Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students, and Their High School

by Samuel G. Freedman

Small Victories is Samuel Freedman's remarkable story of life on the front lines in the sort of high school that seems like a disaster with walls--old, urban, overcrowded, and overwhelmingly minority. Seaward Park High School, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, has been ranked among the worst 10 percent of high schools in the state--yet 92 percent of its graduates go on to higher education. The reason is dedicated teachers, one of whom, English instructor Jessica Siegel, is the subject of Freedman's unforgettably dramatic humanization of the education crisis. Following Siegel through the 1987-88 academic year, Freedman not only saw a master at work but learned from the inside just how a school functions against impossible odds. Small Victories alternates Jessica's experiences with those of others at Seaward Park, and as we cone to know intimately a number of the astonishing students and staff, Small Victories reveals itself as a book that has the power to change the way we see our world.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Memoir, Professional Development, New York, Journalism

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Samuel G. Freedman is a columnist for The New York Times and a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author of seven acclaimed books, most recently "Breaking The Line," and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Reviews

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have issues with books like this, while I enjoy reading stories about teachers in inner city schools (because I am one) I have a problem with all of "these" kinds of books. The hardworking, long suffering teacher teaches only for a few years, touches the lives of her students and causes a sea change in their lives, then she leaves teaching after like 3 years. Where's the stories about the people who have had the guts to stick it out for more than a few years? Where are their stories? Rant has ended!

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving, if somewhat dated, story of Seward Park High School in the Lower East Side in Manhattan. While much of the book focuses on a single teacher, Jessica Siegel, and her attempts to reach a student population with widely differing ethnic, English-speaking, and interest in school in general backgrounds, we also get in-depth views of other teachers and administrators, and the struggles they face. Freedman captures their passion for education, and their near-total exhaustion as they pursue this profession, battling to provide a path for children out of the often-violent, mostly-uncaring world they inhabit. Throughout the book Freedman points out how these teachers make very difficult choices, not only about the students, but about their own lives.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree that this genre is disturbing because it doesn't represent those veterans who stay. In fact, when I read it, I hadn't yet started my stint in the inner city school where I taught for --you got it--2 years. I read the last chapter on a train, standing up and crying. I felt the teacher was both who we wanted to be and who we could never be. I liked the idea that this was not a self-serving autobiography--the fact that a NYTimes journalist followed the teacher for a year gave it more credibility. I wonder how I would feel about the book now. But, I hold it in my mind, many years later as a favorite.

[Tebel Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this at all. A tedious work concerning a worthwhile subject, buried in descriptive verbosity. I even had the Reader's Digest version, and still could not make it to the end. The teacher's constant harping on getting her students into college was irritating and unnecessary. Many students are not college material, and learning a trade is far more likely to ensure steady employment. Her slam against the military as a viable option was annoying as well.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had I read this a few years later, I would have probably become a NYC high school teacher (still one of my fantasy jobs). This is very moving narrative non-fiction, about a year in the life of a high school English teacher in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, pre-gentrification. The book takes place during the 1987-88 school year, so it's dated now, but I would imagine it has not lost any of it's power.

[Merlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written about the late 1980 and 1990's but it sounded so much like some of Traci's experiences as a teacher in the 2000's. It's emotional and stirring and frustrating...isn't that what teaching is about? I REALLY liked it! I love teachers!!

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to rave about a book that depicts the trials of the public school teacher. However, I feel that Freedman gives a pretty clear and relatively unbiased account of the choices that teachers have to make, and the consequences of those choices. Interesting and through provoking, if not new.

[Ms. G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this right after I graduated Columbia j-school. Remember thinking wow if I didn't just graduate j-school, I might have become a NYC public school teacher. More than 20 years later, that's exactly what I am.

[Danae · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't think of much to say about this one. Parts of it were very interesting and other parts were boring. The teacher quits in the end, so it's not exactly encouraging, but that's not the author's fault.

[Mark]

One of the more revealing looks inside the New York City School System.

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought me back to teaching 20 years ago! Interestingly, by the end of the book, the teacher-subject leaves teaching and becomes a writer!

[Carrie]

education

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of teacher memoirs are annoying (the kids are horrible, I tried to be a savior), but this one is extremely well written.

[Amanda Davenport · Rating 1 out of 5]

i feel this poor woman's pain

[Bebe Burnside · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story of what a dedicated person can accomplish.