Yesterday I happened to catch an old movie on TCM, Blackboard Jungle. It starred Glenn Ford, Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier. It is the story of Ford, a new English teacher in an inner city school that has been taken over by gangs, lead by Morrow. Poitier plays the hard-nosed yet smart student who at the first resists Ford’s attempts, but at the end comes to help and keep Ford teaching.
The movie itself was a good movie and had enough plot and good acting to keep your attention throughout. But that is not the reason I am posting. The most important feature of this movie was it was made in 1955 and is still relevant today. Many of the issues displayed are still very relevant today.
One of the themes in the movie was racial tension. And I found it to be quite a diversified student body for a movie from 1955. The school was an all-boys school that had African-Americans, Anglos, and Puerto Ricans as main characters. In one scene, Ford is trying to get the students to stop referring to each other through racial epithets. The lesson then was the same as the lesson today: people are people and should always be taken as individuals.
One especially interesting scene with regards to the racial lesson by Ford is his being called to the principle’s office to answer for a student complaint. The principle (who is in a major state of denial over the discipline of the student body) rails into Ford without asking for his side of the story. In this case, Ford passionately pleads with the principle for his side of the story and wins the principle over. However, the part that interests me is that even in ‘55, administrations can be seen as viewing the student as the customer (and the customer is always right) and the teachers as customer service representatives who, if the student complains, must be in the wrong.
Another point still valid today (especially today in the protesting of teacher’s unions) is the teacher’s compensation. In 1955, Ford laments that the teacher makes less than a carpenter, plumber, mechanic, etc. He likens the compensation of the teacher to the pay rate of a baby-sitter ($2 an hour, according to the movie). Teachers today can be woefully underpaid (can be does not mean all are) and the unions help to protect teacher’s rights (such as the aforementioned principle-teacher confrontation scene). With regards to teacher’s compensation, there is little being done to reign in the compensation packages of some administrators. Instead of blindly attacking teacher’s unions, perhaps we should look into compensation packages of all the parties involved, and not make blanket statements for all teachers and all administrators. Food for thought.
The most important theme that I took from the movie had nothing to do with the “hot-button” issues of either today or yesterday, but the tenacity of Ford’s character. He persisted trying to teach and restore order and give hope to his students long after many others would have quit (after being assaulted, after having marital problems caused by student interference, and from almost losing a child due to student blackmail), he stayed. He believed in the prospect of education. He believed he made a difference. He believed in the student.
Every teacher, at all levels, experiences moments and times when the “job” overwhelms them. They get little recognition and much scrutiny. And there is that doubt, that nagging that we aren’t making a difference, or the differences we make aren’t enough. There is the doubt that we can continue this career. Yet we persevere. We take small victories and celebrate them. We carry on. Because what we do matters.
I am glad I caught this movie.
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