To Sir, With Love (novel)
| To Sir, With Love | |
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| Author(s) | E. R. Braithwaite |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Bodley Head |
| Publication date | 1959 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 200 pp (paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
To Sir, With Love is a 1959 autobiographical novel by E. R. Braithwaite set in the East End of London. The novel is based on true events concerned with Braithwaite taking up a teaching post in a school there. The novel was made into a film in 1967.
The novel was adapted for radio and broadcast in two parts on BBC Radio 4 in 2007 starring Kwame Kwei-Armah.
[edit] Plot
Ricky Braithwaite is a British Guiana-born engineer who has worked in an oil refinery in Aruba. Coming to Britain on the verge of World War Two, he joins the RAF as aircrew. Demobbed in 1945, he is unable to find work, despite his qualifications and experience, meeting overt anti-black attitudes. But after discussing his situation with a stranger whose name he never learns, he applies for a teaching position and is assigned to Greenslade School, a secondary school in London's East End.
Most of the pupils in his class are totally unmotivated to learn and largely semi-literate and semi-articulate. But he persists, despite finding that they are unresponsive to his approach.
Braithwaite decides to try a new approach, and sets some ground rules. The students will be leaving school soon, and will enter an adult society, so he will treat them as adults, and allow them to decide what topics they wish to study. In return, he demands their respect as their teacher. This novel approach is initially rejected, but within a few weeks, the class is largely won over. He suggests out-of-school activities, including visits to museums, which the kids have never thought about before. A young teacher, Gillian Blanchard, volunteers to assist him on these trips. Some of the girls start to speculate whether a personal relationship is budding between Braithwaite and Gillian. The trip is a success and more are approved by the initially sceptical Head.
The teachers and the Student Council openly discuss all matters affecting the school and what is being taught. The general feeling is that Braithwaite's approach is working, although some teachers still advocate a tougher approach to the kids.
The mother of one of the girls comes to speak to Braithwaite, feeling that he has more influence than she has with her impressionable daughter, who is staying out late and might be getting into trouble.
In the meantime, Braithwaite and Gillian are deeply in love and are discussing marriage. Her parents are openly disapproving of a 'mixed-race' marriage, but realise that they're serious and both intelligent people who know what they are doing.
