Up The Down Staircase

14. Persephone

Mon., Oct. 5

Dear Ellen,

White brick sounds splendid for your fireplace, but I know nothing about flues except that they make me uneasy.

As a matter of fact, I'm also uneasy about teaching. Rumor has it that the ghost walks this week: Bester is on the prowl and is likely to observe my class. What will I do if he comes to see my Special-Slows?

Today, in connection with our study of Myths, I put on the board Edna Millay's "Prayer to Persephone." * Do you remember it?

At the sight of a poem, they groaned—it's the thing to do. Yet when I asked who was speaking (lover about a loved one? mother about a child?), Vivian Paine raised a timid hand: "Maybe a teacher?"

There is a need for closeness, yet we can't get too close. The teacher-pupil relationship is a kind of tightrope to be walked. I know how carefully I must choose a word, a gesture. I understand the delicate balance between friendliness and familiarity, dignity and aloofness. I am especially aware of this in trying to reclaim Ferone. I don't know why it's so important to me. Perhaps because he, too, is a rebel. Perhaps because he's been so damaged. He's too bright and too troubled to be lost in the shuffle.

I want to get to know him—all of them. One way is to help them say whatever is uniquely theirs in their own words, for words are all we have. I am eager to read their compositions, to empty the Suggestion Box, to listen.

You ask the silliest questions, darling! What do you mean, why must I float?—Because Mary Lewis uses my room for two of her classes. Why doesn't she use her own?—Because another floater uses hers. We share the bulletin board and blackboard 50-50. I'm always curious to see what she's got on her half. She says she prefers my room because it has movable chairs—the kind with an arm rest for writing surface. Her room still has the small desks attached to the floor, from the days when the building was an elementary school. There is the problem of where to fit the students' knees. You want to know about Paul. So do I. He's clever and quick and, of course, marvelous looking, with that eyebrow. But there's something about him that—eludes. He even hates to be touched by the kids; it's almost a phobia he has about being jostled in the halls. He always waits until the hall traffic subsides before he leaves his room.

He has a devastating effect on the girls. "What I like about him," one of my homeroom girls said, "is the way he always leans against his desk and sometimes he sits on top of it instead of behind."

That may be it.

You and Mother are my most faithful correspondents. She worries about my living alone in the big city, without a real kitchen. And she keeps sending me clippings from the Johnstown, Pa. papers: rape, assault, murder. With one stark warning scribbled in the margin: "Be careful!" Only in school, she feels, am I safe.

I wonder.

Much love,

Syl

P. S. Did you know that only 21% of New York City's budget goes for education, compared with as much as 70% in small communities?

S.

15. From Miss Barrett’s Wastebasket

Scratch Paper – English 33 SS

by Chas. H. Robbins – Miss Barrett

My Best Friend

Chapter 1

My "best friend" is considered by what we do for each other. Of all the "friends" that I have only one (1) is my best friend and his name is "Tony" but I call him "Corkey". When we go somewheres we are all ways together no matter where the place is. There are many things between he and I. If ever I would loose this "friend" I wouldn't know what to do. Many boys and girls call us "brother" meaning that we never part with each other and are all ways together. That is why he is my "best friend". (100 words exacly)

My Best Friend. Scrap paper, don't count!

I have many best friend. One of who is Johnny. Johnny is 15 yrs. of age, about 5 ft. 41/4 in. has a character which consists as follows, he is smart, a fair player, never fights with his best friends. He wears glasses and is a rather cleancut boy. By cleancut I mean dresses very neat. Why I like him is because we're great friends.

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: B. Schachter

TO: S. Barrett

Dear Syl—Let's go out to lunch and splurge at Schraffts! Forget your Super-Slows and shake the chalk dust off for half an hour. I'm tired of coffee that tastes of paper. Here I sit in this draft, like Cerberus at the Gates of Hell—guarding what? And from whom? I'll swap my Lobby Duty for your Hall Patrol any time! Say yes to the cherub who delivers this note, and let's eat like ladies!

