Among School Children: A Book Discussion

The book Among School Children by Tracy Kidder tells a story of Mrs. Zajac, a fifth grade teacher of The Kelly School in Holyoke, Massachusetts. While Mrs. Zajac’s primary job description would be to teach, she goes above and beyond her duties and helped her students attempt to overcome their struggles in order to be successful in the classroom. It can be easily said that Mrs. Zajac is a compassionate teacher that puts her students’ welfare above her own.

                When looking at the Holyoke community, one can see the struggles that Mrs. Zajac may have as a teacher in that community. Holyoke was a decaying industrial town with a large influx of immigrants, specifically of Puerto Rican descent. There was also a growing number of other minorities such as African Americans.  The town had an area known as “The Flats.” In this part of town, there were rundown buildings in horrible shape, gang graffiti all around, and the author described this part of town as “depressing.” There is also an area in town known as “The Ward.” This is area seemed a little nicer than the flats, though it did show obvious signs of the decaying industrial town that Holyoke is. There were a large number of Puerto Rican immigrants here, amongst poor white families. Because of these poor areas, the school in the district was also affected.

                The Kelly School physically is in nice shape on the inside. Al, the principal of the school, takes a lot of pride in keeping the school looking nice and letting the students of the school have a good learning environment. However, the makeups of students at the school show some of the struggles. Many of the students are English Language Learners and minority students. Many of the students seem to give up or are careless in the beginning of the year. However, as time goes on, a different picture is painted.

                Many of the ELL and minority students struggle in The Kelly School. When asked to point out which country they live in, many of Mrs. Zajac’s students could not answer correctly. They have a hard time listening and translating the English of the teacher and this creates a distraction for the students who then become seemingly uninterested. This creates a tumbling effect that then makes them not want to do their homework, want to try to cheat, etc. They also face negative stereotypes everyday from other students, teachers, community members, etc. who have preconceived notions about these students. This also leads to their struggles and offers them little hope. However, Mrs. Zajac does a great job at trying to help all of her students succeed in the classroom.