SUMMARY- To Sir, With Love

Braithwaite takes a job at Greenslade Secondary School, located in a very poor neighborhood in England, where students are sent after being expelled for behavioral problems from other schools. Braithwaite has a hard time as he begins teaching at Greenslade. As the early chapters describe, Braithwaite struggles early on to establish a connection with his students, who fall far below the level of education expected for their age (15 years old), exhibit very little interest in learning, and show Braithwaite very little respect. The difficulties are only compounded by the fact that Braithwaite views his class as a group of privileged, ungrateful, whites. In short, both students and teacher are guilty of viewing the other according to preformed stereotypes.

These barriers gradually start to come down when Braithwaite introduces some changes into his classroom policies and in the way he runs his classes. Braithwaite decides to treat his students as 'adults' as compared to 'kids' which was the norm. This allowed him to be 'unfair' and realistic according to students and the prevalent practices of those days.   By instructing the students to address him as “Sir,” and each other by their last names, Braithwaite cultivates an atmosphere of respect in the classroom. His idea is that by treating the students more like adults, they will act more like adults. He consolidates his position by making Pamela Dare an 'adult' and 'ladylike' when she barged into the classroom. Braithwaite also makes efforts to get students more engaged in what they are learning, giving students more opportunities to speak up in class, and even devoting a certain amount of classroom time to discussion of whatever topic students choose. He also takes them on field trips to museums, something many of them had never experienced before. Not only do these changes in the classroom foster greater enthusiasm for learning in the students, but they also help both students and teacher to view each other differently.