(I understand you may be observed this morning—Give them something to write, like "My Favorite Sport," or "Sea Thoughts," and relax!)

Bea

Dear Bea—Can't make it today—sorry. Parent arriving lunch per. to ask why son got 35% on spelling test. Must answer him. How?

Syl

Dear Syl—Don't try. There's no communication; no one really listens. Every man is an island. Give him a container of coffee instead.

Bea

Scr. Paper Outline

Hi there, "the sound echod mysterously in the crowded street", as my hand was grabbed by the familar hand of My Best Friend Mike", how is every old thing Bill? Fine, "I replied in answer. I was suprized, for I didn't expect it. It was a clear winter day with sparkeling snow sparkeling on

Lesson Plan

Eng. 33 SS

Comps. wr. in class; approx. 100 wds; My Bst.

Fr.

Emph. brevity & clarity

First draft on scrap paper; hand in cl. cpy

Remind: Topic Sent. & Concluding Sent.

On Blackbd: Impt. of Friendship:

I. Personal enrich.

A. Give & Take

B. Another's pt. of view

C. Vs. loneliness

II. Social

(Man — gregarious animal)

III. Biz.

IV.

My Best Friend

Friendship is important. It gives us personal enrichment and it gives us the give and take of another persons point of view. Friendship is also vs. loneliness and social. Friendship is important because man is an animal in our society and in biz.

only 43 words, need 57 more

My best friend is Me, Myself and I. I say this because you can't trust any one. They tell you they're your best friend and behind your back they call you names like fatso. That is why I have Me, Myself and I and I don't care. I lost 4 lps. and I don't even bother with the other girls because they're all catty. I love Me, Myself and I for a friend.

MY BEST FRIEND

Man is a gregious animal.

Dear Sylvia—

The Ghost Walks today! Quick—put something on board & make sure there are no paper scraps on floor & that windows are open 4 inches from top! He's just been in to observe me—I started a Punctuation TV Panel but it got out of hand. And I forgot to put assignment on board. Why don't you let them write a composition in class? He gets bored & leaves. Pass the word. Remember windows & enrichment!

Henrietta

Composition. Should Cap. Punishment Be Abollished?

Scrap P.

I will write on this topic we discussed very much in Soc. Studies and I think it should because what good is an El. Chair after the murder is

Pass to Lavatory—10:08 A.M.

S.B.

Returned to class: Only wooden passes honored.

JJ McH

Memo: Due before 3: (Gen. Office)

Attendance repts, Truant slps, Absentee cards

Alph. List homeroom stdnts

Health cds (Vaccin. & Dental)

(Eng. Dept)

Number F’s last term

% Repeating Eng.

Raising standards (means of)

Switch Macbeth???

In Memory of Those Who Died

Waiting for the Bell

Did you do Math?

Stop it, Stupid!

Drop Dead!

You to!

Dear Dr. Clarke

so justly (As you have pointed out, teaching here should be a dedic) It seems to me that (the burden of the clerical ) much valuable teaching time is wasted on

Admit to class—9:01 A.M.

Lateness Unexcused

Claims books fell on subway tracks.

JJ McH

SCRAP PAPER

MY FAVORITE COMPANION. FIRST DRAFT.

103 WORDS.

I wish to state that my favorite companion is Munro. The real reason why I have attemted to choose him as my favorite companion is he knows how to conduct his self. He has no propensity to fight and he is the type of boy I can take over my house and not be ashamed of him. Every avarage boy has a propensity for a companion which he prefers and he will always try and get one well I have just finished writing about. P.S. In my opinion I think we should have less composition and more lunchroom. Also go home earlier.

