На Учителя с любов

by E.R. Braithwaite, Людмила Харманджиева (Translator)

A “moving and inspiring” classic “that the reader devours quickly, ponders slowly, and forgets not at all” (The New York Times Book Review): World War II is over and engineer Rick is leaving the Royal Air Force behind for a teaching position — but bigotry within a group of white teenagers might be his biggest battle to date. ✳Read by an Earphones Award–winning narrator!

With opportunities for black men limited in post-World War II London, Rick Braithwaite, a former Royal Air Force pilot and Cambridge-educated engineer, accepts a teaching position that puts him in charge of a class of angry, unmotivated, bigoted white teenagers whom the system has mostly abandoned. When his efforts to reach these troubled students are met with threats, suspicion, and derision, Braithwaite takes a radical new approach. He will treat his students as people poised to enter the adult world. He will teach them to respect themselves and to call him Sir. He will open up vistas before them that they never knew existed. And over the course of a remarkable year, he will touch the lives of his students in extraordinary ways-even as they, in turn, unexpectedly and profoundly touch his. Based on actual events in the author's life, To Sir, With Love is a powerfully moving story that celebrates courage, commitment, and vision and that inspired the classic film starring Sidney Poitier.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Education, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, British Literature, Literature

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

E.R. (Edward Ricardo) Braithwaite was a novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat, best known for his stories of social conditions and racial discrimination against black people.

An alumnus of Queens College, Braithwaite excelled at City University of New York, after which he served in the RAF during WWII as a fighter pilot (1941-45) and then went on to receive an advanced degree in Physics from Cambridge University (1949). Braithwaite also attended the University of London.

Unable to establish a career in physics, his chosen field, which he attributed to his status as an ethnic minority, Braithwaite turned to teaching.

Braithwaite was perhaps best known as an author for his autobiographical novel To Sir With Love set in an east London secondary school, later directed, produced and adapted for the screen by james clavell starring Sidney Poitier as a schoolteacher from British Guiana.

Braithwaite gave up teaching and continued writing, during this time he became a social worker with the London County Council working to provide foster care for black children.

He would later describe these challenging experiences in Paid Servant.

Braithwaite's long and exemplary career took him to UNESCO in Paris as an educational consultant and lecturer (1963-1966). Then he served as a Guyanese ambassador in the late sixties. First as Guyanese Ambassador to the United Nations (1967-68), then as Guyanese Ambassador to Venezuela (1968-69). He was World Veterans' Foundation Human Rights Officer, Paris (1960-63).

Braithwaite returned to teaching as a professor of English, at New York University and later in 2002 held the position of Writer in Residence at Howard University in Washington DC.

Braithwaite was a visiting professor at Manchester Community College, Connecticut, during the 2005-2006 school year, also serving as commencement speaker and receiving an honorary degree.

In August 2007 Braithwaite received the Guyana Cultural Association of New York's Exemplary Award for his work as an educator, a diplomat and an author.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of us have seen the movie of To Sir, With Love. I too, but years and years ago. Sidney Poitier shines as he plays E.R. (Rick) Braithwaite, the black teacher of a class of white streetwise, ruffian youngsters, seniors in an East End London secondary school. These kids are poorly fed, clothed and housed. Their knowledge of academic subjects may be low, but they do have a knowledge that equips them to survive where they live. It is after the Second World War, the 1950s. The growing friendship, respect and trust between the kids and their teacher is one theme. The second and more important theme, particularly in the book, is racial and ethnic discrimination.

This is an autobiographical novel based on the author’s own experiences as teacher in an East End London school after the war, after having been a British Royal Air Force pilot during the war. Neither his color nor his ethnicity was of importance during the war, but after they certainly were. Through this work the author is focusing attention on such hypocrisy and on racial and ethnic discrimination. He was born in Georgetown, British Guyana, in 1912 and died at the age of 104 in 2016!

The strength of this book lies in its message that the best means of fighting discrimination is through shared experiences between those who are different. Having a close friend of a skin color, religion or ethnic background different from you own teaches more than book learning can ever accomplish.

I liked that not only the kids grew wiser from their friendship with Braithwaite, but that also Braithwaite learned from his friendship with them. An interracial love affair carries the theme one step further.

For much of the story the words of Braithwaite are formal, a bit stiff and detached. This loosens as one nears the end, when not only his students have warmed to him, but he too has come to feel great attachment for them. Braithwaite’s initial formality and his insistence on strict behavior make perfect sense. It is heartwarming when he begins to soften and melt. It is at the same time realistic that he never turns into a gushing pulp of emotion.

Braithwaite’s formal demeanor and strength of character are well captured in Ben Onwukwe’s rendition of the audiobook. The reading is clear and strong and easy to follow. He intones the female characters less well. The kids’ Cockney accents are at times harder to follow, but this feels accurate and thus correct. For me, the performance is worth four stars.

For those of you who wonder whether one’s memory of the movie should be left untouched, I would say go ahead and read this. It does not matter that it is of its time; it still speaks to us of today. It took me awhile to warm to it, but I did by the end.

[TBV (on hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dignity, courtesy and education...
That is what newbie teacher Ricky Braithwaite offered his unruly class of teenagers.

E.R. Braithwaite is in fact the author of this autobiographical 'novel'. This story is based on his personal experiences. He was born in British Guiana (present-day Guyana) to Oxford-educated parents. He had studied in New York and was a qualified engineer who expected upon demobilisation in 1945 from the R.A.F., in which he served as a pilot, to be able to find a suitable position. He soon discovered that he would not be given any of the positions available. The reason? He was black. He was either told that he would not fit in, that he was too well educated and sounded too posh (and he had the temerity to wear a better suit than one interviewer!), or quite simply that the position had been filled. Eventually he had to settle for the only job he could find, teaching a bunch of potential ne'er-do-wells at a school in the East End of London.

