Up the Down Staircase By Bel Kaufman The main character of this book is Sylvia Barret she is a recent college graduate, and works as a high school English teacher. Sylvia would like to work in a nice private school, like so many of her friends. Instead Sylvia takes a job with the board of education, in a nieve attempt to reach out to the under privileged inner-city children in public schools. Sylvia battles with so many choices in this book. In the end she makes the right ones. Another character that is important to this book is James J. Mchabe. He signs his name with Adm. Asst. (administrative assistant). Sylvia calls him “Admiral Ass” because he i