CIRCULAR # 28

PLEASE KEEP ALL CIRCULARS ON FILE, IN THEIR ORDER TOPIC: MAXIMAL GOALS TO DEVELOP DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPECIAL FUNCTIONS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AND TO ENLARGE THE TEACHER'S CONCEPT OF THE MEANING OF EDUCATION IN OUR DEMOCRACY; TO ASCERTAIN AND BRING ABOUT NEEDED CHANGES THAT WILL FACILITATE THE IMPROVEMENT OF TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING AND COORDINATION OF INSTRUCTION; TO DIRECT EXPERIMENTATION IN PURPOSEFUL AND CONCOMITANT LEARNINGS; TO MAKE USE OF ALL ANCILLARY AGENCIES AVAILABLE TO SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY; TO MEASURE THE RESULTS OF TEACHERS' ACTIVITIES IN TERMS OF PUPIL GROWTH TOWARD APPROVED GOALS

My best friend is my dog. A dog is a man's best friend. They are loyal and devoted all his life through thick and thin even though he can't talk. No more ink in my fou

Dear Dr. Clarke,

(I don’t wish to sound )

(As a member of a profession which)

As you know, most of our students are

(underprivileged and deprived,) they desperately need

My best friend is a TV and if it every gets out of order I don't know what to do with myself. Like all normal teenagers I have my specialities but I have so many different programs I can't begin to talk about them all. They are too many but all are my best. When I sit around the house I am never lonely with TV.

Motivate Comp. Lesson:

Impt. of Communication

A. Need to express selves and be understood

B. Language as a tool of communication

Put on blackbd:

"What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed"

(Pope?)

"Le style est l'homme."

Carfare: .15

Newsp:. .10

Coffee :. .10

Tuna sand.:. .60

Coffee: . .10

Teachers' Interest Com. 1.50

2.55 (so far)

Admit to class—8:39 A.M.

Disciplined by me for whistling in the hall.

JJ McH

Dear Miss Barrett,

Remember me? I was in your class the first week of school and tho I never came back due to moving I think I will never forget you and the time you talked to me on the subway. Altho english was not my best subject everything we did was nice and you were the only one who took an interest. You never made any bad remarks. How's the old Alma Mater? How's Dr. Clarke? Is he still a Dr? Well, lots of luck. Say hello to everybody for me and take care of yourself.

Your former loving pupil,

Iris Lefferts

The ghost walks! He's in Rm. 301 now. Heading due north. Looks grim. Open your windows!

CIRCULAR # 27

PLEASE KEEP ALL CIRCULARS ON FILE, IN THEIR ORDER

TOPIC: ADDENDUM TO PUPIL PERSONALITY PROFILES

TO SECURE A MORE COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF PUPIL ORIENTATION TO HIS ENVIRONMENT, ADDITIONAL SPACE HAS BEEN PROVIDED ON THE ENCLOSED CHARACTER-ATTENDANCE RATING SHEETS IN ORDER TO INCLUDE

My best friend. Well, well! Right of the bat, as soon as we sit down, our teacher Miss Baret gives us a composition to write! Well, well! to be frank with you, I do not like it. I do not like to write compositions when we could be discussing. Or dramatize or a speling bee, but not so much composition! It's not fair to the Union! Ha-ha, joke!

MY BEST FRIEND

Last summer I visited my Ant on the beach. My ant has a cottach on the beach and every summer she invites me to visit her and I did. I had fun on the beach swiming and handball and getting the healthy benefit of the sun and broadwalk. I gained and went on the loop. I hope my Ant invites me again next summer.

Late Pass:

Admit to class—8:32 A.M.

Unexcused—Claims alarm didn't go off.

JJ McH

TO: Custodian

Dear Mr. Grayson—

My window-pole seems to be missing. Room

304. Urgent! 2nd request.

S. Barrett

No one down here. Try after lunch.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT MEETING AT 3 P.M. IN

SCIENCE LAB 309 ON:

SELECTION OF MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION

FOR ENRICHING THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE OF

THE PUPIL:

SHOULD MACBETH BE TAUGHT IN THE 6TH

TERM INSTEAD OF THE 4TH?

Dear Mrs. Barnett,

Please excuse my son Arnold for not doing his English homework. He got in trouble with the Police last night and they kept him in the Station House. Hoping you will excuse him, I remain

Mrs. Rose A.

