Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Simplicity in Narration of a Great Story
Review: A lot was heard about this book. The term also was used by people around me very often. That got me looking into this book when I picked it up. To be honest, first few pages gave a felling that I should stop reading this book. But as the pages progressed, the interest arose, and the beautiful story of human endeavour in face of prejudice and preconceived notions started to unfold.While what was achieved by the author in that school in poor and improvised neighbourhood might appear trifle, but under the circumstances in which the author had to work and inculcate the pride and positive individualism in those children who had themselves to support and look up to, makes the achievement a far superior endeavour of an individual who himself became victim of prejudices. It is a story which every one must read to understand the achievement of the author in that school and the difficulties thereof, and also to enjoy a simple straightforward and from the heart narration of this amazing tale. If you have not read it, you have missed some simple but precious reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic About Both Education & Life
Review: A very enjoyable book. Braithwaite tells an inspirational story about both teaching kids but also overcoming prejudice as a black man in post WWII England. I'm a new teacher and hope to develop the type of relationship he had with his students with mine some day.
Rating: 
Summary: My review
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: During my school days, we had an extract from this book as one of the lessons in our English subject. The lesson was named "In the Grip of Prejudice". After reading the lesson, I just wanted to read the whole book. ER Braithwaite has handled a touchy subject aesthetically.
Highly recommended! :-)
Rating:
Summary: From "top" class to "honors" class
Review: Edward Ricardo ("E.R.") Braithwaite is an internationally renowned man of letters who is particularly known for his classic essay: To Sir, With Love [hereafter TSWL]. Originally published in 1959 by London's Bodley Head, this tour-de-force was followed in 1967 by a popular and widely acclaimed movie by the same name, and starring the dazzling actor - Sidney Poitier. Both the book and the subsequent film have won the hearts and minds of people from all nationalities, races, ethnic groups, and creeds. As stated in the The Bodley Head 1887-1987, "TSWL is now part of our cultural heritage." The account of Braithwaite's experiences as a teacher at Greenslade Secondary School in the EastEnd of London provides us with a picture of his natural ability to teach, counsel, and inspire the young. It also reveals a proclivity to instill a range of traditional values: emphasis on punctuality, proper manners, courtesy, tidiness, and respect for others. Even at this early stage of his long involvment with education, the approach to knowledge, teaching, and learning which Braithwaite pioneered represented an emergent paradigm of communitarian education. It was designed to imbue young minds with a lasting appreciation of education for life's responsibilities. The emphasis is on "conversation" or "dialogical acts", that is a play or drama in which the teacher "tunes in" to the universe of the students. Dialogical acts involve a capability of listening to other people's viewpoints and learning from the discourse of others. The teacher no less than the student is freed from the twin thaldrom of silence and monologue, and both begin to learn from each other. A combination of clarity in personal values, an honest approach to others, and an ability to listen and learn from students' views of the situation enabled him to discern the quality and quantity of learning. Contextually, while "TSWL" is a fragmented autobiography of an individual, it plays a larger educational role in at least two important ways. At one level, it can be interpreted as a teaching and learning experience in which the classroom became a theater of social, racial and human interaction. To put it in Braithwaite's own words, "my students taught me how to teach them." At another level, the autobiographical essay indicates the dynamism and intellectual strength of an able educator who remained unafraid and unbowed in the face of extreme adversity. Such factors help to explain why "TSWL" has become one of the most inspirational and influential "teacher narratives" and a "how to" treatise. It comes as no surprise; therefore, that "TSWL" has been reprinted innumerable times, translated into several languages, and set in Braille. A LARGE PRINT edition was published in November 2002 by Center Point Publishers of Maine, USA. Furthermore, "TWSL" is now experiencing a sort of rebirth. A new generation has responded to the book, thanks to the knowledge economy, the information superhighway and the World Wide Web. The Internet has served as a catalyst to inform and instruct its diverse reading publics that the various social issues raised in the book in 1959, especially those pertaining to education and schooling, race, color and class, continue to be problematic in contemporary times. While a narrow interpretation of "TSWL" is likely to locate it only within the time-frame of the 1950s and 1960s, its monumental impact and enduring human story teach us many lessons from which inferences can be drawn about alternative human futures and predictive strategies for the New Millennium. E.R.Braithwaite is Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English in the Department of English at Howard University in Washington DC, where he continues to ply his trade in Honors English and Creative Writing Classes. To date his Composition for Honors Class has produced and published seven widely acclaimed anthologies of prose and verse -entitled "Faces and Voices" in limited printed edition (Howard University Libraries), and on the web. He continues to lecture on education and race relations to diverse groups in the United States stressing the imperative of reading, the correct use of language and the need for words - the veritable "bricks" of communication. Recently, Braithwaite represented the United States in Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria in February 2003 for Black History Month Celebrations. He was a guest of the US Embassy in Budapest and met with various groups from all walks of life. The book and film were highlighted and discussed at various events.
Rating:
Summary: To Sir, With Love
Review: Edward Ricardo Braithwaite To Sir, With Love is one of the most infinitely rewarding books I have ever read. The story is about a man, Ricky braithwaith, who after getting out of the Service looks for a job in the growing technological field in which he has exceedingly good qualification. But when he returns to England to look for a job he soon remembers, after numerous shutdowns, that his skin color is impeding on his career chose. But he eventually finds a job as a teacher of a tough group of lower class youngsters who have made many a teacher turn tale and run. But with amazing perseverances our hero is able to tame these children and show them and all the others at the school that there is an other side of life.
