Throughout popular culture, there are many representations of school systems and inner city life. Laurent Cantet's film, Entre les murs (The Class), presents a view of the school system in France. Entre les murs is based on the memoirs of François Bégaudeau, a teacher in the French suburbs. Bégaudeau also plays the teacher of the film, M Marin. Entre les murs has many similarities to the representations of inner city life presented in The Corner and therefore shows how similar inner cities are around the world. Both representations also show attempts by governments to improve the situations within inner cities. Laurent Cantet tried to make Entre les murs as true to the real situation in the “banlieues” (suburbs) of Paris through his construction on the film. The students chosen for the film were selected through an acting program started at the Françoise-Dolto Middle School by Cantet (Rice 28). The use of real students allows for realistic interactions between the students and the teacher. Another way Cantet replicated the schooling situation in the suburbs is through the scripting. Cantet did not choose to script many of the student's lines; therefore, their responses to the classroom discussions are somewhat candid and improvised (Rice 28). The schooling system in France is set up similarly to the school system in the United States. In both systems, there are primary schools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. One difference between schooling in France and in the United States is the fact that all levels of schooling in France, including college, are free provided the student attends a public school or a private school that receives monetary aid from the state. As a result of the schools bein... ... middle of paper ... ...derfunded, or understaffed, or poorly managed. … there is this equal and opposing truth: The schools cannot save us” (Simon and Burns 277). The schools do not save the children of The Corner from the violence of the corner; neither do they save the underprivileged, immigrant children of the suburbs in Entre les murs. The similarities between these two representations of schooling despite being in two different countries and cultures show the universality of the problems in inner cities and the schools located there. Works Cited Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation. New York: Crown Publishers, 2005. Print. Rice, Anne-Christine. La France contemporaine à travers ses films. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, 2011. Print. Simon, David, and Edward Burns. The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. Print.
Both essays draw from the influence of education into the societal path into American mainstream society. Each school system is influenced by thoughts of bettering youth, but in much opposite ends of the spectrum. The French commission stated that the youth of America were offered the same curriculum in the hopes to form a united, equal society. America, as seen by the French, was a land of golden opportunities available to every child regardless of social standing. It was the basis for our country to survive. It safeguarded our standing in the world. Mike Rose’s school offered quite the opposite. It was a haven for long standing views on school being selective as to whom actually deserved the educa...
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
In order to understand Mike Rose, and his book Lives on the Boundary, you must first understand where Mike is coming from and examine his past. Mike was born to a first generation immigrant family, originally from Italy. He spent his early childhood in the mid-west and then in his latter childhood, parents not knowing any better, in East Los Angeles. Mike’s father suffered from arteriosclerosis. Neither Mike’s mother nor his father had completed high school and no one in his family had ever attended college. This is the setting, background, and characters of Mike’s tale of “struggles and achievements of America’s educationally underprepared” . Through this book Mike constantly is emphasizing three main themes. First, the importance of an educational mentor; later in this treatise we will examine several of Mike’s mentors. Second, social injustices in the American education system; specifically the lack of funding and bureaucracy’s affect on the public educational system. Third and lastly, specific teaching methods that Mike has used to reach out to kids on the boundary.
To begin, Mary Sherry discusses the corrupt school system that lingers. In her article, we obtain insight on how schools
“The Shame of The Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America,” is a book that tells the story of author, Jonathan Kozol’s, journey through the public school system. He looks deeper into inner-city, low-income schools and the re-segregation that has taken place. Kozol focuses on the struggles those children of poor and minorities face while trying to achieve equal education as those of the middle and upper class. This book gives a vivid description of what is happening in schools across the country and our failure as a nation to provide ALL students with the education that they deserve through the observations, interviews, and experiences of author Jonathan Kozol. Through this book he tries to shed light on what is really going on in schools across the nation and what most people are not aware of. “Many Americans I meet who live far from our major cities and who have no first-hand knowledge of realities in urban public schools seem to have a rather vague and general impression that the great extremes of racial isolation they recall as matters of grave national significance some 35 to 40 years ago have gradually, but steadily, diminished in more recent years (Kozol 18).”
