Functionalism In The Ron Clark Story

Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theory can be applied to the movie The Ron Clark Story. Functionalism is a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium. This movie is based on a true story about a teacher who moved from teaching in North Carolina to Harlem, New York to teach at one of its schools. He asked to teach the most disruptive class, which had been labeled as hopeless and impossible to control. Mr. Clark had a difficult time with the class for most of the movie, but through determination and understanding, he eventually turned the worst class in the school into a well-behaved class who scored outstandingly high on their …show more content…
The students’ roles included in coming to school, learning the material, and scoring well on the standardized test. The school’s role included educating the students. The manifest function of school, as Mr. Clark pointed out to his students as motivation for them to make good grades, was that school would prepare them for a career later in life. He also told his students that, while in the classroom, they were learning about manners, respect, following the rules, striving for success, and many other things that are not taught in books. These are examples of latent functions of school. As long as the students refused to follow the rules and do their schoolwork, the school could not fulfill its role of educating that class. However, when, with the help of Mr. Clark, the students started the play their roles correctly, the school was able to educate the students. Also, not only did that class pass their standardized tests for the first time, but they even scored higher than any other class in the …show more content…
Mr. Clark’s class was considered deviant because they rejected the norms of the school. They did not walk in a line to the lunch room, sit in their desks, or listen to or respect the teacher. The students in the class could be categorized as retreatists because they had given up on the goal of getting an education and the means of reaching that goal. They only came to school because their parents made them, but while at school, they refused to follow the rules and learn. This led to that class being labeled as “hopeless” and “losers.” The students knew what their label was and they let Mr. Clark know that they did not believe in themselves or that they could be anything other than losers. Mr. Clark used positive and negative sanctions. There were several scenes where he gave his class positive sanctions. For example, in one scene, he told his class that every fifteen seconds they went without talking, he would drink one carton of milk. Also, because of the classes’ grades and changes in attitude, Mr. Clark took his class to see Phantom of the Opera, and had an end of the year party for them where he gave each student an award. Examples of negative sanctions in the movie include Mr. Clark telling his class that their bad grades disappointed him, not letting his class go to lunch until the girl who cut in line told the truth, and shaking a student’s desk when she was disrespectful.  In