The Observer, Saturday 23 July 2005

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 395.

Caryl Phillips

To Ricky with love

LOOKING BEYOND THE TEXT

ENGLISH SCHOOLING

UNIT 3

I. Read and abstract from the article and answer the following questions:

1. Where was Edward Ricardo Braithwaite born? What kind of education did he get?

2. Was the start of his professional career a successful one? How did he obtain a position of a school teacher? Who did he teach? How old were his pupils?

3. How did he feel about his pupils at the beginning of his teaching? What did he think about the English in general?

4. What incident changed his attitude towards his class?

5. Were his relationships with other teachers easy-going and relaxed?

6. Did he succeed in his struggle for children's hearts?

7. What career did he make after leaving school?

8. How do you picture Edward Ricardo Braithwaite as a man and a teacher? Has your attitude to the situation described in the text changed upon learning the information given in the article?

ER Braithwaite's classic tale of a West Indian teacher in an East London school, To Sir With Love, still has much to tell us about race and class in Britain, says Caryl Phillips

To Sir With Love (1959) was the first published book of Edward Ricardo Braithwaite, who was born in 1920 in British Guiana (present-day Guyana), the large English-speaking territory on the northeast coast of South America. His was a relatively comfortable upbringing, being the son of two Oxford-educated parents, and as a young man he quickly absorbed the conservative, middle-class manners of the Caribbean intellectual. He attended Queens College, an elite colonial school in British Guiana, and went on to study at City College in New York, before enlisting as a Royal Air Force pilot in England. As Braithwaite states in To Sir With Love, like many other Caribbean men, he joined the British armed forces out of a sense of duty, and during the war years he was ready to die for his country.

Upon being demobilised at the end of the war, Braithwaite fully expected to be absorbed into the upper levels of his chosen profession of engineering. Not only had he studied in New York, but he would soon earn a master's degree in physics from Cambridge University. However, at interview after interview he was refused an appointment because of his colour. Unfortunately, the camaraderie of the service did not transfer to civilian life, and the realisation of this fact struck him a hard blow.

After 18 months of unemployment and faltering confidence, Braithwaite decided to try teaching, for the profession was in desperate need of educated men and women. He successfully negotiated an interview, but then found himself posted to one of the worst schools in the East End of London. He was further dismayed to discover that his charges were an unruly, disruptive group of 15-year-olds who stood cockily on the threshold of adulthood.

Braithwaite's somewhat haughty attitude towards his new pupils is entirely predictable. After all, this is a man who, on the very first page of the book, has made it clear how superior he is, both intellectually and physically, to the disappointing English. "They reminded me somehow of the peasants in a book by Steinbeck: they were of the city, but they dressed like peasants, they looked like peasants, and they talked like peasants."

<…>

Braithwaite displays great aptitude as a teacher, but we are aware that there are lessons that he too must learn, particularly with reference to humility and patience. Unsurprisingly, it is the uncouth pupils who soon begin to teach him the lessons. This is poignantly illustrated when the mother of one of the boys - the only mixed-race boy in the class - dies, and the pupils make it clear that although they are prepared to have a collection for a wreath, not one of them is able to deliver it, for to knock on the boy's door might be seen as fraternising with coloureds. "Ricky" is quick to fall into a trough of judgmental despair.

"It was a like a disease, and these children whom I loved without caring about their skins or their backgrounds, they were tainted with the hateful virus which attacked their vision, distorting everything that was not white or English.

"I remembered a remark of Weston's: 'They're morons, cold as stone, nothing matters to them, nothing.'

"I turned and walked out of the classroom sick at heart."

The following day, a still bitter Braithwaite turns up for the funeral. "And then I stopped, feeling suddenly washed clean, whole and alive again. Tears were in my eyes, unashamedly, for there, standing in a close, separate group on the pavement outside Seales' door was my class, my children, all or nearly all of them, smart and self-conscious in their best clothes. Oh God, forgive me for the hateful thoughts, because I love them, these brutal, disarming bastards, I love them ..."

Braithwaite also learns to be more tolerant of his fellow teachers, whose attitudes towards him vary from overt hostility to deep love. Navigating the choppy waters of the staffroom presents Braithwaite with almost as many problems as trying to control the pupils in the classroom, but eventually he succeeds in creating a place for himself in the school, and by the end of the book "Sir" is both respected and loved by pupils and teachers alike.

<…>

After the publication of To Sir With Love, Braithwaite left teaching and pursued a successful career as a social worker and then a diplomat. Reading this book it is easy to discern how well suited he was to both careers. He also continued to produce books, including a memoir about his time as a social worker, Paid Servant (1962), and another about his time in South Africa, Honorary White (1975). However, partly because of the success of the filmed version of the book, To Sir With Love remains his best-known work. This fine and genuinely touching portrait of a postwar English working-class community coming face to face with a decidedly atypical West Indian man has much to tell us about race, class and the education system in Britain. It also speaks eloquently of the individual courage of a Cambridge-educated West Indian who is prepared to share with us his own prejudices and fears as he trips cautiously across the rubble of the East End of London in those bleak, austere years after the end of the second world war.

Edited from Caryl Phillips's introduction to a new edition of To Sir With Love, published by Vintage.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/jul/23/featuresreviews.guardianreview20

II. Braithwaite's book, To Sir With Love, became an iconic movie starring Sidney Poitier. As a part of its soundtrack it featured a song by Lulu called “To Sir, with Love”, which became a real hit with the public. Read its lyrics and express your opinion on the following points:

· Is the song connected with the plot of the book?

· What feelings does it reflect?

· What kind of a teacher could earn such respect and love?

· What were your thoughts and emotions on leaving school?

Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,

But in my mind,

I know they will still live on and on,

But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?

It isn't easy, but I'll try,

If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters,

That would soar a thousand feet high,

To Sir, with Love

The time has come,

For closing books and long last looks must end,

And as I leave,

I know that I am leaving my best friend,

A friend who taught me right from wrong,

And weak from strong,

That's a lot to learn,

What, what can I give you in return?

If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start,

But I, would rather you let me give my heart,

To Sir, with Love

III. Read the text. Think of a suitable title for it. What is the main problem discussed in the text? What can be done to solve this problem in Great Britain? Does a similar problem exist in Ukraine?

A BBC investigation has found more than eighty thousand racist incidents were recorded in schools in England, Wales and Scotland over the last four years.

At first glance the headline figure is shocking. The numbers obtained under the Freedom of Information Act included responses from 90 local authorities. It suggests that despite years of improved racism awareness the problem is far from beaten.

14-year-old Khadeja Fahat a Muslim pupil at a school in Cheshire in the north west of England endured regular bouts of Islamophobic abuse and her education suffered. She was eventually forced to change schools.

But whilst expressing their abhorrence at such stories, some anti-racism campaigners have argued that the statistics may reflect increased awareness of the problem in schools and a preparedness to tackle it rather than a simple increase.

Yet other teachers say the figures may be an underestimate as many verbal incidents are simply dealt with immediately and never get reported at all. One anti-racism charity says there has been a growth in racist bullying towards Muslims students, and those from Roma, Gypsy and travelling communities.

But the Government has now dropped the requirement on all local authorities to report such incidents arguing the exercise is bureaucratic and that schools are best placed to decide how to tackle racism. But the question remains if the statistics are incomplete how will anyone know if progress is being made or indeed if more radical action is needed?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/learning_english/2012/05/120528_witn_uk_schools_racism.shtml

NB: Here you can also listen to the report.