Teaching is a unique job and is not easy as it requires patience, dedication and boundless enthusiasm in order to get children to be both engaged and willing to better themselves. A classroom environment is filled with endless social and academic interaction and more importantly, each classroom is different to others! Given all children are unique individuals so each class develops its own character. But how does everyday school life transfer to both the big screen and normal television? Are all schools like a picture perfect suburban utopia as seen in Hollywood fare such as “Clueless” or “90210” or it this much further from the grit and grind of everyday school life?
Film is supposed to entertain and inspire and hopefully educate and of course what an audience member watches depends on their personal preference and point of view. Films about teaching and schools are often hard to portray and make entertaining as squeezing the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the daily routine of schools and the lives which fill them into two hours is no easy task and few film makers have been able to present the big screen teaching experience properly. Though look carefully enough and there are cinematic gems waiting to be unearthed which are realistic and enduring in their stance!
In terms of capturing the trials and tribulations of everyday teaching, “The Class”, the 2008 Cannes PALM D’OR winner, is a realistic view of how a teacher interacts with students, parents and administrators and how they juggle between these relationships and normal tasks like marking and lesson preparation. It shows the expectations from both sides to do well and how fleeting these relationships can be as an academic year can be short as teachers and students move on. The film was based on the main protagonist’s, François Bégaudeau, experience of teaching in an inner city school in Paris. The film goes beyond the classroom in that it explores urban isolation and urban life and how these factors affect the teenagers and their view of the world.
Monsieur Lazhar, the Canadian and Quebec based film is also a teaching film worthy of its accolades and the critical praise that was heaped onto it. The story focuses on the role of a substitute teacher and how both he and the school guide his new young students as they deal with tragedy and loss. The film focuses on how very young people cope with difficult situations which are often associated with adults and beyond their tender years. The piece explores the growing relationship and sense of empathy between the class and the temporary teacher as he shares his own experiences with them; it is an excellent character piece on how children develop and grow in situations to which are unfamiliar to them; namely shock and adversity.
In terms of Hong Kong, the smash hit “Little Big Master” captured the length that some teachers and pupils value education. The true story focuses on how a soon to be retired principal of an elite school delays retirement to take up a monthly salary of HKD4500 to maintain the upkeep of a soon to be closed down school of only five students. It is her task to keep the school running, educate the kids and of course find more students. It was a smash hit in Hong Kong where education is always a key talking point.
Reality TV is becoming more common and creeping into every aspect of life and society and this includes schools. The advantage of this new wave of shows is that there are true to life and no hold barred and truly captures the hard work and routine of school life where anything and everything can happen. Notable shows which encapsulate school life include the BBC show, Tough Young Teachers, which follows around five to six teachers and their lives in school and the pressures they face.
Capturing the joys, struggles and sense of satisfaction associated with teaching is no easy task but at least some works have attempted whole heartedly and come close.
By Christopher Lau