In this work Mr Braithwaite mentions that in a sense it was better to be a black person in America as there at least racism was overt. He was shocked, and felt betrayed having voluntarily served in the R.A.F. during WWII, to find that the English whom he had thought to be non-racist were in fact to a considerable extent covertly (and sometimes not so covertly) racist.

After a few hits and misses he soon established a good relationship with the unruly white fifteen-year-olds that he had to teach. He soon understood how little they knew and understood, and set himself the task to not only improve their manners (and personal hygiene), but to teach them practical things that they could apply to their daily lives once they left school. One man cannot wipe out long existing prejudices, but at least forty-odd pupils learned to respect this dignified man, and some of them perhaps went on to better things (I'd like to think so). One man made a difference. In a spare 185 pages Mr Braithwaite packs a huge punch.

Many people of my generation will remember Sidney Poitier's wonderful portrayal of Mr Braithwaite in the 1967 film of the same name. Popular singer Lulu also appeared in the film, and the theme track of the soundtrack is sung by her.

E.R. Braithwaite was soon to complete a Master's degree in Physics at Cambridge University.

His date of birth is given respectively as 1922 (About the Author), 1920 (Introduction) in this book, and as 1912 in Wikipedia, so take your pick... E.R. Braithwaite passed away in 2016.

Mr Braithwaite, I'm sad to say that racism continues as much as ever. One need only switch on the television to see, from one's own living room, innocent people being murdered in the street simply because of their colour.

To Sir, with love, from this reader.

[Andy Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting as a first-person account of race relations in post-war Britain. However, the writing style was incredibly stuffy, and the book's message - that all humans are equal, regardless of colour - was somewhat spoiled by the Braithwaite's own apparent prejudices against certain elements of London society.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books which you like, books which you are OK with, books which you love... but there are very few which simply blow you away. This was one of them.

At a time when hatred seems to be ruling the world; when xenophobia and religious intolerance is all in a days' work; when the lynching of minorities is the norm rather than the exception; when one starts to view the impending environmental disaster which is likely to wipe out life on earth as a blessing rather than a catastrophe... you read a book like this, and hope is restored in humanity.

Because so long as people like Edward Ricardo Braithwaite and Mr. Florian exist, all is not lost.

Ricky Braithwaite, a native of British Guyana demobbed from the Royal Air Force at the end of World War II, goes to the imagined dreamland of England where he plans to settle and live the life of an engineer which he had always wanted. But he finds that the situation on the ground is different from what he had imagined. Ricky's education, experience, and polished behaviour are of no use, because he suffers from one fatal malady - he has a black skin. Because despite all the fine British talk of fairness and justice, in his heart of hearts, the Englishman is a racist.

Disillusioned and almost at the end of his tether, Braithwaite takes a job at Greenslade School in London's East End as a teacher. The school is run by A. Florian, the unconventional headmaster who is way ahead of his times. Even at an age when "spare the rod and spoil the child" is the norm, Florian does not believe in punishment. For even the uncouth, ruffianly children from impoverished and broken homes, he advocates care and compassion.

"A child who has slept all night in a stuffy, overcrowded room, and then breakfasts on a cup of weak tea and a piece of bread, can hardly be expected to show a sharp, sustained interest in the abstractions of arithmetic, and the unrelated niceties of correct spelling. Punishment (or the threat of it) for this lack of interest is unlikely to bring the best out of him."

Initially a bit sceptical about how he is going to handle these rowdy children, especially with his race disadvantage, Ricky slowly wins them over through his integrity and his basic good nature. And then he discovers that while he is teaching them letters and numbers, they are teaching him to shed his complexes, and be a better human being. What had started out for him as a job turns into a life's vocation.

This book does not contain great writing. Braithwaite is a competent writer, but he is no stylist. That is not what makes the book absolutely unputdownable. What makes Braithwaite's novelised memoir irresistible is its empathy, which it doles out generously on each page without descending into maudlin sentimentality. This book holds the sun in its pages; everyone who opens it get washed in its pristine white light.

***

I consider teaching to be the noblest profession in the world. I have seen the effects at first hand, being married to a teacher who educates children with learning difficulties. I remember her delighted face once, when a child she had coached sixteen years ago dug up her phone number and called her on Teacher's Day to inform her how he had made good in life, and how he owed it all to her.

Oh yes, Mr. Braithwaite, I can understand you: and I can visualise the look on your face when you conclude the book with the words "I looked... at them - my children."

Yes, your children indeed, "Sir".

[Luvtoread (Trying to catch up) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful!

I read this book when I was very young and forgot to add it to my book list. This was a most memorable book for me and I recommend it to all readers and if you have the opportunity add the film "To Sir With Love" starring Sidney Poirier a world class actor who embodied the incredible teacher in this unforgettable story!!

4 1/2 Incredible 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 Stars!!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1959, this book is probably best known as inspiring the film, of the same name. However, Braithwaite himself loathed the movie, made in 1967; although it certainly made his name. Braithwaite came from British Guiana, remaining in Britain after the Second World War. Having found his time in the war without prejudice, he was despondent by his life in a battered, grey, post-war London. Braithwaite is urbane, educated and yet, because of his colour, is unable to find work. One day, in a London park, he finds himself talking to an elderly man, who suggests he tries teaching. It is not the work that Braithwaite has trained for, but he needs – he wants – a job. So, he applies, expecting again to be rejected.

However, to his surprise, Braithwaite finds himself offered a post in a secondary school, in a poor area of East London. The Headmaster believes in offering his children support and care – not censure or discipline. At first, Braithwaite is wary of the young people in the class he is assigned to. He feels that they are undeserving of his sympathy – they are, after all, white. For him, this is the only difference between the ‘haves and have not’s.’ Still, he is determined to do the job to the best of his ability and, between them, teacher and pupil’s begin to have respect for each other.

