In fiction, it’s easier to be the hero teacher

A University of Georgia education professor says the teaching profession isn’t helped by fictionalized accounts of the classroom where a dedicated teacher triumphs over adversity, indifferent students and a bulky bureaucracy — sometimes by just putting on a leather jacket.

UGA professor Peter Smagorinsky says these inspiring depictions underplay the real challenges in the classroom. And the latest example, he says, is the PBS super-series “Downton Abbey,” where a longtime character wins over his students by simply sharing his own humble origins.

In the PBS blockbuster, servant-turned-teacher Mr. Molesley is able with a single narrative to “convert students from brutish swine to dedicated scholars,” says the professor.