Scrape paper

A) My B. Freind

1. Name adress

2. What we do togeather

3. Why I like my b. freind

4. Why my b. freind likes me

5. Hobies

6. Concluding sent.

7. Man—gregrous animal

Dear Dr. Clarke,

(I know how busy you are, but I feel )

(You are, undoubtedly, aware of the discrepancy existing )

My best friend is my imaginary twin sister. She does everything I tell her. She is beautifull and obeys me freely. We share and share alike (beautifull dresses, etc) Her name is Roseanne. We are closer than any body even if she is only in my mind. She is my twin and she never talks back.

BOOK ROOM

REQUISITION SLIP

Need 40 Syntax & Style for Eng. 33 SS

(Register—46

(Chronic truant—7

79 Romeo & Juliet for Eng. 52 & 56

S. Barrett—Rm 304

We have only 4 Syntaxes & 26 Romeos in Bookroom.

Can you use Ivanhoes instead? There are 160 copies here.

major, and won my Master's degree with 'first honors for my thesis on THE FRENCH INFLUENCE IN THE OCTOSYLLABIC COUPLET OF CHAUCER"S "BOKE OF THE DUCHESSE." I hold a license in English in the New York City Secondary Schools and am at present teaching at Calvin Coolidge High School. (In order to supplement my ) If there is a teaching vacancy in your evening or summer session, I should appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

Sylvia Barrett

My best friend is my boy-friend and he is tall, rich and handsome, he has a twotone Caddy con-vertable with white leather seats of genuine white leather and takes me danceing every night in nightclubs ect. He gives me orhcids and jewlry ect. and has a big yahct. He lives on Park ave with servants of which I will be mistress of and a ranch type house in Bev. Hills with a swimming pool ect. That is why I hope to meet him.

TO: Miss Sylvia Barrett

FROM: Samuel Bester, Chairman, Language Arts Department

Please announce to your students the New York Chamber of Commerce Essay on: PRESERVING HISTORIC BUILDINGS IN NEW YORK.

Encourage all students to participate.

S. Bester

May I borrow your window-pole? Please give to

bearer.

S.B.

Dear Syl— Someone has swiped mine. There's a

run on window-poles today. And on pole-bearers!

Bea

Late Pass:

Admit to class: 8:36 A.M.

Unexcused: Claims IRT stuck.

JJ McH

My Best Friend

My best friend is Miss Barrett, our English teacher. Although this is the first term I have met Miss Barrett, she is pretty, a good dresser, a good marker, and fair in her attitude. She is the type teacher every student likes. For the reasons above mentioned I choose Miss Barrett.

DEAR (SIR, MADAM)

I AM (PLEASED, SORRY) TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR (SON'S, DAUGHTER'S ) WORK HAS SO FAR …

My best friend is a good book. I enjoy good books that are educational very much. Books help your grammer and spelling. Also increase your vocabulary. I am a great reader of books. My best favorite is "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespear. In this book I like the part where the author tries to show love. Where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton make love which I like. I like other good books too, mostly classical.

Memo: Return English as a Communications Art.

I have some best friends and also some worst friends but its hard to write down, its hard to explain what I really want to say about friends and others its hard to explain to anybody I often wisht I had a friend thats understanding. But its very hard.

Dear Dr. Clarke,

Since I began teaching, I have felt a lack of

Please admit bearer to class—

Detained by me for going Up the Down stair-

case and subsequent insolence.

JJ McH

My best friend

I believe my Mother to be my best friend because. She always listens to my troubles and trys to comfort me. She has been sacraficing all her life so I could be a credit to her and not a bum and all I did since born is cause her trouble by shooting pools and doing such things. I am apoligizing in this letter. Very truly yours.

Dear Dr. Clarke,

16. JJ’s Lament

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Paul Barringer, Room 309

TO: Sylvia Barrett, Room 304

Sylvia!

Where did you disappear after dinner last night?

Was I that blotto?

Must be the latest rejection slip. The tone is not only polite but patronizing: Why don't I write of something familiar to me?

The school system is familiar to me.

