"The cardinal sin, strange as it may seem in an institution of learning, is talking. There are others, of course — sins, I mean, and I seem to have committed a good number. Yesterday I was playing my record of Gielgud reading Shakespeare. I had brought my own phonograph to school (no one could find the Requisition Forms for "Audio-Visual Aids" — that's the name for the school record player) and I had succeeded, I thought, in establishing a mood. I mean, I got them to be quiet, when — enter Admiral Ass, in full regalia, epaulettes quivering with indignation. He snapped his fingers for me to stop the phonograph, waited for the turntable to stop turning, and pronounced: "There will be a series of three bells rung three times indicating Emergency Shelter Drill. Playing records does not encourage the orderly evacuation of the class.""
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Novelists from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesCentenariansPeople from BerlinJews from Germany
Original Language: English
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Part II, ch. 9 (Sylvia Barrett)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bel_Kaufman
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Bel Kaufman
Bella Kaufman (May 10, 1911 – July 25, 2014) was an American novelist and teacher.
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