This is most definitely a book of its time. While the author may, rightly, complain about racial stereotyping, he is not above using very un-politically correct about his class. While the Headmaster states that they are, ‘wonderful children when you get to know them,’ Braithwaite sees thugs – the children remote, uninterested, challenging authority, swearing, smoking and acting without respect. He calls the girls in his class, ‘nasty little sluts,’ for example, and has an obsession with describing breasts. As such, it is hard, at times to remain sympathetic with him – he often comes across as self congratulatory and a little smug.

That said, this is an interesting account of those times and of an area I know well, and the problems faced by the population of the time – as well as those of the author himself. He perfectly represents someone who saw Britain as home, but was rudely reawakened when he faced the distrust and disapproval of the local population. Yet, in his new job he will awaken respect in those around him, find respect for those he, himself, dismissed, and also find love. For all its faults, this is a fascinating and heart-warming memoir, which will make you think.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may not be exactly the edition I read "back when". This is another book my girl friend from high school gets credit for me reading. In the heated racial atmosphere of the 60s and 70s this was a well read book (and of course inspired a well known movie, whose theme became a hit song).

Unlike a couple of romances I read more sticks with me from this book. The scenes of the teacher confronting the (at first) rowdy "youths" he is attempting to teach and the frankly (for the time) lewd actions of some of them contrasts markedly from the people he's teaching by the end of the book.

This isn't a bad read. I remember being moved by it (though teens do seem to feel things more intensely) the book still does a job of reaching out to the heart of the reader.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book; it made me cry. I have heard the movie is good too, but I have never seen it.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread it after a decade. Still having a good impact after all these years. However, it's a four star read for me. I couldn't remember anything regarding this book from the first read but I can remember feeling sad when the book ended. However, rereading this memoir classic made me see things differently. Even though the subjects handled regarding young adults and how to try to see things from their point of view, I found some things to be pretentious and some things that I do not need to read from such books.

The first chapter was a bit difficult to get into, not because the language or the writing style. There are some sentences which turned out to be rather sexist and a bit judgemental towards women in general.

This book emphasizes a lot on racial discrimination even though the title itself promises about teachers and students. And the use of strong language seem unnecessary at some parts.

Some parts seem pretentious in the sense that the narrator goes on writing about his good personality and so and so. He rather seemed to be really interested in women which is depicted here and there which made me rather uncomfortable to continue reading the book.

The best part is that this book seems more like a fictional read giving you the 'To Kill A Mockingbird' kind of vibe.

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew that To Sir, With Love was a book about a black Caribbean man struggling with racial prejudice in 1950s London, so I was quite amused that the opening — his description of travelling on a bus full of East End women — reads so much like a white colonial Briton describing the natives of a third world country. It’s the combination of effortless cultural superiority and an anthropological eye.

The women carried large heavy shopping bags, and in the ripe mixture of odours which accompanied them, the predominant one hinted at a good haul of fish or fishy things. 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. Their cows were motor-driven milk floats; their tools were mop and pail and kneeling pad; their farms a forest of steel and concrete. In spite of the hairgrips and headscarves, they had their own kind of dignity.

They joshed and chivvied each other and the conductor in an endless stream of lewdly suggestive remarks and retorts, quite careless of being overheard by me – a Negro, and the only other male on the bus. The conductor, a lively, quick-witted felllow, seemed to know them all well enough to address them on very personal terms, and kept them in noisy good humour with a stream of quips and pleasantries to which they made reply in kind. Sex seemed little more than a joke to them, a conversation piece which alternated with their comments on the weather, and their vividly detailed discussions on their actual or imagined ailments.

There was another particularly fine example of the type later on the book:

I did not go over to him: these Cockneys are proud people and prefer to be left to themselves at times when they feel ashamed.

It could be a conscious literary decision to subvert expectations, but firstly Braithwaite doesn’t particularly strike me as that kind of writer — he’s generally pretty direct — and also I can imagine a white British writer with a similar educational background writing in much the same way; like Orwell’s representation of the proles in 1984.

In other words it’s partially a class thing; Braithwaite was from a very educated background; both his parents went to Oxford, which I assume was pretty rare in Guyana at the start of the C20th, and he studied in New York before serving as a pilot in the RAF during the war and then doing a Master’s degree at Cambridge. But then race is always partially about class. The class structure is one of the ways that racial status can be monitored and enforced. And it was only because of Braithwaite’s race that he was doing what no similarly educated white Briton would be doing: working as a teacher in a grotty East End secondary school. He was rejected from all the engineering jobs which he was better qualified to do, often on explicitly racial grounds in the days when it was legal to tell people that to their faces, and fell into teaching because it was the only option available.

So that’s the set-up: educated, well-dressed black man takes a job teaching in a run-down East End school full of problem teenagers. And if you’ve ever seen a movie where an inspiring teacher goes to work in a deprived inner city school, you pretty much know how the rest of it plays out: he is stern but wise and passionate, and he overcomes their initial hostility and prejudice to teach them the value of education and good manners, and above all he teaches them self respect. And he in turn learns his own lessons, about not being such a snobby prude (although he doesn’t learn the lesson that if you’re a grown man writing about fifteen and sixteen year old girls, there are only so many times you can mention their breasts before it starts to seem a bit creepy).

I’m being a bit glib; there is a lot that’s interesting about this book, and it’s well written. But when I say it’s like a Hollywood movie: it really does read like that. And of course you wonder if it’s too good to be true. Clearly he is an impressive man, and I can believe he was an inspiring teacher, and I expect the broad outlines are all true… but for something which claims to be non-fiction, it just seems like it was written by someone who was willing to burnish the truth for the sake of a good story.

It’s not that I fetishise historical accuracy for its own sake — I don’t have much objection to things like characters being composites of several people — but I do worry that I’m getting a less perceptive, less insightful book if too many if the complications and contradictions have been tidied away.
To Sir, With Love is my book from Guyana for the Read The World challenge. I seem to have been harder on it than I really intended. I think it’s probably fairest to say it’s a good book which has aged badly. But there’s still plenty to like about it.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me from the very beginning. If I had the opportunity, I would have finished it in one sitting.