Am I to write of kids sprawling in classrooms? Yawning in assembly? Pushing through the halls? (You know I never venture forth in hall traffic.)

Am I to write of teachers marking papers? Of McHabe's circulars? (You know I have a low boredom-threshold.)

The only thing I can do with him is give him a song to sing. I call it J.J.'s Lament:

The ceiling fell? The ink ran dry? A student dared to smile?

Of every new disaster

I prove myself the master

By sending out more circulars, more circulars to file!

A missing kid? A kissing kid? A paper on the floor?

For every major crisis

One remedy suffices:

More circulars, more circulars to put into a drawer!

I want him to star in the Faculty Show, but he has another commitment. I'd like to write him a splendid aria, entitled: "It Has Come to my Attention That."

Why do you refuse to be in the Show? You are wasting yourself in the classroom.

Why do you refuse? You are wasting yourself.

A girl who is patient like patient Griselda

Will find all she's getting is elder and elder.

Meet me for lunch?

Meet me at three?

Meet me this evening? I promise to stay sober.

Paul

17. From the Suggestion Box

I wish other teachers would be brave like you and put in a Suggestion Box. They're always telling us what's wrong with us, what about the other way around? Boy, would I like to tell them off. But you're OK even if you are a teacher.

(You said we don't have to sign our name)

Scram! Hit the road! Leave town! If you know what's good for you! (You asked for it!)

A Well Wisher

Don't think you'll get off so easy just because you speak nice and you don't seem scarred of us, last term we had a man teacher and we made him cry.

Yr (Emeny) Enemy

Not enough boys and too many girls in the room. But that's not your fault. Also some schools they have danceing in the cafeteria and they put on different things, why not? You only live once.

Linda Rosen

It was very interesting of you to give the compositions on My Best Friend, there are quite a few persons you've helped. Keep up the good work.

Harry A. Kagan (The Students Choice)

Being you're so young don't be so leniant, we take advantage, especially Joe Farrone, he must be your pet because he gives you so much trouble. Also give out more up to date books than the Oddesseys. They should rewrite the Oddessey over with more up to date incidence.

Failing

Can you make the chalk stop from squeeking?

Nervous

Please tell Lou Martin to quit showing off, he thinks he's so comic well I don't.

Signed — Serious Student

Fuk. Screw. Crap. Goddam. Nerts to you.

Unsinged

You ask for revelant matters only. Assemblys too boring. I always know what he's going to say (Clark). Show movies instead.

Don't try so hard, you'll live longer, sit down & relax when you teach.

I have many problems but won't burden you with them in this Box. They're not fit for human ears. Though you seem to be a very understandable person. By that I mean you understand us being not so old yourself. Too bad you're a teacher and pretty like my sister. I wish you were a plain person then we could be close.

Vivian Paine

Sitting near the window in this room I have caught a cold because there's a hole in it. Well life is like that, you have to pay for your pleasure, with cash or otherwise.

Fifth Row Last Seat

This school is run like a Army. The least little thing he (McHaber) get excited. He better watch his step, after all I pay his sallary with taxes!

Tax Payer

Linda Rosen—sex pot, Alice Blake—stuck up, and you like Joe Feroni, he's just asking for attention.

Neglected

You're lucky you're a women teacher, if it was a man he would of walked into something he didn't see coming his way, with a women my temper is controlled but a man doesn't last long. (This is the last time I am writting!)

Dont call the Roll so early.

Late Bird

In the past I always looked forward to my English classes with regret but when I entered your room, low and behold, I saw your cheerful countenence standing in front of the class & I got really interested in the subject. You seem to mean it when you smile.

A Bashful Nobody

Homer is not a very good writer.

Reader

Everybody is always picking on me because of prejudice and that goes for everybody. Mr. Machabe really has it in for me just because I am color. I have allready fill a complain to Dr. Clark.

Edward Williams, Esq.

Clean up the slums! Before you go to the moon! And stop the Atomb Bomb! Before its too late! As far as school, without us there could be no school, ha-ha! And no futures!

Lou Martin

How about a date? I'll fix you up like you never had it before.

