UNIT FIVE

TEXT FIVE

UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE лестница

By Bel Kaufman

(Fragment)

Bel Kaufman, an American writer. She worked as a teacher of the English lan­guage and literature in a New York high school for 15 years. "Up the Down Stair­case лестница " (1964) is her first prominent work. The book deals with the experiences of a young high-school teacher.

Sept. 25

Dear Ellen,[1][2] -

It's FTG (Friday Thank God конец рабочей недели), which means I need not set the alarm for 6:30 tomorrow morning; I can wash a blouse, think a thought, write a letter.

Congratulations on the baby's new tooth. Soon there is bound непременно to be another tooth and another and another, and before you know it, little Suzie will start going to school, and her troubles will just begin.

Though I hope that by the time she gets into the public high school system, things will be different. At least, they keep promising that things will be different. I'm told that since the recent strike threats угрозы забастовки, negotiations переговоры with the United Federation of Teachers, and greater public interest, we are enjoying "improved conditions". But in the two weeks that I have been here, conditions seem greatly unim­proved неулучшенными.

You ask what I am teaching. Hard to say. Professor Winters ad­vised teaching "not the subject but the whole child". The English Syllabus программа куса urges настаивает "individualization and enrichment " — which means giving individual attention to each student to bring out выявить the best in him and enlarge his scope beyond the prescribed work. Bester says "to motivate стимулировать and distribute" books — that is, to get students ready and eager to read. All this is easier said than done. In fact, all this is plain impossible.

Many of our kids — though physically mature — can't read be­yond 4th and 5th grade level. Their background consists of the sim-

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plest comics and thrillers . They've been exposed подвергнуты to some ten years of schooling, yet they don't know what a sentence is.

The books we are required to teach frequently have nothing to do with anything except the fact that they have always been taught, or that there'is an oversupply слишком большое количество of them, or that some committee комиссия or other was asked to come up with нагонять some titles званий.

I've been trying to teach without books. There was one heady опьяняющий moment when I was able to excite the class by an idea: I had put on the blackboard Browning's¹ "A man's reach кругозор should exceed превосходить his grasp возможности, or what's a heaven for ради Бога?" and we got involved in a spirited горячий discussion of aspiration стремление vs. против² reality. Is it wise, I asked, to aim higher than one's capacity ? Does it not doom обрекает one to failure? No, no, some said, that's ambition and progress ! No, no, others cried, that's frustration крушение and defeat поражение! What about hope? What about despair отчаяния? — You've got to be practical! — You've got to have a dream! They said this in their own words, you understand, startled into побужденные к discovery. To the young, clichés клише seem freshly minted выдуманные. Hitch подцепляй your wagon to a star судьбе! And when the dis­missal выпускной bell rang, they paid me the highest compliment: they groaned тяжело вздыхали! They crowded in the doorway, chirping чирикая like agitated sparrows, peck­ing клюя at the seeds семена I had strewn рассыпала — when who should materialize but Admiral Ass.³

"What is the meaning of this noise? "

"It's the sound of thinking, Mr. McHabe," I said.

The cardinal основной sin, strange as it may seem in an institution of learn­ing учебном заведении, is talking. There are others, of course — sins, I mean, and I seem to have committed a good number. Yesterday I was playing my record of Gielgud⁴ reading Shakespeare . I had brought my own phonograph to school (no one could find the Requisition Forms бланки заявки for "Audio-Visu­al Aids" — that's the name for the school record player) and I had succeeded достигла цели, I thought, in establishing a mood наклонение. I mean, I got them to be quiet, when — enter Admiral Ass,⁵ in full regalia , epaulettes эполеты quiv­ering колышутся with indignation возмущении. He snapped щелкнул his fingers for me to stop the phonograph , waited for the turntable диск патефона to stop turning, and pro­nounced:

"There will be a series of three bells rung three times indicating Emergency Shelter бомбоубежищную Drill строевую подготовку. Playing records does not encourage the orderly evacuation of the class."

I mention McHabe because he has crystallized вылился into The Enemy...

Chaos , waste, cries for help — strident скрипучие, yet unheard. Or am I ro­manticizing идеализирую? That's what Paul says; he only shrugs пожимает плечами and makes up funny verses about everyone. That's Paul Barringer — a writer who

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teaches English on one foot, as it were, just waiting to be published. He's very attractive : a tan загар crew cut короткая стрижка "ёжик", a white smile with lots of teeth; one eyebrow higher than the other. All the girls are in love with him.

There are a few good, hard-working, patient people... who man­age to teach against insuperable odds в исключительно неблагоприятных условиях; a few brilliantly endowed одарённые teachers who — unknown and unsung невоспетая — work their magic in the classroom; a few who truly love young people. The rest, it seems to me, have either given up сдались, or are taking it out отыгрываются on the kids. "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach." Like most sayings, this is only half true. Those who can, teach; those who can't — the bitter ожесточённый, the misguid­ed введённый в заблуждение, the failures from other fields — find in the school system an ex­cuse or a refuge убежище....

And Dr. Bester, my immediate supervisor инспектор, Chairman председатель of the English Department, I can't figure out постичь at all. He is a dour суровый, desiccated высохший little man, remote равнодушный and prissy ханжеский.⁶ Like most chairmen , he teaches only one class of Seniors выпускников; the most experienced опытные teachers are frequently promoted right out of the classroom! Kids respect him; teachers dislike him — possibly because he is given склонны to popping up выделяться, unexpectedly, to observe them. "The ghost walks" is the grape-vine тайный signal for his visits. Bea⁷ told me he started out начала as a great teacher, but he's been soured ожесточена by the trivla-in-triplicate⁸ which his administrative duties impose налагают. I hope he doesn't come to observe me until I get my bearings терпение.

Commentary

1.Browning, Robert: an English poet and playwright (1812-1889)

2. vs.: short for versus (Lot.) against

3. Admiral Ass: the nickname given to James J. McHabe, the ad ministrative assistant помощник, because he signed his innumerable circulars "James J. McHabe, Adm. Asst."

4. Gielgud, John: an outstanding English actor and producer

5....enter Admiral Ass: the verb: "to enter" is used like this (the form of the Subjunctive I) in stage directions in a printed play fe.gr. Enter Hamlet = Let Hamlet enter)

6. prissy: a blend of precise and sissy; prim and precise (coll., USA)

7.Bea: short for Beatrice, one of the teachers

8. trivla-in-triplicate: from trivia, a Latin noun in the plural, which means trifles пустяки; triplicate a threefold (e.g. to draw up a document in triplicate — to write a document together with three copies of it). The author of the letter wants to say that Bester is overburdened перегружен with his administrative duties.

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