TALES OUT OF SCHOOL

by Joshua M. Craig ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Jim King is appointed as the principal (more like a warden) of P.S. 4, a grade school of 1200 children in 19 classrooms of an old building in a poor neighborhood- ""a melting pot all wrapped up in a slum"". This is the two year account of his crusading administration there; while it is not a juvenile jungle, still there are many disciplinary problems, from fighting to stealing from the dime store, to the moral laxity of some of the girls not to mention the homes they come from. Some of the teachers need surveillance- there's Socrates Makritis with his health notions, teaching the facts of life in the fifth grade and inaugurating a water program to flush out the system which has damp results in the corridors; Miss Jeffry whose personal ailments keep her from performing her classroom duties; etc., etc. Still Jim makes great strides; he gets his kids over to No. 2 for cooking and shop; he has them compete in the sports league and the school wins a first ball game; he enlists the cooperation of the neighborhood, and he bucks politics to get a new building out of the Board of Education- and a psychiatrist... All of this scores high as an achievement test, has the glow of good deeds- rewarded, and is unassuming, warmhearted, and honest. Craig (this is a pseudonym) was the principal of a school just like this.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961

Categories: FICTION