Up the Downstaircase

Up The Down Staircase
By: Bel Kaufman

Up The Down Staircase Almost everybody regardless of their situation or status suffers from some sort of anxiety on their first day of work. As a recently hired employee strolling the halls of their new environment, they were introduced to a completely new cast of characters, co-workers, supervisors, costumers. Thus creating a continuous cycle that takes time to grow accustomed to, but once accomplished the rigors of work becomes standard and ordinary. There are jobs where this does not happen, completely unique situations are born spontaneously and it falls upon the shoulders of those on hand to evaluate and then solve the situation at hand. Certain levels of divergent thinking capabilities are required in jobs such as these, and one of the most prolific examples of such is in the education field. A beautiful look into this particular world of teaching is Bel Kaufmans, Up The Down Staircase. It is a narrative following the life of Sylvia Barrett in the class room as she makes her way through the trials and tribulations of being a high school teacher in a inner city, public school setting. She acquires this job not long after graduating from college, and from the very beginning it becomes a battle with various individuals for any sort of structure or progress. Anytime she begins to make headway with the kids a memo will be brought in to the classroom which will interrupt the lesson, and remind the kids of the chaos of the outside world. Often times these memos are for such miniscule things as, “Should Macbeth be taught in the 6th term instead of the 4th” (107). It these sort of time wasters that take away from the stability of the learning process. When Sylvia got into the swing of a lesson she was brilliant and all the students adored her, interruptions in the classroom break the students attention, disrupting knowledge being gained in the classroom. The administration was the biggest distraction in the classroom, and often times was such a hindrance to the learning process that they singled out students to harass. One students in particulars was Joe Ferone. A trouble maker, rebel, and all around hoodlum, Joe had one ace up his sleeve and that was his extremely high intelligence. However, a Administrative Assistant by the name of James J. Mchabe would go out of his way to create trouble for the young man. Ferone was a deviant, clear as the sun in the sky, but in his approach to the matter I believe that Mchabe failed the foresight into seeing what could have been a problem buried deep underneath. Arguments could be made for an Administrative Assistant simply doing his job, but one of the moral ethics of anyone working with children needs to be able to recognize tell tale signs of neglect at home. His failure to see that a student may be in trouble was his short coming, but when Sylvia tried to confront Mchabe about the situation he reacted poorly, showing an ignorance of his position. When you’ve been in the system as long as I..You’ll realize that it isn’t understanding that they need. I understand them alright-they’re no good. It’s discipline they need. They sure don’t get it at home. We’ve got to show them who’s boss (178).

This statement, in its entirety, shows the bureaucracy and misunderstanding of administrators. Obviously it was exaggerated for the context of the story, but even so, behind every joke is a bit of truth. They are on a whole taken out of the daily affairs of that of the students, most only seeing students when trouble starts brewing, which would turn any man bitter. Any decent individual in a secondary school setting such as this should have recognized that if a student was not getting the discipline at home he is probably reaching out for it at school. McHabe shows is evident ignorance to a changing culture within the school, if he is like that with one student, what must he be like governing over the mass of them. One of my favorite things about Sylvia was that even though she had a challenging class room she was not afraid to take risks in order to get across to the students in her classroom. In a large part they had been overlooked up until this point, floated through from class to class, for various reasons. Some found that it was more beneficial for the students to like them instead of educate them, other believed that in order to run an effective classroom they need to rule as authoritarians. In either case the students did not get the respect they discovered until they got into Sylvia’s english class. Picking ambitious projects will eventually encouraged students to work harder. It will instill a sense of confidence that they can actually accomplish something because up until this point in their lives the book spells it out as though teachers have just help their hands. When she starts the ambitious project of teaching the kids The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (191), it is gratifying to see effort put in towards their education.