HARRISON HIGH

by John Farris ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

.... is one of the five best high schools in the (unnamed) state and this revolves around three levels of its life -- that of the faculty, the students, and sometimes their parents, and the picture is tarnished with sex, with exploitation of the athletes and the teams, and with the foul-up of teaching salaries versus good teachers. A complication of events involves new instructor Hendry who finds his field in coaching; the hood Griff whose growing dementia results in a murder and his own death; the big boys, Buck and Jim, whose football and basketball prowess is reflected in their success with girls; and the families who are either a help or a hindrance to the boys and girls so quickly maturing. An indictment of curricula that is too soft, of students that have no curiosity to learn, of lousy teachers because of insufficient funds, of the rule of the pack -- this, in spite of its backyard seminars and tribal sex habits of the young, holds out a promise for what could be possible in spite of this worst possible of worlds. Discussion and controversy may be the only merit here.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Rinehart

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1959

Categories: FICTION