Reflection Of Education In The Movie: Dangerous Minds

Decent Essays
Sometimes art is a reflection of life, and sadly that is the case in the film “Dangerous Minds”. The movie is showcase for the plight of our “troubled” students when it comes to their educational lives and all of the issues that they face when trying to get an education. The film also suggest that some of the reasons why students even stop trying to earn one can often be laid at the feet of the very people who are supposed to be supporting them in their efforts to better themselves. After watching this movie, I am really excited to get inside the classroom so I can start making a difference in the lives of my own students.
The movie begins in black and white at a bus stop where high school aged students have gathered. The neighborhood itself
…show more content…
So, while the students themselves might be bright, they have little to no education skills and lots of social problems and no desire to change any of those things. All of the academy students also come from a poor neighborhood and are mostly of either African American or Hispanic ethnic background. None of these kids seem to believe that they have worth, and appear to have lost all hope that their lives could ever be any different than they are now and most certainly not any different for the better. As a result, they treat school like it is just a place to kill time until they can go home and do not take it seriously. Honestly these kids really seem to have it rough, and it appears as if no one in the school cares about them or their academic success, until they get a new teacher, …show more content…
Luanne is able to get through to the students because she is persistent. No matter how bad it gets, she proves to them that not only does she keep her promises, but that she cares about them and wants to see them succeed. She is constant with her message that they are capable and that they have a choice to make about their lives, which starts with them either choosing to be, or not to be

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The key informant for this interview was Diane Pecora, a paraprofessional at Cesar Batalla School in Bridgeport. Cesar Batalla is an elementary school, grades K-8, and is south of the Hallow. Many of the Hollow resident’s children attend Cesar Batalla School. • Tell me about your role as a paraprofessional at Cesar Batalla School?…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During one point in every student’s life, they experience a pressure that makes them feel stressed out, or makes them unaware of what to do. In William Zinsser’s essay “College Pressures” he talks about the college pressures that college students face on a daily basis. Those pressures include economic, parental, self-induced, and financial (210). Zinsser explains that these pressures are normal, but learning how to “break the circle” of these pressures is all up to the student. Children are placed in school at a very early age.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fremont High School by Jonathan Kozol In Jonathan Kozol’s report titled “Fremont High School” he discusses many things he observed when visiting the school in Los Angeles, California. He starts off by giving basic information about the school such as “...enrolls almost 5,000 students on a three-track schedule, with about 83,300 in attendance at any given time.” but as he continues he discusses the many problems the school faces. In his text he discusses a variety of things that are wrong about the school such as the number of students that drop out rate, how crowded the classrooms are, how difficult simple things such as lunch and using the restroom are at the school and etc.…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Countless students and teachers go to school every day and work very hard to meet what is asked of each of them. Teachers work more than 40 hours a week, especially when there are events going on throughout the school year. Students go to class to earn an “A,” not to learn what the teacher is teaching the class due to the fact that students were taught to contently earn a letter grade in that class. However, teachers are not at fault either because the school board and administrators give the teachers a timeline of all the curriculum the students must learn to a certain point in time of each marking period. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, he describes how numerous students and teachers go to school and they are just dullness is so…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Madres Unidas Summary

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Cultural critiques consist of the energetic deconstruction of powerful ideas, institutions and practices” (Dyrness, 208). This statement begins to formulate an essence of continuous process of social justice reform. Informing us that as long as there are cultural creations through the many (different) facets of people, a recycling of emerging dialect of ideas will be formulated to maintain and recreate institutions and practice. The perspective of marginalized groups rely drastically on theses socially constructed critiques.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Harmer (1991,56) that the wise teacher no longer invites students to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads them to the threshold of their own mind. In this line, Harmer (1991) and Shulman and Hammerness (2002) clarified that teachers' responsibility is no longer providing students with knowledge, or controlling them in the classroom, but to facilitate learning, to employ inspiring pedagogy that instigates higher-order thinking, to be aware of students' prior knowledge, to organize it in a way engage students in activities, and to observe them and provide corrective feedback. In other words, a teachers' job is not just to stand at the front of the class and lecture. EFL teachers' performance is high on any policy agenda;…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The body language of all the students was tense as they hunched over their works looking for flaws that might cost them precious points on their AP exam. When I commented on the stressed atmosphere of the class, one student stated, “I love this class and the people and the atmosphere, but I hate the pace.” Art is a way for many students to express emotion such as anger, sadness, or to achieve a sense of peace and relaxation. These looming deadlines that determine their success in the course detract from the enjoyment that art provides for many of the students. When people think of art, myself included, the thought is that art should be a free and uncontainable concept that flows from the creator of the works not confined by any restricting deadlines.…

