Author’s Thoughts for the Movie Dangerous Minds

My Thoughts on the movie Dangerous Minds which was (very very loosely) adapted from my book My Posse Dont Do Homework. This was written in June 2007 in response to an email from a grad student give thanks you for contacting me for input instead of just using what you find on the Internet or other resources. let me be clear I phone Dangerous Minds has its good points it inspired a lot of kids to arrest in school, it inspired many community to pursue their dreams of becoming teachers, and it inspired the brilliant song, Gangstas Paradise. I just wish that people would realize its a movie and not real conduct when they write about me. I had very little input to the movie and much of it is fiction, at times so far removed from fact as to be ridiculous. My students never called me white bread for illustration I had only one rule in my classroom and that was respect yourself and the others in this room. I didnt offense my students and they didnt disrespect me. The producers couldnt believe it could be so simple that if you treat kids with genuine respect, they may not come you immediately, but they will learn to respect you.I used rap lyrics to initiate lessons about metrical composition (not a DylanDylan contest). Instead of a silly contest, we learned to write and analyze various forms of poetry, beginning with songs and finishing with Shakespeargonan sonnets. Yep, they actually liked them, withal. I never threw candy bars at my students to motivate them I encouraged them to eat healthy foods. I didnt fight with my administrators all the time it was my principal who gave me the support and encouragement I needed to become an effective teacher.So, I would simply ask that you view the movie as a movie and not as a reflection of my personality, teaching techniques, teaching philosophy, and definitely not as a reflection of my attitude toward students. I didnt teach for one semester and then try to set out I taught in the at- risk program for five yea rs, starting as a part-time teacher and ending as a full-time teacher and department chair -and then I went sustain to grad school.I agree with Bulmans contention that the movie industry seems to think that white middle-class people can walk into a ghetto and save the children. Thats a very very simplified version of his theory. that I would argue that whether the maverick teacher is middle-class, white or black, male or female the appoint is in that persons motivation. If you believe you are superior to somebody and you are going to save them, they will endure you, even if they are drowning, if they didnt ask for your help.But if you truly respect and accept other people as they are, and your motivation is to encourage them to develop their talents and skills to pursue whatever goals THEY earn set (or encourage them to set goals if they have none), then they will be interested in what you have to say. People focus far too much on race, gender and money when they should focus on heart, soul and intention. Its been my experience that when you have suicidal or apathetic students, instead of trying to teach them lessons, you will make much more win if you try to find out what they think of themselves.And when they have negative perceptions, you tell them what you see a youthful perspective that they cant see themselves. If this is an honest communication, it will change the way they think of themselves. Instead of thinking of themselves as hopeless, powerless, stupid, lazy, or whatever they have been taught or told to think they begin to see themselves as human beings, crystalise from the school system labels, human beings with talents and abilities that will be valued by the world, if they can just hold school. Thats enough.Im writing you a book Sorry for being so long-winded. Oh, wait, I take that back. One more thing. I dont think the Hollywood film makers are intentionally perpetuating stereotypes and simplistic plot lines. I think in some case s they genuinely believe their stories, in some cases they are trying to create a feel-good story to attract an audience, and in some cases they just dont have a clue because they never go to public schools and their worlds are so insulated that they believe whatever expert they have hired.I was told, for example, when I protested the racial stereotypes in Dangerous Minds (all black kids are raised by crackhead single moms, all Hispanic teens are gangsters because their parents dont care, black parents resent effective white teachers), I was told in a very haughty character that the gangologist on their staff assured them that their movie was an accurate depiction. I laughed myself silly before I cried.