Review of The Class (2008) by John — 20 Aug 2009

Lots of Pros and Cons. The authenticity is great. But as someone who observes teachers all day, what struck me was that he was not really a very good teacher. There are teacher who would have created a much more positive and productive climate.

Lecture and discussion is a really limited instructional approach. I observe in the most challenging schools in LA and I see teachers that have 0 problems with students and others who seem to be living in a war zone with the same students.

This school in France is really typical, in that it is not that great. The solutions and the cleverness do not include any really good ideas or lead to any real answers. The acting in the movie is amazing.

The kids were remarkable. But this is not a slice of life movie, it is slice of life in the class of a teacher who is creating his own struggles, dramas and perpetual difficulties. The movie about the teacher who got this same group of kids to work in teams and invest in meaningful work and refrained from all the negativity, would never be made it would be too uneventful and would seem unrealistic.

But I was in a class today that was in inner city LA, with much lower income students and all the students were happy, on task and positive. This movie is to teaching what "Revolutionary Road" is to relationships.

A good relationship or a good class is just not that interesting, but it is possible and it is much more fun to be involved in.