From: http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/teaching_and_the_movies:_dangerous_minds,12409.html?issueID=9800,
Jan. 27, 2014.
Teaching and the movies: Dangerous Minds
By Sharon Lalor, University of New England
This paper is one of three articles by pre-service teachers examining the representation of teachers in popular
films […] In the current article, Sharon Lalor examines the film Dangerous Minds (Don Simpson/Jerry
Bruckheimer Films, 1995).
Dangerous Minds is one of the many popular films about teaching. It is based on the novel My Posse Don’t Do
Homework (1992), in which author Louanne Johnson draws on her own teaching background.
Johnson’s character, unqualified and inexperienced, is thrown before a class of urban black and Hispanic children.
She emerges as a triumphant hero, who miraculously rescues her students from their underprivileged surroundings
and also, in a sense, from themselves.
Popular though this film may be, realistic it is not. Although there are moments when one sympathises with
Johnson’s foreboding when faced with the task of teaching her students, this film lacks any credible connection to
the realities of teaching.
Unfortunately, the fantasies of Dangerous Minds are similar to those in many other popular teacher films such as
Mr Holland’s Opus and To Sir with Love, which pass over the hard work required of real-life teachers. These
movies suggest ‘teaching is natural; you do not need training if you’ve got "the right stuff" ' (Mitchell & Weber
1999, p183).
Like other teacher films Dangerous Minds suggests that teachers must ‘rescue’ disadvantaged students, whose lives
would remain meaningless and ultimately futile without a white middle-class way of life. Giroux (1997, p47)
argues that Dangerous Minds ‘attempts to represent “whiteness” as the archetype of rationality, authority and
cultural standards’, evinced by Johnson’s obstinate desire to save her students throughout the film and her
insistence on pervading their personal lives. Ayers (2001, p79), speaks of this notion in a real-life context:
Too many teachers, unfortunately, seem to see their role as rescuer. My child does not need to be rescued; he does
not consider being Indian a misfortune. He has a culture, probably older than yours; he has meaningful values and a
rich and varied experiential background. However strange or incomprehensible it may seem to you, you have no
right to do or say anything that implies to him that he is less than satisfactory.
Ayers highlights one of the most important principles of teaching, which is to value students for who they are and
where they have come from, rather than considering their cultural, religious or socioeconomic status a ‘misfortune’.
Johnson’s character did not consider her students’ cultural experiences worthy of incorporating into classroom
lessons and assignment material. The film’s lack of acknowledgment provides a ‘stereotypical portrayal of black
and Hispanic kids as intellectually inferior, hostile, and childish’ (Giroux 1997, p47).
In order to capture her students’ attention and induce them to work, Johnson’s character relied on external, material
motivators, rewarding them with chocolates, a trip to an amusement park and dinner at an expensive restaurant. As
suggested by Giroux (1997, p48), ‘baiting students with gimmicks and bribes does more than cast a moral shadow
on the pedagogical value of such an approach or on the teacher as a kind of ethical exemplar, it also makes clear
how aggressively indifferent Louanne is to her students’ experiences, interests, cultural resources, or the skills they
need to survive'.
The NSW Quality Teaching Model
Hollywood continues to perpetuate teaching fantasies in order to entertain and provide its consumers with heroes
and hope for a better future through characters akin to Johnson. Authenticity is often overlooked for the sake of
entertainment.
In contrast to Hollywood representations, the NSW Quality Teaching Model provides a sound framework for
teaching pedagogy. Through the Model teachers may utilise the research and theoretical contexts of teaching, rather
than expecting to ‘have the right stuff’.
The Model consists of three broad categories: Intellectual Quality, which is pedagogy that promotes and maintains
higher order thinking in students; Quality Learning Environment, which requires students and teachers to develop
positive relationships while achieving high standards of learning; and Significance, which is pedagogy focused on
creating meaningful learning experiences for students (NSW DET 2003, pp9–10).
Fantasy and reality
As a student teacher, I believe that to base an expectation of being ‘a teacher like Miss Johnson’ would be akin to
presuming that a police officer’s job is as exciting as the crime-related shows saturating television. Having been a
police officer, I can verify that the fantasy could not be further from the reality and, therefore, I understand how
teaching will be similarly distant from Hollywood portrayals. There may be moments of satisfaction; however, in
real life you are rarely, if ever, a hero.
There are many aspects of teaching that I am yet to learn, though I am now confident that my expectations of
teaching are not based on fanciful notions. Students do not need to be rescued. They need to be recognised in the
light of their differences rather than despite them.
Popular teacher images ‘can set us up for disappointment, encouraging expectations that teaching should fulfil [sic]
a deep desire to love and be loved, or a need to be needed or to save people’ (Mitchell & Weber 1999, p181) In
contrast, film analysis provides an opportunity to identify and put into context our idealistic beliefs of teaching,
thus, ‘softening the blow’ when the time comes to teach.
References
Ayres, W 2001, To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher, Teachers College Press, New York.
Giroux, H 1997, ‘Race, pedagogy, and whiteness in Dangerous Minds’, Cineaste, vol 22, no 4, pp 46–49.
Johnson, L 1992, My Posse Don’t Do Homework, St Martin’s Press, New York.
Mitchell, C & Weber, S 1999, ‘Reel to real: popular culture and teacher identity’, Reinventing Ourselves As
Teachers: Beyond Nostalgia, Falmer Press, London.
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