Talk Back

[Melissa]

I read this after reading Dr. Shaw's review and you can find that review if you would like a plot summary.

I agree that the book wasn't written in a great way - it seemed to me like since they (she?) were English teachers they wanted to do some clever things that they had read in other books - but because they mashed all of those clever descriptions/sentences together it seemed strange and overdone.

As for the content, this isn't my school. And reading it first made me upset because even though I work at a really good school, there are still people who complain about things constantly and have a really bad attitude. While I agree the school in the book was bad, I was frustrated that for several years a lot of teachers (in the book) just accepted it and complained about it instead of doing something about it. Maybe there's not a lot they could have done except for find another job, but that would have been something. Complaining without a plan really bothers me, especially since in my office at school it happens a lot.

The teacher across the hall in the book with no spine bothered me the most. Yes there are bad parts about your job and yes they are completely unreasonable - but either accept them and focus on the parts of your job you like, or get out. Don't stay and complain all the time. If you don't like it at your job - leave.

Does this make people like me part of the problem? I don't know, but I do know that it makes me like my job a lot more than I would if I complained about it all the time without trying to fix it.

So I guess maybe the school in the book is my school. It was not the principal and the school board and the administration downtown who outraged me, but rather the teachers who I found most disagreeable.

[shaw]