Up the Down Staircase

by Bel Kaufman

We have keys but no locks (except in lavatories), blackboards but no chalk, students but no seats, teachers but no time to teach.

Whatever the waste, stupidity, ineptitude, whatever the problems and frustrations of teachers and pupils, something very exciting is going on. In each of the classrooms, on each of the floors, all at the same time, education is going on. In some form or other, for all its abuses, young people are exposed to education.