prejudice precluded him from obtaining the kind of job for which his scientific qualifications fitted him. From 1950—1957 he worked as a school-teacher. In

the sixties he was a Permanent Representative of Guiana to the UN. In 1959 Braithwaite won the Ainsfield Wolff Literary Award for To Sir, with Love, a book

about his experiences as a teacher in a school in London's East End. The other books that came from his pen are A Kind of Homecoming (1961), Paid Servant (1962), A Choice of Straws (1965), Reluctant Neighbours (1972).

Chapter 8 (Extract)

Each Friday morning the whole school spent the pre-recess period in writing their Weekly Review. This was one of the old Man's2

pet schemes: and one about which he would brook no interference. Each child would review the events of his school week in his own

words, in his own way; he was free to comment, to criticise, to agree or disagree, with any person, subject or method, as long as it

was in some way associated with the school. No one and nothing was sacred, from the Headmaster down, and the child, moreover,

was safe from any form of reprisal.

"Look at it this way," Mr. Florian said. "It is of advantage to both pupils and teacher. If a child wants to write about something

which matters to him, he will take some pains to set it down as carefully and with as much detail as possible; that must in some way

improve his written English in terms of spelling, construction and style. Week by week we are able, through his review, to follow and

observe his progress in such things. As for the teachers, we soon get a pretty good idea what the children think of us and whether or

not we are getting close to them... You will discover that these children are reasonably fair, even when they comment on us. If we are

careless about our clothing, manners or person they will soon notice it, and it would be pointless to be angry with them for pointing

such things out. Finally, from the reviews, the sensible teacher will observe the trend of individual and collective interests and plan

his work accordingly."

On the first Friday of my association with the class I was anxious to discover what sort of figure I cut in front of them, and what

kind of comment they would make about me. I read through some of the reviews at lunch-time, and must admit to a mixture of relief

and disappointment at discovering that, apart from mentioning that they had a new "blackie" teacher, very little attention was given to

me ...

It occurred to me that they probably imagined I would be as transient as my many predecessors, and therefore saw no point in

wasting either time or effort in writing about me. But if I had made so little impression on them, it must be my own fault, I decided. It

was up to me to find some way to get through to them.

Thereafter I tried very hard to be a successful teacher with my class, but somehow, as day followed day in painful procession, I

realized that I was not making the grade. I bought and read books on the psychology of teaching in an effort to discover some way of