The English author Braithwaite has written this sweet book, which could be called a selective autobiography of his years when he was a school teacher. The author has a very honest and different style of narration, something not commonly seen in English books. He obviously was deeply moved by the turn of events in his life which prompted him to take up teaching as a profession, for want of better opportunities.
The author has a superb grasp of the language and uses it to his advantage to hold the reader spellbound. His sincerity is so tangible that you feel you can touch it with your fingers. The author also points attention to the snobbishness that pervades the British society in general, the currents of racial discrimination that pervades the society as an invisible malicious undercurrent.
I am intentionally not quoting from his flowering language here. You need to read the book to get the full flavour and savour it.
Fortunately, a large number of students in India who followed the CBSE syllabus in English would be familiar with a part of this book. At least I was in 1991. CBSE had a lesson which contained the author’s meeting with the old man which changes his life.
Eminently qualified, widely travelled and with varied expertise in his field of work, author is turned back from reputed organisations due to the color of his skin. The story is particularly moving, with details of the advise he got from an old man to take up teaching in a slightly dismal suburb of London, his talk with principal of the school, his interactions with the children and staff. Makes for a very absorbing and enlightening read.
I think anyone aspiring to be a teacher should read this book many times over. It points out the colossal responsibility being a teacher puts on the people who by chance of fortune ( or should I say misfortune ) happens to get into this once noble profession.
The principal of the school Mr. Florian is a remarkable man, with lots of love and affection for his children and a very deep insight into the human mind and its workings. You get to know the obvious difference between the principals you normally find and this man. He comes out as a intelligent and very lovable man, compensating abundantly for his lack of inches in physical stature. There is an excellent introductory lecture to the author when he enters the school, where Florian talks about what the school is all about and what they intend to achieve through their efforts. Superb talk, not to be missed.
The book depicts the time when the author left the RAF and finished the first term of his first batch of students, the seniormost in the school. You wish he could have written some more.