Loverboy

Throw out myths. Throw out old teachers and put in new. Throw down this delapidated school and build a clean one, more moderner, like my other was. With Loud Speakers in every class room where they told you over the Loud Speaker about personal hygene and forest conservation and things like that even if it came in the middle of a lesson. With telephones inside the rooms where if a teacher forgot a pencil she could call up to find out if it's there and later go get it. The traffic in the halls was more roomier and the cafeteria wasn't in the basement. You could sit down and eat. But I couldn't stay.

Stander

Don't start up with me!

Poisen

There is one thing you shouldn't do and that is look so beautiful. You distract the attention of Lou and me very much and causes us to pass notes while you talk.

Anonimus

Is it possible to change my seat to next to Linda Rosen because of my eyesight?

Frank Allen

What makes you think you're something? You're only a female and I can't stand females. I got enough trouble at home I don't need school.

Rusty

You're a good teacher except for the rotten books you have to teach like the Oddissy. I wouldn't give it to a dog to read.

Disgusted

I suggest you and other teachers get a raise in salary so they can live right. I'm sorry I talk out of turn during your teaching, I admit it.

Loudmouth

Parents are too pushy.

Doodlebug

I want to thank you for giving me your time after school, for encouraging me to write, for trying. But with 40 others in the class, whose problems are so different, I realize how little you can do, and I feel we are both wasted.

Elizabeth Ellis

Teach more interesting stories that are hopeful. How in Pygmalian and Galatea the statue got human for the marriage.

Yours for Happy Endings

I am not a good penman but I must tell some one. I put this in the Suggestion Box for the record. Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday!

Me

18. You Still Teaching?

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

I'm returning window-pole. Thanks.

Just now, a former student dropped in to see me. "You still teaching?" he asked. Turns out he's making more money than you and I together, playing saxophone in a band. Flunked English, I think. His PPP wasn't so hot, either. Why didn't they give me piano lessons? Why did I ever learn to read?

It must be Indian summer that's making me so droopy—or the quiz on Hamlet I've been marking. Sample: "Mr. Hamlet, Sr. appears to Mr. Hamlet, Jr. as a dead ghost and bids him revenge."

Bea

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea— I've been wading through a pile of "Due before 3" mimeos—but now at last I know what to do with them: into the wastebasket! I'm also hep to the jargon. I know that "illustrative material" means magazine covers, "enriched curriculum" means teaching "who and whom," and that "All evaluation of students should be predicated upon initial goals and grade level expectations" means if a kid shows up, pass him. Right?

I'm a bit nervous about Bester's visit. He tells me he plans to "drop in" again, and suggests that this time I do not give "a written lesson on friendship" (!)

Would you let me know what you think of the enclosed lesson plan on book reports? I wish I'd had real training instead of a few Fed courses and six months of pupil-teaching. I feel so inadequate!

Are there any compensations?

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Of course there are! I invite you to visit my Honors class in Shakespeare, or my Creative Writing class—you wouldn't believe you were in the same school. Actually these kids would do well on their own. To me there are greater compensations when a slow student glimpses an idea, when an apathetic or hostile kid raises a faltering hand.

Don't underestimate Bester. Behind the pedagese language is a man who knows all about teaching; you would do well to attend to what he says when he comes to observe you.

Your lesson plan is excellent—except for the Emily Dickinson line: "There is no frigate like a book." The sentiment is lovely, the quotation is apt—only trouble is the word "frigate." Just try to say it in class—and your lesson is over.

Bea

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea— Thanks for the tip on frigate. How about: "There is no steamship like a book"? I myself have already vetoed Channing's: "It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds."

In the meantime, I've been filling out follow-up slips on my Joe Ferone: Truant Officer reports there's no such address as the one he has given. Ella Freud says he never showed up for interview. Subject teachers claim he's been cutting classes. Nurse says he's on Dental Blacklist. And McHabe floods me with warnings.

But I'm not discouraged. I think the problem is not unreachable kids but unteachable teachers.

