To Sir, with Love

by E.R. Braithwaite

Book Overview

This schoolroom drama that inspired the classic Sydney Poitier film is "a microcosm of the racial issues . . . A dramatic picture of discrimination" (Kirkus Reviews). With opportunities for black men... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0515105198
• ISBN13: 9780515105193
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Jove Books
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.1" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Book Well Worth Reading

To Sir, with Love is an unbelievably inspiring story. E. R. Braithwaite, the author of this memoir, captures the shame and hatred of prejudices and racism. The journey begins in the East End of London, during the 1940's. Mr. Braithwaite teaches at Greenslade Secondary School, which is surrounded by poor neighborhoods filled with social vermin. Rick Braithwaite is a young black man, born in South America, who just got out of the Air Force. Now in Britain, Braithwaite's looking for a career, mainly to pay for food, but things don't work out as planned. He came to know the virus of prejudice very well, as he was turned down from job after job. Braithwaite described feeling "caught like an insect in the tweezer grip of prejudice." Teaching became the cure to set him free.Braithwaite is placed in a classroom full of rude, obnoxious children, but little does he know that these are the children who will change his life. In the beginning, he described that he wanted this job, "but it would be a job, not a labor of love." Then, after spending time with the students, Mr. Braithwaite began "learning from them as well as teaching them." The class may have problems in their home lives, but when they enter the classroom, Mr. Braithwaite joins them on a journey to adulthood. The students ask many questions, which allows them to acquire the knowledge they deserve. On occasion the questions touch upon people of different races, and Mr. Braithwaite gives mature answers, and speaks to them as adults. Braithwaite's theory is to treat his students older than they are so they will behave more grownup. With a teacher who respects his students, they, in return, accept him and honor him with the courtesy of "Sir". An English woman, Gillian Blanchard, is also a new teacher at Greenslade, and she and Rick develop a relationship. Although they see themselves as a normal couple, no one else can agree with Rick and Gillian's relationship. Even strangers make judgments about them and treat Rick like he is worthless. Does Gillian have enough strength to keep their relationship together? Was she truly free from the virus of racial intolerance? In the end, they are confident with their love for each other, and Rick demonstrates his confidence by finally standing up for himself to Gillian's parents. Most of all he explained how much he cared for their daughter as he says, "I would not have cared if she had been blue or green." Their relationship contributes to Braithwaite's discovery of himself and how people treat him. It is helpful to the story that the characters are real people with which we can relate. The dialect is detailed and interesting, which makes me think further about the text and my own life. I can really feel for the people in this story, especially Mr. Braithwaite. Reading history firsthand from someone's point of view is always interesting to me, and the author's use of metaphors and creative words influence me to get caught up with the s

Fantastic Book

As my teacher talk about this book.It's like that she explain the whole story to me.So i started search around for this book.As i start read the story it tells me that the story is about a negro man,E.R.Braithwaite.This story of a western teachers trial and triumphs with a group of senior pupils in an over crowded London school is closely based on the authors own experiences in the east end.Written with charity and compassions,it clearly sets out some of the difficulties facing the many coloured people in England,and makes a moving plea for tolerance and mutual unterstanding.

TO SIR, WITH ADMIRATION

First things first. I am not related to E.R. Braithwaite. I teach high-risk students in one of the most impoverished schools in the United States, not in the United Kingdom. I am an author--my debut mystery is in its initial release. With those disclaimers in place, I want to clearly state my unequivocal admiration for TO SIR, WITH LOVE. It is a must-read book for any teacher worth her classroom. It tells the tale of Mr. Braithwaite and his struggles to teach poor teenagers on the verge of adulthood in one of the poorest neighborhoods of London. His story rings true. Being a non-Latino teaching Latino students, I understand the racial tensions in the story. The difficulties in getting students to focus on goals more distant in the future than the upcoming weekend are also painfully true. The need for creative and heartfelt approaches to these educational challenges is additionally made clear. And, of course, the inspirational tone of the book is exactly what is needed in this day and age. TO SIR, WITH LOVE should be more widely read than it already is, and I hope every teacher has similar inspirational tales to tell, as does E.R.Braithwaite and this reviewer.

Tearful and Touching

I loved this story so much that I read it twice, which is rare for me. The way a single teacher can so greatly touch the lives of under-priveleged students is awe-inspiring. Through Braithwaite's extraordinary writing, the reader learns of how a teacher transforms a bunch of unruly teenagers who have a bleak future, to a group of mature young adults. The gentle ironies are eye-opening; I love the teacher's teaching methods. The best part, the aspect of To Sir With Love that really touched me, is that it's based on a true story. This is a must-read....for anyone.

It shows that people can change their ideas about each other

In the novel, both the teacher, Braithewaite, and his students end up going through many changes that ultimately result in their coming to change their way of thinking about each other. In life, as in this fictionalized account, the ability to adapt to the world around one's self is a very important trait. In the story, Braithewaite begins with a set of preconceived ideas about his students. He expects them to be unintelligent, rough, racially intolerant children with no future-hardly deserving of his respect. But, as he sees later, they are are the total opposites of his initial ideas. This is gradually shown through their actions, such as such as the students all going to visit the house of their black friend during his crisis, or their learning to treat each other with respect;they learned to address each other as their last names, inthe case of the boys, and "Miss", for the girls. For the students,they learned to respect and really learn from their teacher,something they had never cared to do before. Braithewaite helped them to break out of the the pattern of intolerance and roughness that society had placed them in. This is a key point of the novel, this idea that people can change their ways. In my own experiences, I have ended up changing my ways as I have become wiser. One example would be my relationship with my older sister. As a child, I constantly fought with her over everything and never tried tried to get to understand her. Gradually, though, as I grew older, I learned to accept and to understand her. Now, though we still argue about a lot of things, I feel my relationship with her has improved;I now look at her as a nice person with much to offer me, rather than as my "evil" sister.