Tag Archives: education

Freedom Writers

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I found that it was very hard for me to provide an answer to the prompt without comparing and contrasting the two movies – I had to rewrite most of this post. I suppose I will have things to bring up in discussion on Tuesday!

I think the reason that Ms. Gruwell was so successful in getting through to her students was her determination. I thought I had seen the movie before in high school, but I discovered I had really only been shown about half of the movie. For me, it was almost unbelievable to see how strongly she felt about making sure these students succeeded. She sacrificed her  free time, working extra jobs in order to provide extra activities for her students. Eventually even her marriage was sacrificed, though that was not a direct result from her job. It was inspiring to see someone who cared so much about her job.

The students in room 203 seemed to really respond to writing in a diary. I think that was a great idea on Ms. Gruwell’s part. People underestimate the therapeutic aspects of writing all of your thoughts down, getting them somewhere else besides your head. These kids seemed to have never really thought about that idea before.
Ms. Gruwell provides experiences for the students that they probably would never have had if it weren’t for her – access to museums, having a really nice dinner.

I think that she put the idea of change into their heads, which is what I will conclude with, what we were meant to take away from the film. She made them realize that they had the power to change their lives, to break away from what they were used to and really inspire them to lead productive lives. I think it was successful in putting hope into the audience. That no matter how bad things may be, you have the power to change that. The first in your family to graduate from high school, much less continue onto college. Barriers that had never been broken before were broken in this movie – challenging the school board, kids breaking out of gangs and even betraying “their own” because they knew it was the right thing to do.

“The Class” Response

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After watching the movie The Class, I was left with an unfulfilled, empty feeling in regards to the accomplishments, or lack there of, of Mr. Marin. To start, this may be attributed to the fact that foreign films often do not follow the predictable plot of most American films, but yet follow a more realistic route of disappointment and frustration; I am not claiming this for all foreign films for I know there are happy films as well, but for my purposes I am pressing this point.

So as for Mr. Marin’s story, why did he present it in such a way? Well I believe there are a couple reasons as to why he presented his story as he did. To start, it was a memoire so there was an experience that was already developed to present to the reader. Also I think it was presented to the audience as it was because he wanted to simulate an everyday classroom setting with the purpose of educating people on the trials of low quality classrooms. Mr. Marin was not out to embellish his teaching abilities but did express his desire to help the students and his frustration when he could not get through to them; this was exemplified throughout the film. By producing a film like this, the French education system may be scrutinized and questioned for its lack of effort to help lower income schools to keep their students motivated. Lastly I think the experience was presented to the audience as it was because it was a foreign film and often, I’ve found that, foreign films are seemingly more honest in their plots and messages. In the case of The Class, there was a lot of frustration and disappointment that was expressed throughout the film. It was not counteracted with a happy turn of events, it maintained its tone of disappointment and ended with a feeling of un-fulfillment. All of these elements were utilized by Mr. Marin to accurately depict his experience with The Class and to make a statement about the difficulty the education system can pose for a teacher at a lower income school.

“The Class” Response

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I feel like I may be the only one who really liked the movie. I’m one of those people that likes to look at the actual art aspect of the movie, and I thought it was really well-crafted.

As for what we’re focusing on for the topic of our class, I thought that the film was really enlightening. So far, it seems that I’m the only one who was really able to relate to the problems presented in The Class. I’ve seen many a student strike up an attitude with the teacher, I’ve seen people walk out of a classroom. I went to a high school that had a reputation for the fights among students. We were mentioned on the local news more than once for students being arrested due to fighting. It really was an everyday thing, not just for me, but for most of the kids that went to my high school.

When I saw these disturbing events take place in the film, I almost wanted to chuckle because of how incredibly raw it was. I wasn’t really shocked like it seemed my classmates were. I thought it was kind of amusing because I had seen students do the same exact things in high school – “Why do we have to learn this?” “I don’t care.” “If you don’t respect me, I’m not going to respect you.”

I think that my reaction to these events was almost something of amusement, rather than shock, which was what was probably intended. I thought that the experiences depicted in the movie were completely accurate, not over-exaggerated at all. I’ve seen these things happen in classrooms. I’ve never seen anyone become bloody, though, I admit.

Granted, my experience got much better once I progressed further through school and ended up taking Advanced Placement and Honors classes. Students who wanted to do well and be well-prepared for their next step in life. Students who realized that education was a big factor in what the rest of their life would be like.

This film reassured me that I could never become an educator. It must have its incredibly rewarding moments, but I couldn’t handle forcing someone to do something they blatantly refuse to do. You can’t make someone care about something. I think that is probably one of the biggest challenges high school educators face. A teacher wants to see their students learn and progress. They want to have an active step in a student’s future. I think a lot of people underestimate how big of a challenge that can be sometimes. It was definitely interesting to see it from a teacher’s perspective – to see how frustrating it can be, and how teachers communicate with one another about students’ progress.

