Freedom Writers

I saw a beautiful movie today 'Freedom Writers'. It's a brilliant film , so inspiring and touching! This film should be shown to all teachers. As teachers they should realise that no student is inherently a bad student or 'unteachable', its just that students are different and need to dealt with differently. It is the teachers job to identify what will motivate the student and use the right method to get the student to discover himself and to get him to appreciate the importance of learning and thereby to get him to learn.

The movie reinforces the belief that nothing is impossible if we have the determination and motivation to go on. And that teachers can make such a big difference in the lives of students and play an important role in moulding them into responsible and caring citizens of the world!

Have pasted below some of dialogues I liked from the movie.

Marcus: No, that don't fly Ma.
Erin Gruwell: First of all I'm not anybody's mother.
Andre: No, that's not what it means.
Eva: It's a sign of respect... for you.

Erin Gruwell: But to get respect you have to give it.
Andre: Bullshit.
Erin Gruwell: What?
Andre: Why should I give you my respect? Because you call your a teacher. How do I know that your not a bad person standing up there?
Eva: White people wanting their respect like its for free.

Erin Gruwell: Does anyone know Homer's the Odyssey?
Andre: I know Homer the Simpson.

Miep Gies: You are the heroes. You are heroes every day.
Miep Gies: But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.
Marcus: I've never had a hero before. But you are my hero.
Miep Gies: Oh, no. No, no, no, young man, no. I am not a hero. No. I did what I had to do, because it was the right thing to do. That is all.

Erin Gruwell: The evaluation assignment was to grade yourself on the work you're doing. You gave yourself an F. What's that about?
Andre: It's what I feel I deserve, that's all.
Erin Gruwell: Oh really? [pause]
Erin Gruwell: You know what this is? This is a Fuck You to me and everyone in this class. I don't want excuses. I know what you're up against. We're all of us up against something. So you better make up your mind, because until you have the balls to look me straight in the eye and tell me this is all you deserve, I am not letting you fail. Even if that means coming to your house every night until you finish the work. I see who you are. Do you understand me? I can see you. And you are not failing.
Erin Gruwell: Maybe we should talk about art. Tito's got real talent, don't you think? You know something? I saw a picture just like this once, in a museum. Only it wasn't a black man, it was a jewish man. And instead of the big lips he had a really big nose, like a rat's nose. But he wasn't just one particular jewish man. This was a drawing of all jews. And these drawings were put in the newspapers by the most famous gang in history. You think you know all about gangs? You're amateurs. This gang will put you all to shame. And they started out poor and angry and everybody looked down on them. Until one man decided to give them some pride, an identity... and somebody to blame. You take over neighborhoods? That's nothing compared to them. They took over countries. You want to know how? They just wiped out everybody else. Yeah, they wiped out everybody they didn't like and everybody they blamed for their life being hard. And one of the ways they did it was by doing this: see, they print pictures like this in the newspapers, jewish people with big, long noses... blacks with big, fat lips. They'd also published scientific evidence that proved that jews and blacks were the lowest form of human species. Jews and blacks were more like animals. And because they were just like animals it didn't matter if they lived or died. In fact, life would be a whole lot better if they were all dead. That's how a holocaust happens. And that's what you all think of each other.

Gloria: If you look in my eyes, you'll see a lonely girl. If you like at my smile, you'll see nothing wrong. If you pull up my shirt, you'll see the bruises. What did I do to make him so mad?

Eva: In America, a girl can be crowned a princess for her beauty, and her grace. But an Aztec princess is chosen for her blood. To fight for her people as Papi and his father fought, against those who say we are less than they are, against those who say that we are not equal in beauty or blessings.

[while playing the Line Game, in which Erin makes the class reveal that they have more in common than they care to admit] Erin Gruwell: Who has been to jail or a juvenile hall? Sindy: Does a refugee camp count?
Erin Gruwell: You decide. [Sindy stands on the line]

[following Erin's impassioned speech about the Nazi Holocaust]
Tito: [raises hand] What's a holocaust?
Erin Gruwell: Who here knows what the Holocaust is? [all keep their hands down except Ben, the only white kid, who sheepishly raises his]
Erin Gruwell: Who here has ever been shot at? [all raise their hands except Ben, who lowers his]