This piece was about a young girl telling a story about how the school she used to go to was so nice, clean, and spacious. Now that her little brother goes to school there, the place is crowded, smelly, and sticky. This piece is very descriptive, for instance throughout the story she describes about what you first see when you get there, what you smell, and how you would feel, "hot and sticky." Especially in the end when she talks about how she wishes she wanted things better for her little brother. One thing I think would've made this piece better is if the narrator were to interview her little brother and let him describe what it was like, and also tell us how she knows what it is really like now even though she doesn't have that class anymore. She had a really great description, she made me feel like was a student at that elementary, like I was dying to get into the great wide open and breath some fresh air. One thing that would have made this story better is if she talked about how this is a problem in a lot of schools in the whole country.
Although our parents will try to convince us that middle school wasn't really THAT bad, most teens remember it as an intellectually dead holding tank between elementary school and high schoool. "Forty in a classroom" starts out by describing a scene familiar to many - students walking into their middle school for the first time - and then delivers the surprise: the classroom is overcrowded, stinky, and unclean. At this point in the story, anyone under 18 will nod slowly, recognizing the sounds of their own golden years being wasted away in a portable, while adults will be surprised, even disturbed, that students are still expected to be happy and productive in these conditions. The piece goes on to elaborate the suffocating environment: police cars parked outside and unfriendly peers are both commonplace. The story is simple, with no music or effects, but it does an excellent job of narrating the bleak social landscape that is middle school. This piece would fit well in any series about education; the issues it brings up need attention.
Comments for Southwest Side Stories: Forty in a Classroom
Produced by April Winbun for Curie Youth Radio
Other pieces by Curie Youth Radio
Rating Summary
2 comments
Janie Shorty
Posted on April 12, 2006 at 01:58 PM | Permalink
Review of Southwest Side Stories: Forty in a Classroom
This piece was about a young girl telling a story about how the school she used to go to was so nice, clean, and spacious. Now that her little brother goes to school there, the place is crowded, smelly, and sticky. This piece is very descriptive, for instance throughout the story she describes about what you first see when you get there, what you smell, and how you would feel, "hot and sticky." Especially in the end when she talks about how she wishes she wanted things better for her little brother. One thing I think would've made this piece better is if the narrator were to interview her little brother and let him describe what it was like, and also tell us how she knows what it is really like now even though she doesn't have that class anymore. She had a really great description, she made me feel like was a student at that elementary, like I was dying to get into the great wide open and breath some fresh air. One thing that would have made this story better is if she talked about how this is a problem in a lot of schools in the whole country.
Emily Raymond
Posted on March 07, 2006 at 01:59 PM | Permalink
Review of Southwest Side Stories: Forty in a Classroom
Although our parents will try to convince us that middle school wasn't really THAT bad, most teens remember it as an intellectually dead holding tank between elementary school and high schoool. "Forty in a classroom" starts out by describing a scene familiar to many - students walking into their middle school for the first time - and then delivers the surprise: the classroom is overcrowded, stinky, and unclean. At this point in the story, anyone under 18 will nod slowly, recognizing the sounds of their own golden years being wasted away in a portable, while adults will be surprised, even disturbed, that students are still expected to be happy and productive in these conditions. The piece goes on to elaborate the suffocating environment: police cars parked outside and unfriendly peers are both commonplace. The story is simple, with no music or effects, but it does an excellent job of narrating the bleak social landscape that is middle school. This piece would fit well in any series about education; the issues it brings up need attention.