It greatly appealed to me because I also was involved in the field of education, and saw many children go through the school doors everyday.

Braithwaite wrote about respecting his pupils and in return they respected him. And because of this respect the students became more interested and actively participated in their learning.

Even though this is a partially fictionalized account of Braithwaite's first year of teaching, it is a valuable resource for those going into the teaching profession.

[obh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A No frills book. Read it during train-journey at night (yes, people still use this old mode of transportation). This book is highly relevant to the current Indian situation, caste and colour have played a great role in the past centuries in India, only after Independence has it been considered as a crime. But still the social stigma of being born into the lower caste has its effect on the minds and hearts of many young children.
In Britain it was if you're black you might as well die, in India if you're from the low-caste you might as well die too. No doubt we had many great leaders from the so called "lower" castes, Ambedkar is my personal favorite, this book opens your eyes to the prejudice that we have inspite of the indifference between people.
Hope we all learn from this book!

PS. I wish I could have a teacher like that!

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Sir with Love was one of my favorite movies when I was younger. Secretly I was in love with Sidney Poitier and envious of his students. Why couldn’t I have a teacher like that?

The book is well worth reading for a couple reasons. For one thing, it’s more realistic than the movie. As is usual in movies, story-line was sacrificed to intensify drama. In the book you have narration, background, and real characters including development. It’s less gripping perhaps, but infinitely preferable.

Also, the actual book has another purpose, which the movie largely ignores—the story of a highly educated black veteran who tries to find employment in post-World War II England and instead encounters very real forms of racial bigotry. Here’s how the author describes it:

‘To many in Britain a Negro is a “darky” or a “nigger” or a “black”; he is identified, in their minds, with inexhaustible brute strength; and often I would hear the remark “working like a nigger” or “laboring like a black ” used to emphasize some occasion of sustained effort. They expect of him a courteous subservience and contentment with a lowly state of menial employment and slum accommodation. It is true that here and there one sees Negroes as doctors, lawyers or talented entertainers, but they are somehow considered “different” and not to be confused with the mass. … I am a Negro, and what had happened to me at that interview constituted, to my mind, a betrayal of faith. I had believed in freedom, in the freedom to live in the kind of dwelling I wanted, providing I was able and willing to pay the price; and in the freedom to work at the kind of profession for which I was qualified, without reference to my racial or religious origins. All the big talk of Democracy and Human Rights seemed as spurious as the glib guarantees with which some manufacturers underwrite their products in the confident hope that they will never be challenged. The Briton at home takes no responsibility for the protestations and promises made in his name by British officials overseas. I reflected on my life in the U.S.A. There, when prejudice is felt, it is open, obvious, blatant; the white man makes his position very clear, and the black man fights those prejudices with equal openness and fervor, using every constitutional device available to him. The rest of the world in general and Britain in particular are prone to point an angrily critical finger, at American intolerance, forgetting that in its short history as a nation it has granted to its Negro citizens more opportunities for advancement and betterment, per capita, than any other nation in the world with an indigenous Negro population. Each violent episode, though greatly to be deplored, has invariably preceded some change, some improvement in the American Negro’s position. … In Britain I found things to be very different. I have yet to meet a single English person who has actually admitted to anti-Negro prejudice; it is even generally believed that no such thing exists here. A Negro is free to board any bus or train and sit anywhere, provided he has paid the appropriate fare; the fact that many people might pointedly avoid sitting near him is casually overlooked. He is free to seek accommodation in any licensed hotel or boarding house—the courteous refusal which frequently follows is never ascribed to prejudice. The betrayal I now felt was greater because it had been perpetrated with the greatest of charm and courtesy.’

Later when the teacher, Braithwaite, begins dating a white teacher, he experiences the same type of prejudice, both from the wait staff at restaurants as well as (to a lesser extent) from her parents.

Perhaps the omission of the racial issue in the movie was as much due to the medium as anything else. Books allow for asides and explanations which film is at pains to include.

However, it could be that Braithwaite’s ‘tell it like it is’ message about the race situation in Great Britain was ahead of its time and something the movie-makers weren’t ready to take on just then.

All the more reason to read the book, as well as others by the same author.

[Lupna Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting "old book" and perhaps a classic of its own - remember a major film was produced on it. Me I always wondered how honest the author was ... with the females in his class, despite his general supercilious approach in his narrative.

Take note that the author was a young man, or rather young when he experienced being a teacher in London, and of course as a council or govt employee he dared not admit being attracted to any very young girl in his class! I feel that he knew all along that Pamela a girl in his class had a crush on him; he did not need other (female) teachers to point this out to him.

It is only at the end (very near the end) that he deigns to admit that the 'little girls" were certainly not what he'd claimed they were. He dances with Pamela, and we read:

"... I was aware of her, of her soft breathing, her firm roundness, and the rhythmic moving of her thighs. She was a woman, there was no doubt about it, and she invaded my mind and body. The music ended, all too

[Anisha Inkspill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-warming, poignant, witty, troubling and beautiful in how it deals with racial and social class prejudices, including the challenges of interracial relationships.

The story is based on the authors own experiences when working as a teacher in an East End school in London.

Set in the early 50s, this is a wonderful story of hope when the odds are against you.

The ending is very moving in how the narrator and his students have made a difference to one another’s lives.

[Diana Stoyanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable, emotional and inspirational read, which reveals how to turn hate into love and prejudice into acceptance ❤️
Autobiographical novel by E. R. Braithwaite, presenting his experience as a teacher in Greenslade school in East End of London ( as of 1950). Very challenging but fruitful and worthwhile at the end.
Sir Braithwaite was such a wonderful mind and a strong person, highly educated in Engineering. This actually was his passion, he wanted to develop in technical area, but unfortunately he was underestimated because of his dark color. So cruel. So being a teacher was more a necessity than a real desire. But teaching became his destiny, that changed not only his life, but also the lives of his students.

