John Raycroft, born in Cardinal, Ontario in 1923, grew up during the Depression and worked as a cooper (barrel maker), farmhand, electrician, powerhouse operator with Ontario Hydro and finally as a high school teacher and teacher-librarian for 26 years. He also served with the Canadian forces during WW II, notably in the campaign to liberate Holland. This memoir of Mr. Raycroft's 26 years of teaching is written in the form of a letter to his former students, but is of interest to anyone concerned about where education has been, and where it is going. If you have ever wondered about the process of marking and grading, or had doubts about the value of humiliation as an incentive to learn, or if you believe that the same rules of ethics and the same means of earning respect should apply to both student and teacher, then this book will interest you. In this short history of the evolution of education policies illustrated by amusing and often shocking anecdotes, Mr. Raycroft does not name names, regarding individual personalities, "those unidentified carriers of the time's flaws," as unimportant, but readers will recognize many characters from their own experiences all the same, and perhaps even themselves.