 |
Unrated
This 1967 film stars Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray, an engineer who is unable to find work and chooses to accept a post at a rough East End London high school. The students, many impoverished and battered, are written off as impossible brutes by the other teachers. Unwilling to give up, Thackeray, with transcendent dignity, teaches the students to respect him - and in the end, respect themselves.
|
This film was inspired by To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
E.R. Braithwaite was a Guyanese pilot, engineer, and teacher whose autobiographical novel about the struggles of teaching high school in the East End of London was turned into this film starring Sidney Poitier. Braithwaite was a pilot with the Royal Air Force during World War II and pursued a doctorate in physics afterwards. Despite his extensive training, he could not find a job and instead found himself teaching. His novel, released in 1959, was a bestseller and allowed Braithwaite to pursue social work on behalf of non-white children in London.
|
If you like books about the eternal struggles between teacher and students, check out any of these great reads:
- Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
This novel is a humorous look at students and teachers found in the New York public school system in the early 1960s. The novel is written as a compilation of different materials - office memos, notes left in the classroom suggestion box, and letters written between characters.
- Spine by F.E. Mazur
This contemporary novel tells the fictionalized story of two teachers, Grayson Lord and George Nesbitt, who must battle administrative bureaucracy, community contempt, parental mistrust, and disrespectful students all in the name of education.
- Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton
The touching tale of Arthur Chipping, known as Mr. Chips, who molds generations of young minds at the Brookfield School. For a teacher whose students are always more than just a list of names, the most heartbreaking chapter is when he must read the list of young men who lost their lives in the Great War.
- The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
This ubiquitous series draws inspiration from both classic tales of boarding schools as well as modern discussions on the tenets of education. Join Harry and his friends as they struggle with classes, coming of age, and, of course, Lord Voldemort.
Be sure to check out these other classic films about inspirational teachers and the ways in which they can change a classroom forever:
- Blackboard Jungle (1955)
This film, which established the genre of idealistic teacher facing disruptive teens, has a great cast, including Glenn Ford as the teacher and Sidney Poitier as one of the disruptive students, and a great soundtrack, featuring Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” as the opening track.
- Stand and Deliver (1988)
Set in Los Angeles, this film dramatizes the story of Jaime Escalante, here played by Edward James Olmos, who challenges his students in basic math to take the Advanced Placement Calculus exam.
- Dangerous Minds (1995)
In this film, the teacher is retired U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, played here by Michelle Pfeiffer, and the students are young teenagers entrenched in the gang life of early 1990s urban Palo Alto.
- The School of Rock (2003)
A clever twist on the classic formula, this film pits Jack Black as a less-than-ideal substitute teacher with a class of clever overachievers, whom he molds into a rock band.
|
 |
