Movies about education.

People still haven't taken seriously the impact that movies have when it comes to social issues. They are a powerful medium, 2-3 hours can leave a mark on the stereotypes and prejudices, like nothing else can. I remember being inspired through many, and things might change if the some percentage of idealism from them, permeates the psyche of certain parents/teachers/people who still are unwilling to change. In no particular order:

1. Freedom Writers : A new, excited schoolteacher who leaves the safety of her hometown to teach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, a formerly high achieving school which has recently had an integration program put in place. Her enthusiasm is quickly challenged when she realizes that her class are all "at-risk" students, also known as "unteachables", and not the eager students she was expecting. The students segregate themselves into racial groups in the classroom, fights break out, and eventually most of the students stop turning up to class. But she fights it all with her unorthodox teaching methods, gaining their respect, and transforming their lives forever.

2. Good Will Hunting : One of my all time favorites. A Must-Watch. Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life. Movie is full of dialogues and scenes that stay in your head. One of them : "See, the sad thing about a guy like you is in fifty years you're gunna start doing some thinkin' on your own, and you're gunna' come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that, and, two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin' education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library."

3. Taare Zameen Par: A movie that made people rethink about learning disorders. It infected the country like a virus, and suddenly people were tolerant, sensitive and understanding. The world of Ishaan Avasthi is colourful, vibrant, extraordinarily creative but slightly different from yours, because of his dyslexia. Parents and teachers don't get it and almost try to kill it with their constant bickering. Then, walks in Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a teacher who refills Ishaan's imagination with his optimism, and life is bright again!

4. Idiots : A movie about which a lot has been said. A movie that challenges the current education system but with a touch of wit and humour. It tackles serious issues like suicide, wrong gauges to mark someone's intelligence, creativity lost at the cost of parental pressure etc. Loosely (and not without credit controversy) based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller Five Point Someone. Almost everyone in India has seen this one, and been impressed; what more could I say? And yes, it's the favorite movie of most of my students in Ladakh :)

 5. Dead Poets Society : 'Carpe diem' or 'Seize the day' is a philosophy unknown to the students of Welton Academy. A new English teacher, Ronan Keating however, changes all that. He inspires, stirs, stimulate their souls through poetry and weird teaching tactics. The Dead Poets Society, a club the students form has opening lines by Henry David Thoreau,
“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”

6. Entre Les Murs (The Class) : The literal translation would be "Between the walls". A sane French teacher's struggle to stay put in his senses while dealing with a racially mixed, tough set of students.
Very close to my heart for one other reason, I was literally shown the door from an international school after they came to know that I accidently used an 'F' word (the sentence was "Shut the F**k up!", before you let your imagination loose) with a student in an argument about India. I have forever wondered about how could the news travel with the speed of light, and how important could one careless word be when you're a teacher. Well, a good watch for those struggling with difficult students or difficult school rules.

7. Die Welle (The Wave) : An excellent movie I picked while in my psychology-obsession phase. Based on a true story.

An autocracy class becomes a ground for a social experiment, when Rainer Wegner, the teacher becomes fascinated by the thought that students considered autocracy a thing of past. Using his unorthodox methods, he creates group dynamics similar to a totalitarian regime. With the individual sense eroding and mob mentality ruling, the experiment goes terribly out of hand.

Quoting wikipedia entry about "The third wave" (which was the real experiment by history teacher Ron Jones at California) -  'Even democratic societies are not immune to the appeal of fascism'

8. Miracle Worker (1962,2000) / Black (2005) : Based on the 49 year long and extra-ordinary teacher-student relationship between Ann Sullivan and deaf-blind-mute Helen Keller. Have already said a lot about this in a previous entry http://interpretingeducation.blogspot.in/search/label/Helen%20Keller

Black is an Indian adaption with the superb acting by Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, and also the version I saw first. 

One of the very few movies I secretly watch over and over again, hoping that one day I become half as good as Ann.