RIP Sir Braithwaite. You left a memorable and valuable legacy.

=====

“Toughness is a quality of the mind, like bravery or honesty or ambition; it has nothing whatever to do with muscles.”


“You are the top class; the operative word is ‘top’. That means you must set the standard in all things for the rest of the school for, whether you wish it or no, the younger ones will ape everything you do or say. They will try to walk like you and use the words you use, and dress like you, and so, for as long as you’re here, much of their conduct will be your responsibility. As the top class you must be top in cleanliness, deportment, courtesy and work. I shall help you in every way I can, both by example and encouragement. I believe that you have it in you to be a fine class, the best this school has ever known, but I could be wrong; it all depends on you”


“I am your teacher, and I’m the one you should criticize if I fail to maintain the standards I demand of you.”


“Teaching is like having a bank account. You can happily draw on it while it is well supplied with new funds; otherwise you’re in difficulties.
Every teacher should have a fund of ready information on which to draw; he should keep that fund supplied regularly by new experiences, new thoughts and discoveries, by reading and moving around among people from whom he can acquire such things.”


“Moreover, I suddenly became aware of an important change in my own relationship to them. I was experiencing more than a mere satisfaction in receiving their attention, obedience and respect with their acceptance of my position as their teacher. I found myself liking them, really liking them, collectively and singly. At first I had approached each school day a little worried, a little frightened, but mostly determined to make good for the job’s sake; now there had occurred in me a new attitude, a concern to teach them for their own sakes, and a deep pleasure at every sign that I had succeeded”


“They mattered to me, all these children, and anything which bothered any one of them bothered me too.”

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read this recently and found much of it dated and strangely prejudiced!!! One shouldnt impose today's morals on the past - perhaps!!

This is a well known and inspiring account of a West Indian young man who comes to England following WW2 to work as a teacher. He had tried to get other work but no one would employ him due to his colour. He gets a job in a forward thinking but struggling East End secondary school where the kids are violent and lacking ambition. He gradually earns their respect and he respects them. This side of the book was as I remembered - touching and informative of the racism that existed (exists?) in London as that time.

However, in this reading I stumbled again and again with the author's depiction of women and the teenage girls in his class. Whilst we get a wide range of characters and physical descriptions many were unnecessarily sexual - ie 'huge-breasted bovine women', 2 pages on we have another description of 'prominent breasts' , next page 'beautiful and full-figured' further on we have 'breasts straining against sweaters'. While the book is a wonderful diatribe against racisim - it doesnt read so well in its persistently sexual view of women. I wonder if I am being unduely harsh on a book that was written in 1959 ( same year roughly as Call the Midwife) and there are clever, capable and greatly respected women teachers in the book - and yet it is the actual prose that causes me problems, repeatedly selecting subtle sexist phrases that I could have done without.

[Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Brilliant Braithwaite Stars!!

This book is a piece of nonfiction narrated by Braithwaite about his experience of teaching teenagers. Braithwaite, black in color gets a job in a school after many refusals because of his skin color. Though the other staff members accepted him, the students were hateful towards him and the story shows how Braithwaite changed this hate to love.

This is a very special book for me as it reminds me of a teacher I have. Those so many things she taught us, apart from academics. As first, we, the students, thought she was very strict but as days went by, we realized that no one can be better than her.

This book is so real. Am sure it has forced all the readers to associate one of their teachers with Braithwaite because he shows the actual relation of a teacher and student :D

Recommended for everyone!! :)

[Mitticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novela autobiográfica , basada en las experiencias del autor como profesor de secundaria, enfrentado a prejuicios y discriminación.

«Sí, es maravilloso ser británico… hasta que llega uno a Gran Bretaña. »

Braithwate , un ingeniero , despues de servir como piloto en la 2da guerra mundial se encuentra en Londres sin poder obtener un empleo en su especialidad por estar 'sobrecalificado' (e incluso por aparecer con un traje mejor que su entrevistador) lo cierto es que pronto comprende que ser un negro le cierra las puertas en las narices , deprimido y sin mayores opciones un consejo le decide buscar empleo como maestro en una escuela secundaria del East End.

«Había entrado en aquel despacho con la mejor disposición de ánimo hacia él y dispuesto a aceptar como excelente cualquier plan que me propusiera, pero su exposición de las dificultades que sufrían los niños, me iba irritando progresivamente. Pensaba en mi propia experiencia durante los dos años anteriores y no podía pasar por alto que los niños de que ahora me hablaban eran blancos; hambrientos o ahítos de comida, vestidos con andrajos o con elegantes trajes, eran blancos, y en lo que a mí se refería, ese solo hecho marcaba la separación entre los afortunados y los desposeídos. Deseaba aquel puesto con el mayor interés y estaba dispuesto a desempeñarlo lo mejor posible, pero ya estaba viendo que sería un trabajo tan sólo y no una tarea de amor.»

Sin duda este libro es mayormente conocido por la famosa pelicula "To Sir, With Love", que inmortalizó el recientemente fallecido Sidney Poitier (el 6 de enero); aunque al aprecer al autor no le gustó la versión, que corta gran parte del romance birracial con otra profesora, que la verdad es bastante meh.


El profesor da su perspectiva como va entendiendo este mundillo, desde su posición de hombre educado y con cierta condescendencia , y como los chicos van conquistandolo de a poco, como la sociedad no ve a los jovenes más que delincuentes y su forma de tratarlos (es un poco como varias peliculas retratan lo de un profesor que trata distinto a los chicos buenos con malas perspectivas). Y luego esta la parte en que salta la discriminación en situaciones cotidianas que le hace reaccionar con rabia , viendo como se perpetua.

