Up the Down Stair Case

Bel Kaufmann’s novel, Up the Down Stair Case, explores the realities and the ideals of a metropolitan high school. The experience of the protagonist, Miss Sylvia Barrett, presents the true picture of an American teacher’s life which is a reflection of the current trends in education. The book broadened my perspective on how much can be gained or lost when a teacher with good intentions takes on an education system that is reluctant to accept change. Through the use of memos from the principal, notes between teachers, student comments, and all the paperwork in desk drawers and waste baskets, Kaufmann’s work shows how unreasonable bureaucracy stands in the way of anyone seeking to make a difference in the education system. I discovered that for one to change an existing system, he or she must first incorporate into it in order to fully comprehend the social and economic issues of its members before deciding on the necessity for change. It is important to emphasize more on the human encounter between teachers and students than administrative directives in the form of notes and memos.

The future trends in public school education can be said to be implied in the novel’s title. The title comes from one of the school principal’s humorous memos: No going up the down staircase. This implies that there can never be progress in a downward trend. It shows the retrogressive effect of irrational bureaucracy in a school where students are prohibited from taking stairs that end in the basement yet all the stairs but one stop in the basement (Kaufmann, 1991). Unnecessary bureaucracy has become an impediment for progress in most public schools. Miss Barrett’s frustrations in her attempt to teach classical literature appreciation to high school students is a reflection of our education system’s resistance to change.

The current system’s resistance to change through unnecessary bureaucracy and an obsession with traditions has been the major obstacle in implementing twenty first century innovations in public schools as opposed to private schools. Future trends in education will involve Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems in school. At the rate which education management is portrayed in Up the Down Stair Case, public schools will take a longer time to attain the standards of private schools.

Education theory puts into consideration the function, relevance, and interpretation of education as a mode of learning. Beginning from the twentieth century, education theory has been a unifying term that defines scholarly methods in teaching and assessment. In my opinion education is meant to prepare the student for participation both in political and economic fields. Education is also intended to be used as social capital and as an avenue to self-development both intellectually and in character. However, these are not the attributes Kaufmann presents in her work. The school Sylvia Barrett seeks to reform through classic literature is more of a correctional facility than an institution of learning and personal development. It’s a school where teachers correct spelling and grammar mistakes in love letters addressed to them by students.

Current issues in American education address the controversies that face educators and the society at large. These controversies are based on a diverse range of issues top of which discipline and security, racial differences, and mainstreaming. The differences between private and public education are also addressed in education matters. Increasing levels of violence in our culture has been replicated in schools. Recent shootings in schools in Kentucky and Oregon are clear evidence of the existence of violence in schools.

Race and ethnicity are major themes in public schools that must be addressed in any evaluation seeking to find solutions for problems plaguing the education system. The relationship between race and economic status has a significant impact on education provision. For example, students from African American and Hispanic families are generally perceived to be of a lower economic status than their white counterparts and taken to come from problematic families. This is why parents in Up the Down Stair Case write such hilarious comments like my son is unable to pass the spelling test because he is from a broken family (Kaufmann, 1991). Mainstreaming, which is the practice of mixing physically or mentally handicapped students in regular classrooms instead of special units, has continued to provoke debates in different sections of the education sector. The memos, notes, school notices, homework, essays, and all paperwork communications in Up the Down stair Case provide a spectrum of different types of students and teachers who serve to reflect the current American education issues.

References

Kaufmann, B. (1991). Up the Down Stair Case. (2nd ed.). New York: Harper Perennial.