TO SIRS, WITH LOVE

 Over at Armchair Commentary, Ellen Kim is deliberating on the five greatest movie teachers, in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week (which has just ended, in case you were wondering when your thank-you gift would arrive). Kim’s list is pretty traditional:

• Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray in “To Sir, With Love.”
• Mr. Chips (Robert Donat in the 1939 version, not Peter O’Toole wooing and warbling with Petula Clark in 1969).
• Jaime Escalante, rendered by Edward James Olmos with bad glasses in “Stand and Deliver.”
• Robin Williams as John Keating in “Dead Poets Society.”
• “Lean on Me” with Morgan Freeman wielding a baseball bat as New Jersey principal Joe Clark.

And for a touch of teacher merriment, Kim tosses in Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Kindergarten Cop” as an honorable mention.

Notice anything about this list? Beyond the fact that two of the characters are not even teachers?

It’s always interesting to observe teachers and school cultures portrayed as entertainment, a kind of pop-culture anthropology. Just as I have no reason not to believe that CSI: Miami is a fairly accurate representation of forensic science in criminal investigations, there are probably millions of people who think that movies and TV shows about teaching school tell it like it is.

If that were the case, we’d be looking at a whole lot of women—even more specifically, white women—teaching on screen. Only one in five dynamic, inspiring educators (or monotone-marvel Ben Stein types) would be male, if reality intersected with cinema. I’m not about to get on a high horse about this—but there aren’t many traditional female teacher-heroes in the movie pantheon. There’s the Michelle Pfeiffer/Hilary Swank save-the-tough-kids model, inherited, perhaps, from Sandy Dennis in Up the Down Staircase (worth noting: all are stories of real teachers, from their memoirs). Or Maggie Smith, who seems to exude “quirky old maid schoolteacher” in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, presaging Professor McGonigal.

In the 70 comments following Ellen Kim’s blog, recollection, praise and criticism of movie teachers run about 10 to 1 toward men—are male characters really more memorable or exciting? Is it because school dramas and comedies tend to be set in high schools, where student characters can wisecrack or display articulate angst—and women are pigeonholed as teachers of the very young?

I liked Tina Fey in Mean Girls, probably because I could identify with any teacher’s attempts to keep adolescent girls from vicious, clique-y behavior. But I adore the small teacher moments in My Bodyguard, when Miss Jump (Kathryn Grody) gently pushes her twitchy young teens toward something like respect and understanding for each other. There’s a wonderful scene, featuring a young, gum-snapping Joan Cusack, where Miss Jump uncovers the magic of Romeo and Juliet, painting an absorbing verbal picture about two kids who have the hots for each other, then soothing her pupils with beautiful language.

My own favorite movie teacher? Defecting from the gender argument, I would choose Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus, mostly because the film felt so real to me, more life than fiction. Plus you have to love any movie where a teacher plans to cut and run for a real career, ends up staying in the classroom and impacting lives, then gets the boot as irrelevant after thirty years of masterful work. That’s entertainment.

Image:spiritualityandpractice.com/films/images

 

Comments

[Mary Tedrow]

Funny you should broach this topic after Teacher Appreciation Week. I've been wondering all week what a truly revealing teacher-centered novel might/would/could look like that wouldn't bore most readers to death. The truth is that, in spite of lofty goals to teach kids to think, to care passionately enough about something - anything - in order to expend a lot of mental and physical energy to produce their thoughts in writing, the day-to-day activities, battles and conversations with kids, other professionals, and parents are pretty mundane. Hmmm....

[John Holland]

As a Mr. Holland who actually did almost the same thing, (teach until I could make it as an artist)I appreciate your favorite. Of course I would be hard pressed to call it my favorite. It came out when I was a substitute, often taking middle school and high school assignments. (Need I say more?)My favorite portrayal of teaching, and the one I recommend to all aspiring white women educators, is Among School Children by Tracy Kidder. It is an ethnography of the first year of one young teacher of 8th grade in an city school in the North East. It is poignant and real. It captures what it feels like to be in the deep end for the first time with out floaties. In terms of entertainment, it is obvious to me why there aren't more realistic portrayals of teachers. It would make for TV that was too boring, too scary, and too unbelievable for prime time.
Tracy Kidder's book: http://www.amazon.com/Among-Schoolchildren-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0380710897

[John Holland]

A revision... the teacher in Kidder's book is a 5th grade teacher.

[John Holland]

And it isn't the first year either, I guess its been 12 years since I read it. Still a great read though. I started reading it on Amazon and got cut-off. Now I have to go find a copy at the library. I gave my last two copies to student teachers.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Hi Mary.

Believe me, I have given some thought to writing the Great American Education Novel, since I don't think it's been written--not that I see myself as that author, or even willing to use my students' or colleagues' compelling stories as fodder. (More on John's non-fiction pick in a separate message.)