«Se habían criado en un barrio de los más multirraciales que pueda haber en Gran Bretaña. Sin embargo, esto no les había dejado libres de prejuicios. Algunos de ellos vivían en la misma calle e incluso en la misma casa que indios o negros, aunque nunca les habían hablado, obedeciendo a la prohibición impuesta por sus padres. Otros habían tratado a chicos de color durante la etapa de párvulos, pero cuando intervinieron las tensiones y pretensiones de la pubertad, terminaron esas relaciones.»


¿Saben una cosa que me llama la atención? Dice que hasta que dejó de ser piloto nunca se encontró con discriminación, pues eso se me hace muy dificil de creer basada en los documentales de personas negras que sirvieron como pilotos y otros servicios militares durante la guerra.

Otra cosa que me molesta es que repite varias veces lo de las chicas con grandes pechos, y considerando que habla de adolescentes saca de onda eso.

Mmm, me saque la curiosidad, pero no lo encontré tan dramatico o distinto como esperaba.

{Popsugar 2022 #10: Libro ganador del premio Anisfield-Wolf+´}

[Sarah AlObaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
This book was a very interesting read. It tells the story of Braithwaite, a middle-aged black man, when he gets a job as a teacher in an all-white school in England which is, more or less, not very reputable. The book shows the ever-present prejudice against colored people in the 40's/50's and how difficult it was for them to fit into a racist society, although most of the time it's not openly so. Since racism against black people is very different in England than it is in the United States or other places, we get to see racism that's not blunt, but still equally hurtful and demeaning. And then later on we get to see how a person who studied a completely different field, ends up being one of the best teachers a school has ever seen.
I essentially picked this book up upon recommendation from my school librarian since she said it was very similar to The Freedom Writers' Diary. For a long time, and up until now, i was obsessed with The Freedom Writers; both the book and the movie. I love reading about/watching the effect a good, healthy education has on the minds of young people. And To Sir, With Love did not disappoint. It was very shockingly similar to The Freedom Writers, in that the children involved grew up in terrible neighborhoods and had to face problems that were way beyond their age. The two books are also similar in their tackling of racism and prejudice. So if you liked the former, you would probably also like the latter and vice versa.
What i disliked about the book, but which i totally understand given the time period in which it was written, is that it had some sexist or backward remarks. They were few and hard to notice, but since i am very concerned with this issue, they bugged me a little. I also found it a bit slow in the first 80-ish pages, but it certainly picks up after that.
In the end, i highly, HIGHLY recommend this book. It is very insightful and important.

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another goodie wanting to be re-read. Too young to appreciate first time that I think I will love this second time around. As always, I think of the movie (or should I say video) when as lazy youngsters we would've loved a lazy lesson. And of course all the boys that watched the movie only!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it so... Had studied an excerpt in school and so was excited about reading it. Fulfilled my expectations and more. A truly inspiring and heartwarming story. And surprised at the real amount of snobbish rascism abroad.

[Indrani Sen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heart warming book. A story of a black man winning over the students and parents in the poor but cosmopolitan area of London Eats End. A very positive man and his very positive story.

[Maricruz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hay una historieta de Zipi y Zape que, a saber por qué, se me quedó grabada cuando la leí de pequeña. La he vuelto a recordar tras leer To Sir, With Love: a Pantuflo Zapatilla (progenitor de Zipi y Zape por si alguien no lo recuerda) le encargan escribir un libro sobre pedagogía. Pero mientras escribe, por supuesto, Zipi y Zape están liándola todo el rato y perturban su concentración. Pantuflo tiene que abandonar la escritura varias veces para dejarles el culo rojo a zapatillazos. Cuando el libro se publica, Pantuflo lo lleva a casa y lo lee orgulloso ante sus hijos y mujer: está lleno de consejos sobre abandonar el autoritarismo y el castigo físico, escuchar a los niños y tratarles con respeto. Muy comprensiblemente, la última viñeta nos muestra a Pantuflo perseguido por Zipi y Zape, que quieren abrirle la cabeza con el libro de pedagogía.

¿Por qué me he acordado de esto? Porque en To Sir, With Love R. L.Braithwaite se esfuerza lo indecible en convencernos de que fue un profesor más o menos liberal, considerado con sus alumnos, preocupado por su bienestar físico y emocional, y, en consecuencia, respetado y amado a partes iguales por ellos. Reverenciado, incluso. Los alumnos se muestran hostiles al principio y de la noche a la mañana se los mete en el bolsillo, sobre todo despúes de su airada reacción cuando descubre que unas alumnas han quemado una compresa en una estufa (consejo para profesorado de cualquier etapa educativa: diles a tus alumnas que se comportan como putas, ¡mano de santo!). De tanto que se esfuerza en pintar ese panorama idílico, siente una un poco de sonrojo, en especial cuando nos cuenta que profesoras y alumnas por igual caen rendidas ante su evidente atractivo físico. Hay algo un poco forzado en todo ello, en especial cuando lo comparas con las partes en que habla del racismo que tiene que enfrentar, en el transporte público o en su búsqueda inicial de empleo, que en comparación suenan tremendamente auténticas y sentidas. ¿Seré yo, persona blanquita, desplegando mis expectativas de que una persona negra no hable de otra cosa que de temas raciales? Puede ser.

Pero aún no he explicado lo de la historieta de Zipi y Zape. Resulta que investigo un poco y descubro otro libro, An East End Story, escrito por Alfred Gardner, un ex-alumno de R. L. Braithwaite en la St George-in-the-East Central School. La intención de Gardner en realidad es más bien hablar de la amistad que forjó con un hombre algo mayor que él, pero de todos modos no puede evitar dedicarle un capítulo entero a R. L. Braithwaite. Su título: «’To Sir With Love’ – Really?».

