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Friday, November 4, 2005
Teacher Flicks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So I know I’m not winning any points with a source when he suggests I check out the movie “Stand and Deliver.” What he’s getting at is that I don’t have high expectations for minority students, that I expect them to fail. It’s a criticism often lobbed at journalists who write about schools with low test scores.
“Stand and Deliver,” the 1988 film based on the real-life story of a teacher who taught minority kids calculus only to have them accused of cheating on the AP exam, isn’t just a favorite teacher flick, it’s one of my favorite movies period. I’ve seen it start to finish at least three times. The source’s mention of the movie got me thinking about other teacher movies. Here are the ones I’ve seen and what I thought about them.
Stand and Deliver, four and a half stars
Dead Poet’s Society, two stars
Lean on Me, three stars
Coach Carter, three stars
Dangerous Minds, one star
Rushmore, four stars
October Sky, four stars
School of Rock, four stars
Movies with education themes:
Spellbound, five stars
Mad Hot Ballroom, four stars
Okay, I know I’m missing a lot. There was a Julia Roberts movie fairly recently that I didn’t see. Tell me your favorites, and not just in the “inspirational teacher” genre, anything about teaching, school life, education etc.
P.S. It would be a bit of a stretch to call it an education-themed film, but the documentary “Word Play,” which I just saw recently, is a winner. Four stars.
