Outside of a circle of friends and colleagues in the UK, OS suspects very few people had ever heard of Ms. Birbalsingh before last October.
Boy-oh-boy, did that circumstance ever change overnight. This mid-30's black inner-city London school teacher, with her Oxford degree, her wild wild hairdo, and a devastating command of the English language addressed the Conservative Party Conference for eight minutes one fine day, and set an existential bomb off in the education establishment of the UK. Not surprisingly, when she returned to work, she was promptly canned for having the temerity to speak the obvious truth. The Left hates people who wander off the plantation, and in the tradition of all who hate freedom and truth, take pains to make a public example of anyone who dares attempt an escape.
(By the way, the school that fired her for criticizing the failures of the education system, was itself shut down, for...well...failure to perform....but never mind...we'll just not talk about that bit....)
If you haven't seen The Speech yet, here it is. Eight memorable minutes, and a career changed forever. (Booooom!)
The week following was a bloody awful mess. Archbishop Cranmer, Heaven bless him, jumped to her defense, as did a number of others, but to no avail. She was fired, pure and simple, and her former bosses, compassionate types they are, attempted to blacken her name and make her radioactive and unemployable on the way out the door.
Sweet, huh? (Don't-chew evah wander off the fahm! Look-whut we did to that Birbalsingh person, and remembuh!)
After the shock of it all, she landed on her feet. Penguin Books UK picked up on her story, and she was offered the opportunity to tell her story, via the work she had already invested in her blog. The result was To Miss, With Love.
It was published in the UK, but OS had no problem ordering his copy via Amazon in the US.
He began reading, couldn't put it down, had to put it down 'cuz it made him weep and cuss, had to pick it back up 'cuz he couldn't put it down, had to put it down 'cuz...
Miss Birbalsingh knows how to write! And, in telling her story, she fictionalizes herself and her colleagues and students into composite characters. She's Miss Snuffy, her husband is Liberal, her friends are Banker and Compassionate, colleagues Mr. Hadenough, Headmaster Mr. Goodheart, and students with names like Furious, Beautiful, Dreamer, Excluded, Cavalier. Ya'll get the drift.
The book follows an academic year at her school (Ordinary School), a year with a lot more losses than wins, including breaking up violent bloody brawls, trying to keep kids off the path to prison, and working with a handful that really are (or could be) Oxbridge material. It's madness she's describing, a Kafka-esque world where all common sense and logic has been tossed aside, but the stakes could not be higher for the children she teaches.
If you have kids, or even if you don't, this book must be read. For US readers, there will be some unfamiliar elements, such as the different exam and university admissions system, but nothing insurmountable in that. It's the stories of the lives of the kids and the faculty that will nail you to your seat, until you have to take a break and recover a bit.
Miss Birbalsingh has been teaching for about twelve years now, in these conditions, which she admits are better than those endured by many of her colleagues. The Almighty did her a favor last October, although it didn't feel like it at the time. No one can keep up that life and not completely burn out, physically and mentally. It is good to see that she is out of there, and working to set up her own Free School (our equivalent of a charter school, more or less), with a board of like-minded parents. It was time to leave, and all in all, perhaps better to leave the way she did, although it certainly must have been devastating at the time. To be forcibly separated from the students she loved, without even the chance to say 'farewell' is wrenching. OS has seen it happen before, and it leaves a real scar on a teacher's soul.
So, ya'll. Buy the book, and read. The parallels between the two school systems are chilling. It's all happening here as well. Tell your friends. If you live in the US, thank Heaven every day that most states are friendly to private schools and home schools.
And make sure your state representative knows how you feel.
Here's hoping this book sells by the trainload, and that Miss Birbalsingh will make time to keep writing.
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