En su libro, Alfred Gardner nos desvela que R. L. Braithwaite era un señor «alto y sin sentido del humor que imponía disciplina con muy mal carácter”. Aunque el director de St George-in-the-East Central School, Alex Bloom (de quien hablaré más tarde), había prohibido el uso de castigos físicos, Braithwaite ignoró esa prohibición y, en especial en las clases de Educación Física, maltrataba un tanto a los chavales. A diferencia del libro, y de la película (a la que también me referiré luego), impartía solo esa asignatura y Geografía, y las clases de esta última solían consistir en relatos de su vida en su Guyana natal. Cuando consideraba que no se le prestaba suficiente atención, volaban por la clase las tizas, tinteros y los borradores de pizarra en dirección a las cabezas del alumnado (eh, yo tuve también un profesor así). Para más inri, refiere Gardner, las alumnas mayores se sentían incómodas en su presencia. He de decir que de todo lo que cuenta Alfred Gardner, esto último es lo que menos me cuesta creer, porque comentarios sobre las tetas y demás redondeces de sus alumnas de quince años no faltan en To Sir, With Love. Al cabo de los dos cursos en que permanece en la escuela, le hicieron un regalo de despedida con, en efecto, la leyenda «To Sir With Love», pero que seguramente sería costeado por el resto del profesorado, porque según Gardner ninguno de los alumnos contribuyó. La marcha de Braithwaite provocó vítores de alegría.

Personalmente, no sé a quién habría que dar más credibilidad, aunque tengo que admitir que R. L. Braithwaite me ha caido un poco gordo, y que por tanto lo que cuenta Alfred Gardner me ha producido cierto regocijo, empezando por el título del capítulo que dedica a su ex-profesor. El libro de Braithwaite es más o menos entretenido y tiene la virtud de ser bastante breve, aunque el constante bombo que se da el autor a sí mismo lo hace un poco cansino. Y también tengo que decir que no soy muy fan del género que parece instaurar, el del profesor o profesora que doma a una clase de adolescentes pobres y rebeldes. Siempre me ha parecido otra demostración de las ganas que siempre se tiene en demonizar a la clase obrera, pintándola como más conflictiva de lo que realmente es (mi experiencia de refilón con la educación no formal me dice que los niños de clase trabajadora son bastante más agradecidos que los pijos; no tengo datos como para hacer estadística, pero tampoco dudo demasiado de lo que digo).

Algo que también inclina mis simpatías hacia la versión de Alfred Gardner es que no todo el capítulo que menciono lo dedica a poner a parir a R. L. Braithwaite. Buena parte de él la dedica a Alex Bloom, el responsable de que la escuela de St George-in-the-East tuviera un método pedagógico tan moderno e innovador, un modelo basado en una comunidad democrática, sin castigos físicos y donde no prima la competitividad. Hacia él Gardner no tiene sino palabras de admiración y cariño. Ojalá él también hubiera escrito un libro sobre sus experiencias.

Con respecto a la película, la gran diferencia es obvia: Sydney Poitier. Yo no sé cómo sería R. L. Braithwaite, pero Poitier tiene una presencia y una calidez que te hacen pensar que, naturalmente, cualquiera querría agradarle. A lo mejor estoy siendo un poco subjetiva aquí, pero, a ver, en serio: ¿quién no querría? 😍

[Vishy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have wanted to read E.R.Braithwaite's classic memoir 'To Sir With Love' for a long time.

Rick Braithwaite has just come out of the Second World War. During the war he was in the RAF (Royal Air Force). During his time in the RAF, he enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow airforce colleagues. People treated him well, everyone was equal, there was no racism. When the war ends, Rick hopes to get a job in the field in which he is trained and educated – electronics engineering. Rick has got a masters degree from Cambridge university. When he applies for jobs, he is immediately invited for an interview, because of his impressive education and experience. But when the interview panel members see him in person and discover that he is black, they refuse to hire him. One interview panel member is frank – he says that he can't ask white employees to report to Rick, but he also cannot hire Rick for a low-level position, because Rick is overqualified for that. Rick is frustrated and remains unemployed for eighteen months. When Rick says –

"It is possible to measure with considerable accuracy the rise and fall of the tides, or the behaviour in space of objects invisible to the naked eye. But who can measure the depths of disillusionment?"

– we feel like a knife has been plunged into our hearts, and it hurts us deeply as much as it does Rick. A kind stranger gives Rick good advice and asks him to apply for a teacher position. Rick does, and is immediately hired and asked to join an East End school. His fellow teachers are all white and mostly women and they all welcome him. His students are an unruly bunch though and they test and challenge him everyday. Whether Rick is able to gain their respect, and whether the students accept him is told in the rest of the book.

'To Sir With Love' is a beautiful, inspiring memoir. The racism in post War London and the many subtle variations in which it manifests itself is so insightfully portrayed in the book. In one place Rick compares the way black people are treated in America and in Britain and it is fascinating to read. It will be interesting to find out whether what he says holds true even today. The way Rick tries to tame his students and the way they resist his attempts are also very fascinating to read. Rick even manages to fall in love with his fellow teacher who is white, and she invites him to meet her parents, and what follows is a scene straightaway from 'Guess Who's Coming for Dinner', with the father telling Rick how difficult it will be for Rick and his daughter if they get married – we can almost hear Spencer Tracy speaking there. The book has a wonderful introduction by Caryl Phillips. I did some research and discovered that Caryl Phillips is himself a Caribbean novelist and has a huge backlist of award winning novels. It is so exciting! I can't wait to read some of them.

I loved 'To Sir With Love'. I can't wait to read more books by our favourite Rick. Have you read this book? What do you think about it?

