HW 49

Our class wasn't able to finish filming our video project. My contribution was that I came up with the idea for the story as well as the script. I also played one of the extras in the "film." But our storyline is basically shot from the point of view of a certain group of students. Faced with a teacher who chooses to play favorites, the group of three underachievers are constantly serving as victims to the teacher's condescending attitude. Finally fed up with the teacher's behavior, Alex the protagonist decides to start studying for the class. At the end, her and her friends ace the finals. The teacher ends up receiving all the credit for the students' improvement.

Citing from today's discussion about Culture of Power, the system (in this case, the school) serves to make sure that the right people win and the right people lose. We see that in the film, Mr. A favors the bright and enthusiastic students over the rebels and non obedient. These so called favorites are exactly the type of clones institutions like to praise, because even though the students don't know it yet, their skills will only be exploited. So what they see as individual success is only an illusion, because the only people who are really benefiting from this is the government. The rebel, Alex, refuses to be categorized as one of them, claiming that she doesn't care for Mr. A's approval. She studies however, to demonstrate that she has the ability to "win." She just chooses not to. If winning meant becoming one of society's "robot sheeps," then she rather not become one of the high profiled students. She aces the test, but ends up tossing it in the trash anyway as a way of telling the school that she couldn't care less for society's expectations. Basically the message trying to be sent out here is that schools get us (the favorites) to work hard by creating the illusion that we will be awarded by doing so. However, the truth lies in the fact that we are not favored out of appreciation, rather than that they see potential exploitation in us (in this case, for the teacher, he's using the students to gain approval from the principal).

Most of the films we've watched in class involved the teachers as the protagonists and also as the savior. In Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating teaches his kids to defy authority and "seize the day." In Freedom Writers, Hilary Swank plays the teacher who saves her economically challenged kids from falling into the hoodlums by having them write journals and stories. Many of these stories are composed of similar story lines. These kids are stuck in these molds they've grown up in (the kids in DPS led structured lives and the kids in Freedom Writers are surrounded by violence and low expectations), a teacher shows up, and somehow changes their lives by helping them find out who they are and the greater purposes they have in life.

In our film however, the student is seen to have "saved" herself. Realistically, a teacher can't change a whole class. Alex's success on the test is no credit of his. She realized that she didn't need his help to achieve her own success. She worked hard on her own just so she can prove to Mr. A that she sees the phoniness behind what we call school (the teaching of obedience and cloning) and refuses to accept their teachings. Rather she learns the material herself while still fully committing to her rebel role by not listening to authority and not accepting their praises, to show that she is capable of learning, but just chooses not to do it their way.

In real life, I see very little salvation attempts in school. Many schools are teacher centered, where curriculum and textbooks are enforced with only one goal in mind. They make sure everyone learns the skills they "need" to learn so they can turn out the way the system wants them to turn out - the clones that will help heighten the economy and the big corporate guys. SOF's philosophy seems to be a lot different though. The school is more student centered. It pays more attention to the goals of the student rather than solely the goals of the school and teachers (Fanning). It encourages free and critical thinking (Habits of Mind). Classes are involved in discussions a lot, where we are able to offer ideas outside of the box and listen to others' as opposed to only hearing the ideas of the teacher's. The school has also replaced Regents with Exhibitions, a much more meaningful experience where we are able to research our own topics and relate them to our own interests. Through this process, we are able to enhance our writing skills, presentation skills, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of our topic. By not suppressing us, and instead encouraging us to speak up, SOF's philosophy can be considered as an attempt at salvation.