Freedom Writers is a drama film released in 2007, based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell and her students at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. The film highlights the educational issues faced by Gruwell and her students, who come from diverse and troubled backgrounds and are struggling to overcome the challenges and biases they face in their school and community.
One of the main educational issues depicted in the film is the lack of cultural understanding and sensitivity among teachers and students. Gruwell's students come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and many of them have experienced poverty, gang violence, and other traumatic events. They often feel misunderstood and marginalized by their teachers and peers, who do not seem to understand or appreciate their cultural experiences and perspectives. Gruwell, on the other hand, makes an effort to learn about and respect her students' backgrounds and experiences, and she encourages them to share their stories and learn from each other. This helps to create a sense of belonging and community in the classroom, which is crucial for academic success.
Another educational issue addressed in the film is the impact of poverty and disadvantaged backgrounds on student achievement. Many of Gruwell's students come from low-income families and have faced significant challenges in their lives, including lack of access to quality education and resources. These challenges can make it difficult for students to focus on their studies and succeed academically, and they often fall behind their more privileged peers. Gruwell works to overcome these barriers by providing her students with additional support and resources, such as access to books and other materials, and by advocating for their needs within the school and community.
A third educational issue depicted in the film is the lack of diversity and representation in the curriculum and teaching staff. Many of Gruwell's students feel disconnected from the traditional curriculum, which does not reflect their cultural experiences or interests. Gruwell addresses this issue by incorporating more diverse and relevant materials into her lesson plans and by encouraging her students to take an active role in shaping their own learning. She also works to increase diversity among the teaching staff by advocating for the hiring of more teachers of color and other underrepresented groups.
Overall, Freedom Writers highlights a number of important educational issues that continue to be relevant today. It shows the importance of cultural understanding and sensitivity, the impact of poverty and disadvantaged backgrounds on student achievement, and the need for diversity and representation in the curriculum and teaching staff. By addressing these issues, educators can create more inclusive and supportive learning environments for all students, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances.
Social Issues In The Movie Freedom Writers
At first, the students were very standoffish with Mrs. Even worse, the main concern of the head of department, Ms. The results of a study of 30,000 minority students by Harvard University economist and researcher Ronald F. Clearly, expectations are a double edged sword. G was genuinely interested in her students, but after years of discrimination and ill treatment, her interest came across as sympathy, or worse pity. The flaws in the educational system following the recession of our economy has indubitably been caused by the cutbacks on school Free Education School Teacher Movie Freedom Writers Essay Example Freedom Writers Erin Gruwell Hilary Swank is a first-time teacher who wants to make a difference. Her lesson influenced and inspired the younger kids and older adults because it taught them a life learning lesson that could stick with them for years to come.
Out of those eleven thousand children, only twenty-six of them are white. Obviously the problem is only getting worse and will continue to get worse unless something is done about it. To date, The Freedom Writers Diary has become popular in classrooms, sold more than one million copies, and has been translated in over a dozen languages. The Beatles — Lennon and McCartney started playing in 1957 but became known in the U. Teaching is most effective when students are not just passively digesting arbitrary information, but are engaged in the actual construction of diverse, relevant, and real world knowledge. He learns about the Holocaust, Anne Frank and the Jews.
The Freedom Writers Character Analysis in The Freedom Writers Diary
Even though everyone can agree that any gang related activities and crimes are against the law, people still joins it regardless with various reasons: Desire for protection, to appear cool, and have a sense of family. Mothers are losing their children because of gang violence. The media only shows gangs involved with drugs and the violence, and as a result the media has scared many people into believing that gangs will take over our cities if we do not stop them. The amount of violence in these students' lives is incomprehensible to Gruwell. I gained experience contacting his officer and communicating with him prior and during the… Segregation Vs School Segregation Desmond and Emirbayer 2010: 339 These two facts provide further proof of the workings of institutional racism within the US public school system.
A Movie Analysis of Freedom Writers by Richard LaGravenese: [Essay Example], 989 words GradesFixer
Find Out How UKEssays. Once she shifted the focus from her teaching to the students learning, she was able to recognize that the racial stereotypes, low teacher and student expectation, poor discipline, socioeconomic and historical restraints, and limited bureaucratic policy are real restraints that compromise the educational process. The film upholds strong stereotypes of …show more content… Erin Gruwell is horrified when she realized what going on and makes a lesson about its similarity to the propaganda of the Nazis. The movie also mentioned that there is no way to break the cycle of gangs. The film is set in 1994 soon after the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles which were prompted by the televised police brutality of Rodney King. The students regarded her as an outsider and that she had to gain their respect before they would give them hers and allow her to teach them. The revolt spilled over into Long Beach, located in Los Angeles County.