    • 2068 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie that has been chosen for this essay is ‘Higher Learning’ written, directed, and produced by John Singleton. Higher Learning is the perfect example of characters having deviant behavior, but it also gives parallel with the characters knowing the behavior of themselves and willing to make change within themselves for the better. ‘Higher Learning’ is a movie that is centered around Columbus University college campus and explores the lives of several characters in the movie. The movie touches on racial issues, violence, sexuality, crime, and many other things. The main characters in the movie are three incoming freshman Malik Williams, Kristen Connor, and Remy.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Budget Cuts

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To benefit the students should be the number one priority of educators and throughout this budget cut crisis it has shown that it is not. The budget cuts aren’t the only crisis we have in the country. The crisis is our educators, who need to be informed on these benefits of art programs in schools, and students and parents need to take a stand against the distasteful education cutting occurring in schools and petition to have money allocated equally across programs to create an equality for all programs. With students and parents willfully fighting against educators, and educators becoming informed, they should opt to disperse funds equally among programs to keep the creativity and individuality alive in…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Baltimore vs. My life Have you ever wondered what being in a different school in a different state would be like? I have. Have you ever said to yourself “my school is awful”, and look around and see that your school is not that bad at all? I have, and The Baraka Boys made me appreciate the school I went to that much more. The way the students and teachers acted in the Baltimore schools is unlike anything I have ever seen.…

    • 1223 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many assumptions as to the different factors keeping students from succeeding in school. The author, Paul Tough, takes it upon himself to write about what has and has not worked educationally for students in How Children Succeed. The examples, stories, and research give light to the many variables that can negatively affect a child’s educational path. The author’s focus seems to be the importance of the students environment at home and school because it is the most influential factor. Some students are born into very stressful home environments and may have a harder time succeeding in school due to their home life.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Arrive to school extremely tired at 7am, somehow make it through through 4 classes by staring out of the window due to lack of interest, become excited for the first time of the day during lunch where everyone is now allowed to be vocal, all emotions dissipate when it’s time to go back to class, go home, repeat. Unfortunately, this is the daily routine that many students experience in the United States’ education system. Student’s growth and needs are not taken into consideration but rather it’s the scores the students get on a futile standardized test .There is only way true solution to this crisis found in today’s school system; the Leonardo DiCaprio Academy. The LDA is charter school located in downtown Seattle, Washington, that takes an…

    • 2385 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We are in the dark ages of learning. There is an insufficient focus on creativity in school. Integrating more arts into the education system would aid students in feeling more involved in their education, It should be made mandatory that students choose at least two. There must be a balance of all subjects so that they are less likely to become disinterested. We are all being taught to think identical instead of thinking differently, or at least we are all taught the same.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The students are prejudiced towards each other and the teacher based on classist or racist mentalities. Because many of them have do not have the means to support their dreams or future, many of them lack the ability and motivation to succeed in school, which further prevents them from being a productive member of society. Racial and cultural conflicts among students divides them in the classroom and prevents teamwork, which also prevents effective learning. Combined, these issues make education as a whole ineffective and undesirable. As a result, many of the students drop out, or never go to college.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Importance Of Art Education

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 9 Works Cited

    Art education is not something that should not exceed the budget of other schools that cannot afford it and instead be shared equally among all types of public schools. Art education is seems to benefit a young child dramatically, “The arts also contribute to the education of young children by helping them realize the breadth of human experience, see the different ways humans express sentiments and convey meaning, and develop subtle and complex forms of thinking” (Sousa) Although the arts are often thought of as separate subjects, like chemistry or algebra, they really are a collection of skills and thought processes that transcend all areas of human engagement. Art has its own form of educational value and students develop better interaction skills with their peers and the public. Being able to develop a bond with peers with their same interest’s help students open up and become less shy thus helping them build a more sophisticated way of thinking.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 9 Works Cited
    Great Essays

Related Topics