He argues children cannot have the expectation placed on them to rise to their full potential when the building they learn in has structural problems and leaks. Barber describes some inner-city schools as “...leaky, broken down habitats…” (Barber, 2016, p.216). People need to change the buildings and make them better. Children recognize the disregard that they face and will lose the will to care if they see that no one else cares about their education. If the leaders in the community do not care for the education of the adolescents then they cannot expect anything different from the adolescents themselves. The essay suggests that all schools should reach the same levels as the rich high school in the suburbs. “If we were serious, we would upgrade physical facilities so that every school met the minimum standards of our better suburban institutions.” (Barber, 2016, p.216) Although Barber’s argument remains illogical, the ide that all schools should meet the standards of the wealthiest schools, the fact remains that something must change. Barber does not provide a solution to create the necessary change, but he leaves that up to the reader, causing them to have to take action and think about what must be done. Again the phrase “If we were serious” comes as a call, yet people must become serious or nothing will change for the
For my culture paper I decided to write about a film, the film is called “Aqui Entre Nos” (Between Us). Throughout the paper I will discuss how the concepts of family and communication are portrayed in the film.
Inner-city life is filled with glimmers of hope. The children had hopes of leaving the dreadful streets of the ghetto and moving into an innovative and improved place. There are times when Lafayette states, ...
Then, in the play, Wilson looks at the unpleasant expense and widespread meanings of the violent urban environment in which numerous African Americans existed th...
Webber, Karl. “A Nation Still At Risk.” Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save Save America’s Failing Public Schools. Ed. Carl Weber. New York: PublicAffairs. 2010. 3-10. Print.
Imagine seeing 10,000 of your classmates walking out of your school because they wanted a better education - a better way of life. In the 1960s’ Chicano students were being “pushed out”(Esparza) of school or being pushed towards vocational programs. East L.A was home to schools were “one out of every four Chicano’s completed high school”(Esparza). Instructors and the school board alike did not have an interest in helping Chicanos finish school to become someone other than a laborer and was expected of them to keep being a laborer. In “Taking Back the Schools”, Sal Castro a high school counselor claims, “I think the bottom line is the lack of concern of the teachers towards the kids and whether the kids were really getting an education or not...the reality set in that the teachers weren’t really concern for the kids.”(Esparza).
On January 28th 2008, the Toronto District School Board voted to approve the creation of a highly controversial black focused public school. This black focused school is a supposed solution to the high dropout rate among black youth in Toronto, which runs as high as 40 percent. The school, which is one of three recommended across the city, will focus on black culture and history, as opposed to the mainstream education system which is seen to be Eurocentric. Although the goal of the school is to be open to students of all ethnic background, the title sends a divergent message. The use of the words “black” or “Afro-centric” within the title of the schools creates a distinct and obvious separation within society. It creates an ideology that black or African-descended students are incapable of succeeding in mainstream education, therefore specialized schools, such as black focused schools, will help solve the issue. Although it sounds like the “right thing to do”, creating a black focused school will not completely bolster black student’s attitude and achievements in school. Furthermore, the topic of black focused schools in Toronto is a moral panic, which corresponds to a form of voluntary racial segregation and deteriorates Toronto’s image as a “cultural mosaic”. This essay will explore the background of what a moral panic is and why this strategy is used in society. In addition, this essay will examine the correlation between black focused schools and two sociological theories, the social-conflict theory and the structural functionalist theory. Lastly, this essay will convey the many important reasons why black focused schools will turn Toronto into a partitioned city.
The essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal”, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the reality of inner-city public school systems, and the isolation and segregation of inequality that students are subjected to; as a result, to receive an education. Throughout the essay, Kozol proves evidence of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face in the current school systems.
Hewitt, Leah D. “Salubrious Scandals/Effective Provocations: Identity Politics Surrounding Lacombe Lucien,” South Central Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, Cinema Engage: Activist Filmmaking in French and Francophone Contexts, John Hopkins University Press, (Autumn 2000), pp. 71-85
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement.