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.
“The prevalence of such narratives has become rooted in many teachers’ conceptions of their own value, even when they know Hollywood provides miraculous scripts of success that aren’t available in the teeming world of the real school classroom,” says Smagorinksy.
To learn more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog on MyAJC.com.
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