The Board of Ed has been Sir-or-Madaming me with the enclosed:

ELIGIBILITY TO QUALIFY FOR SALARY INCREMENT IN STEPS Cl, C2 AND C6 DEPENDS ON SUCH IN-SERVICE ALERTNESS COURSES AS MAY BE REQUIRED TO QUALIFY.

Please translate.

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

Looking alert won't help. If you want a raise, take a course. No coursie, no money. A First Aid course will do. You don't even have to take it — just ask the nurse to give you a paper saying you know how to apply tourniquet. Do you? Because you may need to!

As far as kids are concerned, you're on right track, but don't misjudge teachers—they're not so much unteachable as unrewarded. And even McHabe has his uses—before he came to Coolidge there was Chaos. He's trying to create order the only way he knows how. His pupil-load is 3,000 kids!

Bea

(Henrietta is looking high and low for Paul; dying to be in Faculty Show; wants him to write some lyrics for her. Do you know where he is? He looked a bit fuzzy again yesterday.)

B.

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea—

I don't know where he is; he has an unassigned 1st period, but he never appears until the 2nd. Someone punches him in—right under Sadie Finch's nose. Hope she doesn't find out.

I'm treasuring her latest: "Teachers must not punch each other out."

Just saw Grayson scuttling through the main floor; so he does exist! Ferone was with him. What goes on?

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

124

Dear Syl—

Ferone is not the only boy in Grayson's stable. I know several who make periodic visits to the basement. What goes on could be anything: Hashish—Racing forms—Orgies. They don't appear to be any the worse for it.

Bea

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea—

Letters from the Board becoming more pressing. Now they want money from me. This is from Payroll Division:

DEAR SIR OR MADAM:

AN EXAMINATION OF THE PAYROLL RECORDS SHOWS THAT

YOU RECEIVED A SALARY OVERPAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT

OF $2.75 FOR LAST JUNE.

I wasn't even teaching in June, and I certainly don't have $2.75. Apparently they don't know I'm file # 443-817 and have got me confused with another—possibly # 443-818?

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Mrs. B. Schachter, Lobby

TO: 304

Dear #443—

The Board moves in a mysterious way. Always did. In my day—the Depression Years—they failed a brilliant girl who would have made a great teacher—on the oral exam, for something they called “lateral emission”! They almost got me on the "sibilant S" (that was the year they were after the S's): My Waterloo was: "He still insists he sees the ghosts."

And a friend of mine, a Millay scholar, was failed for poor interpretation of a sonnet by Millay. Her appeal was not granted, even after Edna Millay herself wrote a letter to the Board explaining that was exactly what she had meant in her poem. My friend did establish a precedent, I believe: ever since, candidates for the English license have been given poems by very dead poets, long silent in their graves.

Now, of course, things are different: they thrust the license upon anybody who can stand up and use a board eraser.

The Aide didn't show up and I'm stuck in the lobby again. Send down some cheery news!

Bea

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: Mrs. B. Schachter, Lobby

Dear Bea—

Cheery? I feel lost and a bit absurd—as if I were tilting at windmills which aren't there, or shouting in an empty tunnel. I keep trying to remember who I am. The Board of Ed has the same trouble.

Now they inform me that "A teacher who has exhausted his cumulative sick leave may borrow up to 20 days of additional sick leave."

Who's sick? I don't mind their lack of faith in my health; it's the Dear Sir or Madam I mind. How do I convince them I'm a Madam?

Syl

126

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Mrs. B. Schachter

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

Play it cool. They'll catch on.

Bea

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea,

Today I must return Odyssey and Myths & Their Meaning; someone else needs crack at them. I've had only ten school days on them, in my slow class, with half of students absent or truant, and not enough books to go around, and no help from librarian—whose note is enclosed:

My dear Miss Barrett,

I am forced to cancel the library lesson you had planned for your 3rd term students in connection with their study of mythology. Sending them here six at a time creates havoc and disorder. They have already misplaced The Golden Age of Greece and have put Bullfinch on the Zoology shelf, besides 'talking. Two of your students took out books indiscriminately, that had nothing to do with the assignment. I cannot allow them the facilities of the school library until they learn the proper respect for the printed page.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Wolf, Librarian

Do you know Paul's song about her: "Who's Afraid of Charlotte Wolf?