They come from neighborhoods that are traditionally controlled by crime lords, drug kingpins; neighborhoods where drugs, broken families, gang-life and violence are a way of life. The most prominent theory that is seen most consistently throughout the movie is Labeling theory. This film has observed many social issues and connected to one of the sociological perspective, conflict theory. Gangs are better armed then the police. Even going to a public small college is costly enough for a student. She went into a school in which she would be one of the only minorities and made a huge impact. Despite all odds, and with great personal sacrifice, she showed the students what it really meant to have an education in an oppressive world.
Sociological Issues In Freedom Writers, By Erin Gruwell
The movie Colors and the TV show American Justice overwhelmingly portrays gangs as bad. Racism is deeply rooted to the point that it became a part of a white dominant culture and way of life. The hate the system that warehouses them in integrated school and forgets that they exist. All we have to do is sigh, pray and breathe; There we will find peace. You understand the struggles they bring into the classroom every day; you feel in tune with your identity and mission as a teacher; and you work with purpose and intentionality to empower your students. It is often very difficult for others to understand what the minorities in our world have had to face over the years. There are thousands of stories behind success that involves practicing and perseverance.
Gangs are a group of members who bond together to break rules, make easy money, attack others who they feel disrespect them or snitch. Because of this reward incentive, the students actually did their work and they learned that, by participating in the class and accomplishing their assignments, they would be rewarded. The result of this was 90 percent in Lang 's group stayed in school and graduated …show more content… It is disturbing to think how minorities like myself were not and still are not provided the proper resources to achieve the right education. Problems like racism and discrimination are faced by many in our world today. Students today are much more difficult to manage, but as the film shows, management difficulties are rooted in social, economic, political, and historical factors that the students internalize and consciously manifest in ways that compromise them. They have poisoned our streets with drugs, violence, and hateful crimes. Hodgkinson asserts that long term investment from government and non-governmental agencies would be the best way to alleviate the problem of student performance in underperforming schools.
Historical social and political issues in freedom writers... Free Essays
The movie had an extreme impact on me. I think that free education is good for some people and other people could care less. The movie provides an in-depth exploration of the complex dynamics of expectations. The Freedom Writers was made after the famous trial of Rodney King in 1992. While these were very difficult tasks, I excelled at and enjoyed my position greatly. Researchers such as Jonathan Kozol 2008 and Berliner 2006 record startling correlations between the achievement gap and which are directly linked to economic prosperity. Police are trying to prevent and deter gang activity and it seems to be working now a days involving the help from CRASH.
Reading Educational Philosophies in Freedom Writers on JSTOR
She was not concerned with challenging students to reach for high academic accomplishments. In many urban school settings, the racial impact of socio-economic status is reflected in the academic performance of minority students in those schools as well as in the sense of hopelessness that often accompanies it. In this passionate, poignant, and deeply personal memoir and call to arms, Erin Gruwell, the dynamic teacher who nurtured an extraordinary group of high school students from Long Beach, California, who called themselves the Freedom Writers, picks up where The Freedom Writers Diary—and the hit movie Freedom Writers—left off and brings the reader up to date on where the Freedom Writers are today. The more I thought about it, the more I cried. . To show the daily struggles some of the young …show more content… Afterwards, she presents the students with journals of their own so they can express their own personal experiences with the discriminations, Effects Of Racism Over Time Even though racism has changed from white people owning African Americans, they are still being judged as the lower class. Those teachers involve punishing certain students based on their minority status especially students such as African American, and Latino.
Ultimately, we have to understand out roles as facilitators of learning, and more broadly, life. Analysis Of Jonathan Kozol's The Shame Of The Nation There are eleven thousand children in public schools in Detroit. This theory allows for humans to unleash capacities by challenging the current power structure. These cultures, coupled with negative stereotypes, make one race to look down on the other, resulting to a community that uphold matters regarding race in the negative sense. The elements that create gangs are social, political, psychological, economic, and spiritual and without confronting this issiues cannot be fixed. Social class divides the young individuals which influence education. All their lives, they had been conditioned to think they were less than someone else and to think they had to turn to violence.
