Research Paper
Identify and discuss professional issues in education evident in a film or a piece of young people’s literature in which a teacher plays a fairly cental role.
This essay will critically analyse the discourses, positions and relationships, as well as certain individuals habitus’ (after Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992, cited in Gale & Densmore, 2000), which influence the classroom of Mark Thackeray (Sidney Potier) in the film To Sir with Love (Clavell, 1966). Via this analysis, I argue that the film portrays a simplistic, commercial palatable rather than a realistic image of the challenges of teaching, leading the viewer to a distorted perception of the implications of the various discourses employed.
In order to clarify this point, I compare several incidents depicted in the film, with the same incidents as they are described in the autobiographical book by E.R. Braithwaite(Braithwaite, 1959), upon which the film is based. In doing so, I will evaluate the pedagogy of the films teacher (Thackeray) against the standards set for graduates and teachers respectively by the Queensland Board of Teacher Registration (hereafter BTR) and Education Queensland (hereafter EQ). Identifying the faulty conclusions which an uncritical viewing of the film may lead to, with regard to the availability of equal opportunity and social justice, I will make specific recommendations for reconstructed teaching practice, drawing on literature on social justice and democratic schooling.
The film To Sir, with Love (hereafter ‘the film’), centres around three interlinked individualist assumptions: that social and economic advancement is sure if one tries hard enough (meritocracy), that race and class are no barrier to social and economic advancement (‘equal playing-field’), and that innate talent rather than learnt skill, plays the most crucial role in a person’s success (giftedness). These will be referred to in turn below.
In contrast to this individualist stance, E.R.Braithwaite describes early in his book To Sir, With Love (hereafter ‘the book’) how his race had mitigated against his acquiring an engineering position for several years, despite excellent qualifications. He reacts to these difficulties by presenting his students with many examples of the interdependency of humanity: the brotherhood of Man.
In the film, Mark Thackeray too, continues to apply for engineering positions while teaching at North Quay Secondary.. Only at the end of the film is he finally offered the lowly post of ‘Third Assistant Engineer’ by a firm outside of London, despite his ‘astounding qualifications’, but paradoxically it seems this event is meant to emphasise the recurrent theme of the cinematic retelling of this story: that ‘Anything’ is possible with enough persistence and effort.
After describing his multi-talented and skilled uncle, Joe, Rose strives to provide generalised argumentation about how blue-collars apply knowledge, skills, and efficiency to their workspace. Mathematical and Verbal skills, Rose suggests, is applied regularly by blue-collars. In addition, Rose describes the academic education of his family over generations; remarking that only he finished high school and went to university. Later, he became a faculty member in a school of education after completing his graduate degree in education and cognitive psychology. Rose claims, “we also often ignore the experience of everyday work in administrative deliberations and policymaking”
Guggenheim focuses his documentary on the teachers that make-up a large portion of the system. One of his strongest arguments is that the teachers are the problem, and the inability to rid schools of the incompetent teachers is the primary reason American schools are coming in so low in the international rankings. He also shares many facts and statistics that are staggering by their lonesome, but he presents them in such a way to exaggerate them by use of animation, music, and narration.
“Harrison Bergeron” features a society that emphasizes some fundamental problems of total equality. While it is human nature to want to be accepted and up to par with others, there has to be a distribution of achievement for the sake of achievement itself. We wouldn’t be human without our differences in aptitude. We just have to celebrate that diversity in order to
In John Gatto’s essay “Against Schools” he states from experience as a school teacher that are current educational system is at fault (148). He claims that classrooms are often filled with boredom manufactured by repetitive class work and unenthusiastic teachings. Students are not actively engaged and challenged by their work and more often than not they have either already covered the concepts taught in class or they just do not understand what is being taught to them. The children contained in classrooms have come to believe that their teachers are not all that knowledgeable about the subjects that they are teaching and this advances their apathy towards education. The teachers also feel disadvantaged while fulfilling their roles as teachers because the students often bring rude and careless attitudes to class. Teachers often wish to change the curriculums that are set for students in order to create a more effective lesson plan, but they are restricted by strict regulations and consequences that bind them to their compulsory teachings (148-149). An active illustration of John Gatto’s perspective on our educational system can be found in Mike Rose’s essay “I Just Wanna Be Average” (157). Throughout this piece of literature the author Mike Rose describes the kind of education he received while undergoing teachings in the vocational track. During Mike’s vocational experiences he was taught by teachers that were inexperienced and poorly trained in the subjects they taught. As a result, their lesson plan and the assignments they prepared for class were not designed to proficiently teach students anything practical. For example, the curriculum of Mike Rose’s English class for the entire semester consisted of the repeated reading of ...