When I think about great novels set in schools, I think of "A Separate Peace" or one of Jodi Picoult's books--"The Pact" or "Nineteen Minutes," perhaps. Picoult's good at rendering teenagers and teachers without making them into cardboard characters. But--those novels are set around events, really, or the impact of schools and teachers on students and events. "Miss Jean Brodie" is about learning, but the setting is unfamiliar to American kids.

So we get the "teacher as hero in high-needs school" plot line in adult fiction, with most of the good, juicy books about schools written for young adults or kids.

I read "Pilot's Wife" because someone told me that the protagonist was a band teacher. The book had no relevance to teaching music (which is one of those fictional places where people tend to get all misty about the Power of Music)--but I liked it well enough.

Maybe we should join forces and co-author a novel.

[Nancy Flanagan]

Hey, John.
I loved "Among Schoolchildren" and am glad that you checked your memory on Amazon. (I remembered her as a third grade teacher, BTW.) I read it a long time ago, but still remember copious detail, including the teacher (Chris) checking papers on her dining room table every night, and going back diligently day after day to deal with problems--what was amazing and moving to me was the very ordinary tone of the book. Nothing was over-dramatized, no huge problems were permanently solved; things got better, they got worse, but Chris kept teaching. It takes a keen observer to pick out shades of improved learning or subtle clues that trouble is brewing, and Kidder did that with skill and compassion.

I also remember discussing the book with other teachers, who were highly critical of Chris, thinking that she didn't have control over her class, or didn't know how to teach art. I was surprised--I thought she was an example of how to survive tedious, undervalued work and make it important.

[Ariel Sacks]

Fascinating that all the teacher movie heroes are male. I have to say the female ones, like Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds and Hillary Swank in Freedom Writers kind of irk me. I can't say exactly why, but I think I don't like seeing myself stereotyped. The male ones, on the other hand don't irk me as much because I don;t see myself in them...except I have to add Jack Black in School of Rock to the list. And he does remind me slightly of my bumbling self as a brand new permanent sub, before I had any training, trying to be the "cool" teacher, making every mistake in the book and getting myself in all kinds of trouble!

[David Cohen]

As an English teacher, I am naturally more drawn into discussion of Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society. I liked the movie well enough, but couldn't say I want to emulate that teacher. My main objection is the cult of personality that develops there - my best teaching is evident not when I entertain (which is easy), but when I've set everything up well enough to get out of the way and see the students take off.

Other models seem to demand more than I'm willing to offer. It's not okay with me if good teaching means sacrificing my health, (Stand and Deliver), marriage (Freedom Writers), or relationship with my sons (Mr. Holland's Opus).

[Nancy Flanagan]

Well, Jack Black is kind of the epitome of 21st century teaching, you know? He's flexible about curriculum, he's hands-on, he uses technology and enhances creativity. Too bad he wasn't certified. Seriously--he wasn't the worst teacher I've ever seen, not even the worst music teacher.

David, you make a good point about teaching: becoming a fine teacher should not have to involve heroism. All good teachers work longer and harder than they ever imagined they would, back in ed school-- but movies tend to exaggerate the sacrifices and drama, making the public think that effective teaching means you have no life outside of school (or no family). Or are constantly battling the Powers That Be.

I did think that Mr. Holland's time-sucking dedication to concerts, parades and the musical at the expense of family time was very realistic; I experienced some of that myself, painfully.

[David Cohen]

Nancy,

Those kind of sacrifices have much to do with my choice to limit my teaching to English rather than engage other interests and work/teaching experience I could draw upon in journalism and theater. But that's not to say it's in my nature to put in my hours and go home... professional development groups, community events, Site Council, etc., and there's still a cost. Not like concerts or theater, but enough that I have to be careful to say no sometimes to preserve family time.

[Tom Panarese]

For my money the most realistic teacher I've seen is Mr. Lowery in "Chalk," a movie so good it's almost painful.

My favorite teacher from a movie, though, is Ray Walston's Mr. Hand in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Delicious satire, that.

[Nancy Flanagan]

I *love* when Mr. Hand shows up at Jeff Spiccoli's house. Reminds me: one time, back in the early 90s, before e-mail and phones in the classrooms, I attended a conference across the state. I called school in the morning to make sure my sub plans were picked up out of my mailbox, and one of my students happened to be sitting in the office, having been sent there by the sub. She handed the phone over to me and while I was chatting severely with Mr. Party-Hearty, the principal walked by. The secretary noted that he was chatting with me, a bit of long-distance serendipitous surveillance. The kid was freaked out, and kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." It was only coincidence, but it felt like connecting to the right person at the right time. Kind of like Mr. Hand.

[Bob Warner]

Aw snap, Mr. Hand! I think I subconsciously nicked a trick from Spicoli- I say "our time together" a lot. If you're in it, it's "our time".

How about Prez in "The Wire"? The Sisyphean task at hand and the ambiguous results are about right. I loved the juxtaposition of bad powerpoint presentations to both the police and teachers.
Yeah, David and Nancy, they're hero movies, and they're usually bad for that reason. When you're at work, the big payoffs are just gestures, the little moments are the monumental ones.
Oh, Mary, if it was mundane I wouldn't do it.