Here's an interesting list! School is starting as the summer movie season ends, so this is a nice transition.
My favorite out of the lot? Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante in "Stand and Deliver" (1988). Great movie, great story, great performance by the future Admiral Adama. Plus, my entire high school calculus AP class watched this together on video after we had taken our AP exams. Nerdy, I know, but it was really fun. Also, note Lou Diamond Phillips playing a troubled Hispanic teenager who turns his life around -- and has the best line about lockers I've ever heard.
Besides, the entire film is a love letter to the idea of overcoming obstacles and social disadvantage with hard work, (real) education, and determination, not whining about victimhood and identity politics. Mmmmm, yeah. And I just LOVE how the entire class retook the exams to prove to doubters that they indeed could succeed. The proof is in the pudding. ROCK ON!
Still, my vote for the most iconically amusing teacher on film goes to Ben Stein as the dull-as-dirt economics teacher in the 1986 classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Bueller . . . Bueller . . .
2 comments:
Unfortunately there are more Andrew Crocker-Smith types teaching then there are or were Jaime Escalante's.
You may be interested in our online survey (starts Monday 8 September)to find the top ten best movies featuring schools and teachers. Come to www.teachers.tv, vote for your favourites and leave comments if you want to.
Paul Ashton, Teachers TV
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