Marples, R. (2010). What should go on the curriculum? In Bailey, R. (Ed.), The philosophy of education: An introduction (pp 33-47). London: Bloomsbury
An engineer is someone who understands the world as it is, but works to make it better. They solve problems on both micro and macro scales and all sizes in between. While they endeavor to solve problems in such a way that the future isn’t compromised, this may not always be the case, thus providing employment for engineers in the future in order to solve the created problems. In this way, engineers display their obvious superior intelligence by ensuring employment for the future. At the end of the day, engineers are the on...
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (Nelson Mandela). The concept of race is widely debated among social classes and among the individual levels of insight. In the past doctors and many other men of science attempted to divide us by “race” in the sense that our exterior features as human beings separated us from the only race, the human race. The documentary “Race the power of an illusion” took us through the history of racial division which gave the minorities the short end of the stick. The ideology that is supported by substantial evidence that race is no more than a facade, and travels no deeper than a few exterior differences. This somewhat recent discovery has not made an impact on society. Around the world, society refuses to accept the idea that there is no such thing as one race and it affects everybody that has been raised to think we are all genetically different based on demographics and exterior features. The effects of these unscholarly and ignorant beliefs are thoroughly examined in the documentary, Langston Hughes poetry, and Alan McPherson short stories.
A teacher’s life is a collection of varied experiences and is full of invention, imposition and determination. Teaching is always a teacher’s own. Ayers sees the pieces of his own teaching everywhere. He then recounts the story of playing a Spy game with a child who, when he spied something brown, proudly pointed out herself. She had been educated to admire and proud of her difference. In the second chapter, Seeing the Student, argues that teaching requires seeing a child as a whole and a unique individual as the teacher interacts. It also presents the story of his youngest child, Chesa, who had a dogged determination while his family was worried of his stubbornness which might raise a problem. He then relates a story of working with ten-year-old kids, asking them to describe themselves to reveal their characters to their class and the teacher. Most teachers see and label their students which deprives them from the class. Ayers argues that teaching means going beyond labels. In the third chapter, he argues that one of the main aspect of teaching is creating or constructing a laboratory that promotes learning. This entails careful and thoughtful planning to enhance student learning, accommodate and celebrate one’s diverse
Geraldine, B. (Director). (1993). Education As We See It [Documentary]. National Film Board of Canada.
My career path has been chosen for me through heredity, as my length of time on Earth has been pre-determined by the Great Creator. How I choose to use this time will be referred to as my success statement of life. How I am remembered will depend on what I accomplish. In short, life is given, but not guaranteed. We all have the choices before us, which determine if life is easy or difficult. Many times, I had the option of all or nothing, and for some reason chose all every time. In this paper, I will explore my present career as a manufacturing engineer, a career interest as a plant manager, and the value of a college education to organizations, customers, and myself.
Landis, Raymond B. Studying Engineering: A Road Map to a Rewarding Career. Los Angeles, CA: Discovery, 2013. Print.
Blomfield, A., Roughton, L., Scott, A. (1997) Becoming a Secondary School Teacher. London: Hodder Arnold
Dr Dennis Francis Commonwealth Education Trust Week 1 and 2 “Teacher training or education is something that can be managed by others; Teacher development is something that can be done only by and for oneself” Wallace, 1991.
Obstacles had never been obstructing my effort to succeed in life. As an engineer to be, it is important to me to be prepared for the hurdles in the real world. The world nowadays needs a person who could compete and has great abilities to stand on the same level as others. Multiple skills and critical opinion of an issue are essential for an engineer to jump into this challenging career. For me, a strategic planning and full preparation need to achieve the aim of being an expert engineer.
In the second week of this course we discussed professionalism and our commitment to students. A lot of the sources read during that week addressed why we decided to become teachers, how we would keep our fire for the field of education burning and how our passion and enthusiasm would impact