Rating:
Summary: TO SIR, WITH ADMIRATION
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring stuff
Review: I remember having read an extract of "To Sir with Love" during my school days and have been wanting to read it ever since. Unfortunately I never got around to doing so for quite a while. Recently while browsing in a bookshop, my eyes fell on the book and I decided to pick it up.
The book is an extremely inspiring autobiography which chronicles the life of a 'coloured' teacher in a particularly rowdy neighbourhood of London.
Written in an extremely touching, charming (and ocassionally witty) style, the author talks about how he has to deal with racial sterotypes. It is uphill all the way for the Braithwaite as he counters the cynicism of his impressionable students and ocassionally of his colleagues. Slowly, he wins over the minds (and in the case of Pamela Dare, hearts) of his students as he tries to wipe clean their minds of prejudices (racial or otherwise).
The book was also filmed starring the ever-charming Sidney Poitier in the lead role. See the movie after reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Well Worth Reading
Review: 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 story. This book truly interests me because of the issues it discusses, such as equal rights and self-discovery. For example, throughout the story, Mr. Braithwaite realizes that it was not his skin color holding him back, it was his attitude. He reflects that, "At first it was terrible, but gradually I'm learning what it means to live with dignity inside my black skin."
There are also some elements of this book that did take away from the story. First of all, I was somewhat confused in the beginning because I was overwhelmed with characters and their descriptions. It was hard to remember the characters, and I wasn't sure which ones were important or main characters. Some of Braithwaite's descriptions are also hard to decipher. For example, he would often describe the beauty and maturity of Pamela Dare, a student in his class. As the story progresses, Mr. Braithwaite's intentions with Pamela become unclear. On page 212, he describes Pamela when she arrives at the senior party. "She presented a picture of sheer beauty and I gazed at her in wonder." Lastly, because this story is based in Britain, I had a hard time following some of the conversations. Braithwaite also used words like Cockney, which is a British dialect of East End Londoners, glibness, and cheek by jowl. I discovered that glibness was used to describe the shallowness of Gillian's parents, and cheek by jowl is an expression, meaning tightly packed. I don't blame the author for this, but I felt that I missed out on the full effect of the story because I didn't read with a British accent. To Sir, with Love is definitely a book I would recommend to someone probably high school level or older. I think anyone who reads this story will walk away with a broader view on life and how he or she lives it. The quotes Braithwaite uses will really make you think, and his words will stay engraved in your mind. I am someone who was never ridiculed for the color of my skin, or where I was from, which is why it is so interesting to read from someone who had to face prejudices on a regular basis. The most memorable and thought-provoking concept E. R. Braithwaite wrote was on page 45. "I realized at that moment that I was British, but evidently not a Briton, that fine differentiation was now very important". This was the reason he could not live normally. This quote also encourages me to reflect on whether or not I'm American. However, the difference between Braithwaite and me is that he was never really accepted as a British citizen. He had thought of himself as someone who had the same rights as anyone else in the country, but then came to find that the unwritten rules of prejudices would soon take charge of his life.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Well Worth Reading
Review: 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 story. This book truly interests me because of the issues it discusses, such as equal rights and self-discovery. For example, throughout the story, Mr. Braithwaite realizes that it was not his skin color holding him back, it was his attitude. He reflects that, "At first it was terrible, but gradually I'm learning what it means to live with dignity inside my black skin."
There are also some elements of this book that did take away from the story. First of all, I was somewhat confused in the beginning because I was overwhelmed with characters and their descriptions. It was hard to remember the characters, and I wasn't sure which ones were important or main characters. Some of Braithwaite's descriptions are also hard to decipher. For example, he would often describe the beauty and maturity of Pamela Dare, a student in his class. As the story progresses, Mr. Braithwaite's intentions with Pamela become unclear. On page 212, he describes Pamela when she arrives at the senior party. "She presented a picture of sheer beauty and I gazed at her in wonder." Lastly, because this story is based in Britain, I had a hard time following some of the conversations. Braithwaite also used words like Cockney, which is a British dialect of East End Londoners, glibness, and cheek by jowl. I discovered that glibness was used to describe the shallowness of Gillian's parents, and cheek by jowl is an expression, meaning tightly packed. I don't blame the author for this, but I felt that I missed out on the full effect of the story because I didn't read with a British accent. To Sir, with Love is definitely a book I would recommend to someone probably high school level or older. I think anyone who reads this story will walk away with a broader view on life and how he or she lives it. The quotes Braithwaite uses will really make you think, and his words will stay engraved in your mind. I am someone who was never ridiculed for the color of my skin, or where I was from, which is why it is so interesting to read from someone who had to face prejudices on a regular basis. The most memorable and thought-provoking concept E. R. Braithwaite wrote was on page 45. "I realized at that moment that I was British, but evidently not a Briton, that fine differentiation was now very important". This was the reason he could not live normally. This quote also encourages me to reflect on whether or not I'm American. However, the difference between Braithwaite and me is that he was never really accepted as a British citizen. He had thought of himself as someone who had the same rights as anyone else in the country, but then came to find that the unwritten rules of prejudices would soon take charge of his life.
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