[Aloke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd heard of the movie but never considered reading the book until it was mentioned in "Austerity Britain" as an example of the prejudice faced by Blacks and Indians in 50's England. There are other glimpses of 50s London too with vignettes about riding the bus, visiting museums and restaurants and of course the description of the school and its East End neighbourhood. It also bears reading as a reminder of the attitudes of the day. Racism, classism and sexism abound but we can glimpse the seeds of change in those attitudes for example in the progressive teaching philosophies of the school's headmaster Florian (this reminded me a bit of the teachers at the school in Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go"! I wonder if he was inspired at all by this book). Even Braithwaite's prejudices come out clearly and given that he had the advantage of portraying himself it shows that these were taken for granted at the time. The writing is simple and straightforward; even his romantic life is treated analytically. I remember reading about his engineering and physics background and thinking this was a book written by an engineer but that doesn't mean that it lacks style, I found myself looking forward to picking it up each time.

Some good post-reading reading:
Wapo obit https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

Caryl Philips intro to Vintage edition https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

Discussion with Braithwaite at age 101 (!) http://coffeetablenotes.blogspot.com/...

[Malahat · Rating 1 out of 5]

If i was an ignorant, sentimental and emotional person i would’ve enjoyed this book. But I am not.

The man made sure to comment on every single female that he came across since page one of the book- the woman in the bus, a secretary, even his own goddamn students. If he is talking about a man, he’ll stick to the quality of their clothes but when it comes to women he feels the need to explain every goddamn inch of their body? I do not understand the need of a teacher to ogle a student’s breasts and comment on how she is not wearing a bra in order to portray like he was a very caring and attentive teacher. Not to mention his outburst on seeing a sanitary napkin and a very casual use of the word slut to describe his female students.

The first 35-40 pages are filled with this bullshit. I dont know how to enjoy a book after all this or how to even like the man and his story from this point forward.

As a teacher myself, i would like to point out that what he did was the bare minimum. There was nothing revolutionary about any of his methods. I am convinced the book only got this much traction because the teachers at that time or even now were not that “attentive” or put in efforts.

Bottom line is i will not be okay with my child being taught by a man who’s assessment of a person begins with the size of their breasts and whether they are wearing a bra or not.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first saw the film with Sidney Poitier that was made from this book. The film was OK, if a bit sentimentalised, and may have started the trend of "wonderful teacher" books and films, which I usually avoid, particularly if they are written by the teacher in question, or ghostwritten for him or her.

This book is a case in point. Even considering the writing style at the time of publication, I found Braithwaite's prose to be pompous and self-congratulatory in the extreme. He was teaching final year working-class students in London's East End at a time when it was common to terminate schooling at the age of 14-16 and immediately join the work force; one moment he is underscoring how important his own contribution to their future is (almost describing it as a last-ditch effort to "civilize" these urban barbarians!), the next he repeatedly refers to them as "children". One minute he's describing how mature his students are (girls as well as boys--we get quite a lot of detail about how ripe the girls are) and the next he's describing how one of his older students breaks down after announcing his mother's death and weeps "like the little boy he was." He was aware that it was not at all unusual for sixteen year olds in that milieu to marry and form families of their own, and yet he can't resist talking down to them in his descriptions of their lives. Nice man.

We are told that during Braithwaite's time in the RAF during the war, he experienced no discrimination based on his colour or background, which I also find hard to believe. He tells his angry students that he too has been "pushed around", but we are led to believe from the text that it only happened when he tried to get an industrial position or rent a room in England after the war. And yet he is blissfully unaware of his own condescending language when talking about how proud "these cockneys" are, how different they are from some sort of norm...contagious, isn't it, Sir?

I believe I read this book once before, many years ago, but I wonder if I finished it. I'm having a hard time doing so now. I can't say I recommend it, unless arrogance is your cuppa.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing Wise and Worldly

I saw this movie Starring the late, great Sidney Poitier when I was very young, and it was very timely since that was the late part of the civil rights era. Because of the time I lived in and the movie props and clothing, I always thought this movie was set in that self-same era, but it seems the book was actually set in post WWII London. It speaks of places that are still bombed out and areas of rubble from the war. I also had no idea that Mr. Braithwaite’s tale was a true story.

Rick Braithwaite grew up on a British island, was well educated and joined the Royal Air Force where he excelled and was more than accepted by his peers. Leaving the RAF he had a post graduate degree and everywhere he went, regardless of his credentials was turned away due to the color of his skin. Almost by accident he happened upon a teaching job in a school with very different tactics.

The school Braithwaite taught at believed in allowing the students to express themselves freely, since they all came from difficult backgrounds. The children had varying degrees of uncleanliness and disciplinary issues, but the headmaster wished to deal kindly with them. Rather than allow them to rule in chaos, Braithwaite devised a system of mutual respect whereas they called him Sir, they called the girls Miss, and the boys were addressed by their surnames. Every day he came up with something different to hold their interest and keep them involved in their daily studies. By the end of the year his class not only respected him, but also each other.

It may sound like I gave away the story, but this was a different time, with different people who lived a different kind of life than most of us can imagine. It’s a little slow in places, but very inspiring. Whether or not you read the book, look up the movie. It’s a real classic.

[Paul Lothane · Rating 4 out of 5]

How apposite that I would re-read this book again after hearing that the revered old man, Braithwaite (the author) is dead, one of the world's most famous centenarians. This book is very well-written as the world knows, with lots of fine descriptions, allusions, and the work for decades has always added to one's vocabulary. For us Africans, however, Braithwaite always apparently lacked a sense of humour, which ironically is often associated with his race, even those who've been oppressed and suppressed overwhelmingly. In his writings he often comes across as rather strict and censorious, lacking a lot of fun, fluency and flamboyance. From the intellectual, and from the prism of integrity, he would of course always rate very high, but it might be a bit difficult to warm to him as a fellow "Black brother"...but this book will always remain an early classic penned by a Black man, making the world decades ago to be aware of stuff like prejudices, predilections, and frustrations of race. And there is humour too, but alas it often comes from the other characters, teachers (up Weston!) and young pupils alike...