{
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  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/the-ceiling-fell",
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  "id": "a79bcf09-84e5-4f2e-8cdc-2aaac26b4716",
  "slug": "the-ceiling-fell",
  "text": "The ceiling fell? The ink ran dry? A student dared to smile?\n\nOf every new disaster\n\nI prove myself the master\n\nBy sending out more circulars, more circulars to file!\n\nA missing kid? A kissing kid? A paper on the floor?\n\nFor every major crisis\n\nOne remedy suffices:\n\nMore circulars, more circulars, to put into a drawer!A crowded cafeteria?\n\nA substitute's hysteria?\n\nA visitor from Syria?\n\nA missing Book Receipt?I merely send out circulars\n\nTo add to other circulars\n\nTo add to other circulars\n\nNumerical and neat!",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Bel Kaufman",
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  "book": {
    "title": "Up the Down Staircase",
    "slug": "up-the-down-staircase",
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  "character": null,
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  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "humor",
      "slug": "humor",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
    },
    {
      "name": "bureaucracy",
      "slug": "bureaucracy",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/bureaucracy"
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  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:57",
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      "id": "ddb9a33f-981e-4a35-aba3-def80e3e8165",
      "slug": "a-teacher-is-frequently",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/a-teacher-is-frequently",
      "text": "A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil's environment who treats him with respect.",
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    {
      "id": "dc462775-01ea-4175-9e04-30056316b504",
      "slug": "my-words-never",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/my-words-never",
      "text": "My words never reached him; I could almost hear them drop, one by one, like so many pebbles against a closed window.",
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      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bel_Kaufman#Up_the_Down_Staircase_(1965)",
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    {
      "id": "456bdb79-f010-4f87-8dba-306058ac4dbb",
      "slug": "with-me-they",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bel-kaufman/up-the-down-staircase/with-me-they",
      "text": "With me they get a solid foundation, the disciplines of learning. In my class they don't get away with hot air discussions and exchanging their opinions and describing their experiences. What opinions can they have? What have they experienced? What do they know? That's an affront! They learn what I know.",
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