The final point I wanted to make was the similarity between this school in France and, say, a school in a small town in South Carolina. It’s interesting to see that international similarity, and to know that this is a global struggle that educators all over the world are dealing with.

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I wanted to focus my post for the week on the images we studied in Tuesday’s class. Each picture represented a different school setting, however, what was brought to my mind was the idea that we learn in SO many different settings (not just a classroom). Of course we talked about this as well, and it goes off of what Devin talked about in her post. Today we have more resources in order to learn new information than ever before. I think that we also have more options for even formal learning now. We have schools to choose from, even in public education we can choose to relocate in order to send our children to what we decide are the best schools. We can choose to homeschool children instead of sending them to public school.

It’s all about choice. I think that with the changing of times, this has been prevalent in nearly everything that has revolutionized over the years, not just education. It seems as though people hardly had any kind of choice way back when, but what was the difference? Was government more restrictive? Or were people more reluctant to the idea of change?

Personally, although of course there are a lot of problems still evident in America’s school systems, I believe it’s come a long way. Then again, there’s not a lot of evidence to refute that. There are some instances in which school systems have not progressed at all. In fact, the project that my group is working on for Project 3 talks about the “Corridor of Shame” which documents schools in upstate South Carolina that have less than modern classroom conditions. Schools that have no heating or air conditioning, not enough desks for students, mousetraps in lunch rooms… Since there are so many different options for a classroom environment, it makes a person wonder exactly what makes an environment conducive to learning.

Why is School so Boring?

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I just read John Gatto’s assigned essay and found that I agree with a lot that he is saying. I was never really satisfied with what I was learning in school and I hated, as everyone does, all the subjects I had to study that I found useless. We learn too much in school that isn’t useful, but more importantly, we don’t learn enough that is. There was so much time wasted back in elementary, middle, and high school. The system that we have for going to school every day for around 7 to 8 hours and learning predefined subjects is broken.  The amount of time wasted in the middle of a school day is ridiculous and unnecessary. It’s bad enough that things are getting so easy to do and information so easy to find due to technology, which causes laziness, but I feel like most people in public education don’t care at all. I went back to visit some of my teachers over spring break and it was so weird to walk through the halls and see some of the students, I was thinking “who do they think they are and what are they going to do with their lives?”  Gatto is right in the way that he says children are being taught to be addicts and to be even more like children. Mindless consumers make up quite a large portion of the country nowadays. Money is constantly wasted on things that aren’t even worth what they’re sold for and aren’t necessary components to life, they’re just things that people want. If our country wants to get back to the top, a well thought out redesign of the educational system would be a fantastic first step. I have no idea why this has yet to take place, it’s not like we have the time to waste.

“college is a service industry”

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In class on Tuesday, we discussed the topic of “How We Learn” and the flaws in the education system today. I am not going to lie; education here is pretty messed up. There is both pressure and slack in the system. Believe me, I’m going to go through the terrible issues that I did not talk about in class. So be ready.

First, let me say this: I will NEVER work as a teacher at any level… EVER! Now that we have that clear, let’s continue.

One thing that has changed and is destroying the value of learning is the teachers. I do not know about everyone else, but when I was in middle school and high school my teachers were descent and it was a respectful student/teacher relationship. Now, my little sister (who is in 7th grade) tells me that she is friends with her teachers. Last year, on the last day of school, she was allowed to curl her math teacher’s hair (please note she was in 6th grade at the time). Does anyone else see how messed up that is?

Another issue with the lovely education system of the United States is the new pressures they put on the students. My class was the 1st class to go through a program known as the individual graduation plan (IGPs). Every year, we would have to go into our guidance counselor’s office and sign up for classes. In addition to this, we had to pick a major that we were interested in. For me, IGPs were the most stressful decisions of my life! To this day, I am not dead set on being a biology major. So for me back then, there was a lot of pressure to pick a major and be in a particular track.

As you can probably tell, I am FED UP with the education system. But fear not, I have suggestions and hopefully solutions to this crisis. For the teachers of today, START CARING AGAIN! Please do not give up on teaching the fresh minds that walk into your classroom. And do not let those kids walk all over you. Also, for testing, throw a curveball to students and have tests that apply the information they have learned, instead of just memorizing facts that they will most likely forget the next day. I do think testing is good because it challenges students to truly understand the material they have learned, but tests that apply the material would be more beneficial. As for IGPs, if a student cannot decide on a major, please do not pressure them like their lives depend on it (especially when it is in 9th grade). I think tracks are great, but for students like me, something as simple as picking out a schedule can turn into deciding your life plans.

In case you have not noticed, I love movies. So for the rest of these blog posts, the titles will be quotes from movies! So get used to it. This week’s quote is from the movie, Accepted!