but leaves some intentional gaps for the reader to dwell on and figure out on his own. (What a great concept!) All in all, this book was great! It took me back to the good old days when I was in high school and made me understand what it is like to be a teacher at the same time.

I am preparing for my first year as a teacher. I came across this book in my searches for more serious texts. I remembered hearing the title so picked it up even though it was 40 years old. I loved it. It is amazing how little some things change over time, such as battles with administrators, etc. Highly entertaining, with good insight into education.

I'm not sure why, exactly, but the humor that everyone finds to be so uproarious in the book was more subtle and subdued to me (I silently laughed more than I cracked up out loud). Primarily, this is an extremely powerful thing, should completely grip anybody who reads it, and the amazing thing is that it speaks the language of its characters, it's subjects. It shows both that simple language is the best, and that sometimes that same language is not necessarily simple minded. Exposes the true beauty and character of so many things people are ignorant to-this book should be read by anybody associated in any way with education, student or faculty.
In a league with satire giants like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Catch 22. Must read.

I am a teacher -- elementary -- and I identified with this book thoroughly. I realize that it was written almost 40 years ago, but it still shows how teachers can be caught up in paperwork, meetings and beaureaucratic folderol and not have time to do what they were hired to do . . . namely, TEACH!

Again our nation faces a teacher shortage. If we would treat the teachers we already have like professionals -- in fact, like human beings -- we might find more people interested in going into the profession.

I had to read this book for a school report. The begining was a little to slow but all in all it is an amazing book. It is an great story about a teacher who is forced to teach in unmanigable conditions and it put through tourture in an inner city school. The books tells the changes she had in her life and in her students lives. I have read it and so has my best friend. We both loved it and you will too.

The semi-fictitous Sylvia Barrett is newly arrived at a New York City public school, unaware of the mayhem that greets her. First, are the physical problems: inadequate books, broken equipment and the fact that she must "float," that is use a different classroom for each class. Then, there are the students themselves: loud, opinionated, grievance-carrying, illiterate, poverty-stricken, pregnant, etc., etc. Next are the teachers and staff themselves, some idealistic, but some cynical and worn out. And finally, there are Ms. Barrett's understandable and alas, justified doubts about her ability to reach these young people, without going insane in the process.

How Ms. Barrett manages to survive her first year teaching, make a difference in the lives of her students, and how she eventually comes to prefer the school she's in to the idyllic one of her grad school imagination is the story of "Up the Down Staircase." The setting may be specific, but the problems and challenges she encounters could take place in any real-life school.

I picked up this book absentmindedly having no intention of reading it and the next thing I knew, I was finished. It has the most unique structure of any book I have ever read. The story is told through notes, faculty circulars, letters, bulletin board displays, papers found in the garbage can, and other similar items. However, this does not detract from the story in any way. It is fascinating to observe plot, characterization, climax- in short, all the necessary elements of a good story- emerging from this unusual structure.

The book takes place in an inner city high school and is told through the eyes of a new teacher. I could really relate to the story as it poked fun at the bureaucracy of public schools and explored controversial and important issues that continue to be found decades later. For the most part, this is a lighthearted, sometimes humorous, story although there is enough emotion to give it just the right amount of depth.

This book was an enjoyable and quick read. It was worth reading just to see how the structure lended itself to a good story about an attractive young teacher just trying to find her way and make a difference in the mayhem of a far-from-perfect public school.