Up the Down Staircase

Up the Down Staircase
Bel Kaufman

Are we then, none of us, allowed to touch wounds? What is the teacher's responsibility? And if it begins at all, where does it end? How much of the guilt is ours?

But we cannot remain intact if we teach, Bea said. And we must teach- against all odds, against all obstacles, in the best sense of the word.

I think the kids deserve a better deal than they're getting. So do the teachers.

Teachers should have a mirror in the back of the room so they can see how they look to us!

You made me feel I'm real.

Learning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.

The important thing is the recognition and response, not an inch of print to be memorized.

I want to point the way to something that should forever lure them, when the TV set is broken and the movie is over and the school bell has rung for the last time.

I had used my sense of humor; I had called it proportion, perspective. But perspective is distance. And distance, for all my apparent involvement, is what I had kept between myself and my students.  Like Paul's lampoons, like Lou's ha-ha's, it insulated me; it kept me safe from feeling.

For love is growth. It is the ultimate commitment. It imposes obligations; it risks pain. Love is what I wanted from all.

The penalty for touching is too great.

The heart has its reasons; it's the mind that's suspect.