I think I really got the kids interested; I made myths live for them by linking them with their own lives and with the present. To find out how much they've actually absorbed, I'm giving them a quiz next period. I've armed myself with a red pencil (over McHabe's dead body!) for correcting content, and a blue one for mistakes in spelling, grammar, etc. The two-tone correction was the idea of a Fed Prof of mine in college.

What I had attempted to do was to convey the comedy of the gods against the tragedy of mortals—

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

That may be the only way to convey tragedy: through comedy. Humor is all we've got.

Bea

19. The Greek Underground

ENGLISH 33 SS

ANSWER BRIEFLY:

WHY DO WE STUDY THE MYTHS AND THE ODYSSEY?

Because we want to talk like cultured people. At a party how would you like it if some one mentioned a Greek God and you didn't know him. You would be embarrased.

We study myths like Orpheum & his girl friend because it takes place in the Greek Underground. We want to know how our civilization got that way.

Myths are everywhere. Many everyday things like thunder are based on myths. It helps increase our vocabulery in words like Volcanno and By Jove! and to gain experience for future behavior.

The reason we study it is because it shows the kind of writting they went in for in days of Yore. If this isn't the right answer well I don't know.

The Odessye I've just read helped me an awful lot in my life.

We study myths to learn what it was like to live in the golden age with all the killings.

I'm sure there are many reasons why we study these things but I missed it due to absence. I brought a note.

We study myths so we may comprehend in a superior fashion the origines of many idiocyncracies of our language throughout the decades, constant references to mythologic occurances have spawned such sparkling gems as Jumping Jupiter. By acquaintance with sundry gods and their female counterparts one might discover the birthplaces of such phrases of which we speak.

Diana ruled the moon and fell in love once with a mortal and because of its outcome she never again did so.

If it wasnt for Myths where would Shakesper be today?

Well, for students going to colledge even if they don't go to colledge everybody needs a certain amount of literature in their backround.

To me the "Odyssey" was just another Ethan Frome or Silas Marner.

It's hard to avoid reading because every wheres we go reading is there.

My own opinion is that I hated the Odessy.

I dont know why we read them but I can tell about it. Pyramid and Thisbe are next door neighbors who like Romeo and Juliette were caused to die by their parents. They saw each other thru a hole in the wall. After a while they couldnt stand it and decided not to meet by the hole any more. So they met by a tree. Thisbe runs away at the sight of a lady lion who's mouth is dripping blood. She dropped a clothe which the lady lion only picked up and thats all. Pyramid walks over and sees the clothe full of blood. He became agrieved and slewed himself. She then walks over and seeing her lover laying on the ground she couldnt stand the sight of him and likewise slewed herself. The blood of them both joined and changed the white flower to purple. How beautiful is love.

It developes our

(not finished)

We drove deeply into the Odessey to get what we can out of it. I think it's valuable to us. It's very difficult to understand the English of before.

Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it.

My opinion about the Oddysey is ridiculous. I don't want to hear about some one's troubles.

The reason we study mythology is to gain tolerance for others even if they don't deserve it.

I didn't know we'd have a quizz on it so didn't study for it, but I imagine we read it to be a round person.

What you may call it felt that the people of the earth should have fire and he stole it from Ollympus and took it to earth. He was then punished by being tied to a mountain top and have his liver eaten out every day by a Vultur.

Once a person studies myth's they look on life a little different. I know I do.

Why do we study the Odyssy? Because everybody in high school at one time or another read it and now we have to read it because it's our turn. The Trojan horse was used as a spy of today. Gods were used as dictators and Penelpe still walks the streets of modern society.

If the odessy is of no value to me its probly because I didnt put myself into it to begin with.

Just about all myths are based on Love and that is why.

We read myths for learning about the gods and godesses and their affairs.

We read it because it's a classicle.