Those teachers with accents

by David Safier

True story.

In the 1930s a woman who emigrated to the U.S. from Russia when she was 12 wanted to teach school in New York. She was denied a job because her accent was too heavy.

She failed her oral exam a number of times, but finally passed and got a job.

The woman was Bel Kaufman who wrote "Up the Down Staircase."