To Sir, With Love - Buddy Read

[Jarvis]

He shamed them, wrestled with them, enlightened them, and - ultimately - learned to love them. Mr. Braithwaite, the new teacher, had first to fight the class bully. Then he taught defiant, hard-bitten delinquents to call him "Sir," and to address the girls who had grown up beside them in the gutter as "Miss".

He taught them to wash their faces and to read Shakespeare. When he took all forty-six to museums and to the opera, riots were predicted. But instead of a catastrophe, a miracle happened. A dedicated teacher had turned hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into into consideration for others. A man's own integrity - his concern and love for others - had won through. 

The modern classic about a dedicated teacher in a tough London school who slowly and painfully breaks down the barriers of racial prejudice, this is the story of a man's integrity winning through against the odds.

[Jarvis]

Everyone is welcomed to join me and Sumit provided you supply us with Coffee and Snacks.

Please do not spam and use spoiler tags wherever needed!

[Sumit]

Awesome! Thanks for setting this up, Gehna. :)

[Jarvis]

No problem! :)

[Jarvis]

Ch 1 :(view spoiler)[I see discrimination in the first chapter itself!! The lady refused to sit next to him!! :O (hide spoiler)]

[Sumit]

Agreed. (view spoiler)[And the interesting thing is that Mr. Braithwhite himself was being a bit discriminatory in his thought process too, right? The way he talks of the peasant women in the Steinbeck setting clearly shows how he looks down upon them. (hide spoiler)]

[Jarvis]

Sumit wrote: "Agreed. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yep, agreed. The ending of first character when Braithwaite is in the school, Florian sends a bit weird at first but I later realized why he kept Braithwaite to first have a look around at the ways of the school. < (hide spoiler)]

[Jarvis]

Ch2 : (view spoiler)[ Even the teachers are weird o.O
But I like Dale-Evans :P
Oh, and why is Braithwaite describing Blanchard like this -_-
Brown voice, Brown eyes, Brown skin -_-
Narration is weird (don't kill me please) :P (hide spoiler)]

[Jarvis]

Ch 3 : (view spoiler)[ oh I finally know why this school is weird. But I like this school, gives freedom and responsibility to unfortunate ones.

Towards the end of these three chapters, Braithwaite mentions *a lot of times* that the students and teachers are white. It was not only the whites, but the blacks were also on the same thought process, like you mentioned. In the end of 3rd ch, it mentions Braithwaite's demobilisation from Royal Air Force. I think something gonna happen in next ch. Flashbacks. Flashbacks.... (hide spoiler)]

[Sumit]

I think Braithwhite comes with a bit of baggage himself. I guess he was used to more equal treatment in the RAF. Also, perhaps he expected that he was a war veteran so he wouldn't be subjected to racial abuse.

In fact, this also reminds me of the case of Muhammad Ali. When he won an Olympic gold, he was disillusioned that white people STILL treated him poorly. When he was disallowed entry into a bar, he threw his medal away into the Ohio river.

[Jarvis]

I finished it, Sumit. Sorry I wasn't around to update here :(

Loved it a lot!

(view spoiler)[ When there was this lady who died, a student's mother, all the kids said that they won't go to the funeral, but when Rick went there, he saw all his students there. I loved that part :D :D
Also when Gillian's father agreed for the marriage :) (hide spoiler)]