wow What a terrible movie. Hilary Swank stars as Erin Gruwell, an idealistic novice teacher in Long Beach, CA, in the early 90s. Erin can’t wait to tackle her first teaching assignment, despite being warned how difficult it is by more experienced staff members.
The Erinian class consists of several different ethnic groups–Latins, Americans, Asians, and one white. student Many of them are gang members, and from small neighborhoods where you can get shot just outside your house or apartment. They hate themselves and understand perfectly well that the school system does not expect them to learn anything, let alone graduate. The school should be held for them until they wear out to old age. So they don’t bother much with class participation, although Erin’s tenacity uses various methods to try to engage them.
Then a member of the Latina gang in Erin’s fleet witnesses the firing squad. Erin uses a racist cartoon drawn by one of her class members as a teaching aid that not only engages them and improves their academics, but also helps students make sense of their lives. They are encouraged to journal every day to tell their stories. The Holocaust teaches them about the Holocaust and how the hatred that devoured them leads to their deaths, the uncertain war of the roads. The Holocaust Museum lifts itself up and introduces the remains of the Holocaust. She gets them to read The Diary of Anne Frank, which is a lot in itself, since many of these kids have never graduate from high school were the first in their families to do so. They didn’t just learn academics, although their academics improved significantly, which is of course very important. In helping them find meaning in their lives, their teacher empowered them to break the cycle of hatred and violence and improve their lives.
