In movies, tv shows, and even books, teachers can be portrayed as miracle workers who can somehow change every single one of their students' lives in the time they're in their classroom. We see this usually with a white person being the teacher and the students being people of color. The movie "Freedom Writers" is an example of this. In the movie, we see Erin Gruwell, an eager first-year teacher, who is assigned to teach a class of teenagers from culturally marginalized backgrounds. Gruwell's first few attempts to connect with her new students do not go as well as she hopes. As the year continues, however, they establish a very strong connection to where Gruwell will do almost anything to see her students learning and succeeding. She goes as far as picking up two extra jobs in order to pay to get her student's new books and to take them on field trips. With how much time she was dedicating to ensure her students were succeeding, she left very little time to spend with her husband. This left her husband feeling not worthy of her time and ultimately ended in them getting a divorce. I think "Freedom Writers" is a good movie with an overall amazing message being sent, however, I think it paints teachers in a very unrealistic light. Many teachers would not be able to sacrifice as much as Gruwell did and they should not be expected to. Many people see movies like this one and assume that is what teachers should be like and that's just not the case at all.
Hi Kady! I also read "Freedom Writers" and appreciated your analysis of the film very much! I like how you brought up Ms. G's personal struggles within her marriage. The PBS YouTube video discussed how teachers must have a life on the weekend and outside of the classroom and cannot be forced to spend every waking moment worrying about their students. Although a noble and effective thing, this is exactly what Ms. G did and it ultimately led to the failure of her marriage and of her personal life as a whole. By picking up extra jobs she was spending all of her free time on bettering her students' lives while forgetting about her own. I like that the film included this because it did something that many moves don't, shared how much teachers do for such little pay. Obviously we are doing it for the outcome and not the income just like Ms. G, but this really can't last overtime and isn't a stable way of living. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Kady!
ReplyDeleteI hear so many people rave about how great the movie Freedom Writers is and I have even heard some people describe it as being one of the reasons why they decided to take on teaching. While I would also agree that it is a great movie with an inspiring story, it definitely does create an unrealistic image of what a teacher is or should be. I think it is amazing that Gruwell took the time to build relationships with her students and took the time to learn about their life experiences, but realistically, most of us won’t have the time or means to do the things that she went out of her way to do for her students because we will have a life of our own outside of teaching. I think that stories like Gruwell’s are inspiring, but they make people judge teachers that do not take away from their personal lives in order to serve their schools. -Kristian Pogue