Reviews for Elsie Ripley Clapp (1879-1965): Her Life and the Community School

The average rating for Elsie Ripley Clapp (1879-1965): Her Life and the Community School based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-03-03 00:00:00 Germain Robichaud Most of us have seen the movie of To Sir, With Love. I too, but years and years ago. Sidney Poitier shines as he plays E.R. (Rick) Braithwaite, the black teacher of a class of white streetwise, ruffian youngsters, seniors in an East End London secondary school. These kids are poorly fed, clothed and housed. Their knowledge of academic subjects may be low, but they do have a knowledge that equips them to survive where they live. It is after the Second World War, the 1950s. The growing friendship, respect and trust between the kids and their teacher is one theme. The second and more important theme, particularly in the book, is racial and ethnic discrimination. This is an autobiographical novel based on the author's own experiences as teacher in an East End London school after the war, after having been a British Royal Air Force pilot during the war. Neither his color nor his ethnicity was of importance during the war, but after they certainly were. Through this work the author is focusing attention on such hypocrisy and on racial and ethnic discrimination. He was born in Georgetown, British Guyana, in 1912 and died at the age of 104 in 2016! The strength of this book lies in its message that the best means of fighting discrimination is through shared experiences between those who are different. Having a close friend of a skin color, religion or ethnic background different from you own teaches more than book learning can ever accomplish. I liked that not only the kids grew wiser from their friendship with Braithwaite, but that also Braithwaite learned from his friendship with them. An interracial love affair carries the theme one step further. For much of the story the words of Braithwaite are formal, a bit stiff and detached. This loosens as one nears the end, when not only his students have warmed to him, but he too has come to feel great attachment for them. Braithwaite's initial formality and his insistence on strict behavior make perfect sense. It is heartwarming when he begins to soften and melt. It is at the same time realistic that he never turns into a gushing pulp of emotion. Braithwaite's formal demeanor and strength of character are well captured in Ben Onwukwe's rendition of the audiobook. The reading is clear and strong and easy to follow. He intones the female characters less well. The kids' Cockney accents are at times harder to follow, but this feels accurate and thus correct. For me, the performance is worth four stars. For those of you who wonder whether one's memory of the movie should be left untouched, I would say go ahead and read this. It does not matter that it is of its time; it still speaks to us of today. It took me awhile to warm to it, but I did by the end.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-15 00:00:00 Karen Kafel Dignity, courtesy and education... That is what newbie teacher Ricky Braithwaite offered his unruly class of teenagers. E.R. Braithwaite is in fact the author of this autobiographical 'novel'. This story is based on his personal experiences. He was born in British Guiana (present-day Guyana) to Oxford-educated parents. He had studied in New York and was a qualified engineer who expected upon demobilisation in 1945 from the R.A.F., in which he served as a pilot, to be able to find a suitable position. He soon discovered that he would not be given any of the positions available. The reason? He was black. He was either told that he would not fit in, that he was too well educated and sounded too posh (and he had the temerity to wear a better suit than one interviewer!), or quite simply that the position had been filled. Eventually he had to settle for the only job he could find, teaching a bunch of potential ne'er-do-wells at a school in the East End of London. In this work Mr Braithwaite mentions that in a sense it was better to be a black person in America as there at least racism was overt. He was shocked, and felt betrayed having voluntarily served in the R.A.F. during WWII, to find that the English whom he had thought to be non-racist were in fact to a considerable extent covertly (and sometimes not so covertly) racist. After a few hits and misses he soon established a good relationship with the unruly white fifteen-year-olds that he had to teach. He soon understood how little they knew and understood, and set himself the task to not only improve their manners (and personal hygiene), but to teach them practical things that they could apply to their daily lives once they left school. One man cannot wipe out long existing prejudices, but at least forty-odd pupils learned to respect this dignified man, and some of them perhaps went on to better things (I'd like to think so). One man made a difference. In a spare 185 pages Mr Braithwaite packs a huge punch. Many people of my generation will remember Sidney Poitier's wonderful portrayal of Mr Braithwaite in the 1967 film of the same name. Popular singer Lulu also appeared in the film, and the theme track of the soundtrack is sung by her. E.R. Braithwaite was soon to complete a Master's degree in Physics at Cambridge University. His date of birth is given respectively as 1922 (About the Author), 1920 (Introduction) in this book, and as 1912 in Wikipedia, so take your pick... E.R. Braithwaite passed away in 2016. Mr Braithwaite, I'm sad to say that racism continues as much as ever. One need only switch on the television to see, from one's own living room, innocent people being murdered in the street simply because of their colour. To Sir, with love, from this reader.