Freedom Writers Movie and Reflection

The movie Freedom Writers was a great film to watch and an inspirational film as well. Being able to
see the impact that a teacher had upon these students is something that I found amazing. This made me
realize that one person can make a difference. Seeing how this teacher slowly changed each of her
students attitudes toward life and helped them become a better person is simply amazing.

The Freedom Writers Response was a good exercise to have after the movie, it helped me think through
what happened and how it only took one person to change an entire classroom, because it really was her
determination and the fact even when she was told that she wouldn't be able to change the students way of
life, she tried, and succeeded as well.

The movie Freedom Writers was an inspirational movie.

Freedom Writers
In my first period class, AVID, we watched a movie about students who suffer challenges everyday and
segregate themselves from everybody different. It shows how a new teacher is given the task to teach
these students in English. At first the students don't get along, after time and getting to know each
other thanks to the teacher, they put aside their differences and realize that their peers have also
been through things that they have. This movie was a really interesting one especially because of all
the effort the teacher puts into his students. The school they are attending used to be one of the best
in the county, but when it got integrated the school went from an A to a D school. The teachers there
had really negative attitudes. With all support of the teacher the students managed to turn there life
around and choose the right path for them.

Plot Summary
Showing all 2 plot summaries

 It's 1994 in Long Beach, California. Idealistic Erin Gruwell is just starting her
first teaching job, that as freshman and sophomore English teacher at Woodrow
Wilson High School, which, two years earlier, implemented a voluntary
integration program. For many of the existing teachers, the integration has
ruined the school, whose previously stellar academic standing has been
replaced with many students who will be lucky to graduate or even be literate.
Despite choosing the school on purpose because of its integration program,
Erin is unprepared for the nature of her classroom, whose students live by
generations of strict moral codes of protecting their own at all cost. Many are in
gangs and almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence.
The Latinos hate the Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only
person the students hate more is Ms. Gruwell. It isn't until Erin holds an
unsanctioned discussion about a recent drive-by shooting death that she fully
begins to understand what she's up against. And it isn't until she provides an
 assignment of writing a daily journal - which will be not graded, and will
remain unread by her unless they so choose - that the students begin to open up
to her. As Erin tries harder and harder to have resources provided to teach
properly (which often results in her needing to pay for them herself through
working second and third jobs), she seems to face greater resistance, especially
from her colleagues, such as Margaret Campbell, her section head, who lives
by regulations and sees such resources as a waste, and Brian Gelford, who will
protect his "priviledged" position of teaching the senior honors classes at all
cost. Erin also finds that her teaching job is placing a strain on her marriage to
Scott Casey, a man who seems to have lost his own idealistic way in life.
My personal response to the movie is that it is an excellent and inspiring movie. The teacher is the character
that I can relate to the most because I am a teacher and love my profession. I am not a teacher because of
the money or the benefits. I care for children and believe in every one of them. I try to see the best out of
each one and also try to teach them to face the world. Students can learn from this movie not to give up.
Even if they do not have the support from their families, somewhere in their lives there ia a teacher or
someone who cares and believes in them and are willing to push the limits with them.
Teachers can learn to never give up on our most failed students. No matter who they are or what their
reputation is, we have the power to bring out the best of them by motivating them. We can find ways that
they may learn and see beyond, to believe in themselves and lift their self esteem. I believe people should
see this movie because it teaches us to expect more out of kids today and to give a chance, believe and help
those who are in need. To go out of our way to help our youth who are lost in the streets or outcast by
society.

Reflections regarding Stand and Deliver [1988 film]

I wasn’t expecting that we are going to watch a 1988 film so I was surprised. Stand and Deliver was
based on a true story that Edward James Olmos portrays as the bolivian math teacher [Jaime Escalante]
who dedicated his life teaching math at James A. Garfield High School.We all know that mathematics is a
hard subject so Escalante tried his best to teach his students arithmetic, as time goes by he realizes that
his student has potential to learn, so he decided to teach calculus.
Since the students are learning fast,they took this test that till show if they really learned something.And
what would you expect?Everybody passed!They were celebrating and enjoying on what they
got.Escalente got an award for sacrificing himself teaching.but the higher council cant believe thay they
all passed.Discrimination arouse on that time.deliviating student’s skills in terms of math.So they retake it,
and it was harder,but again they passed.
This film encourages students to study hard in mathematics in a way that everybody can understand it.”If
others can why can’t you?” a phrase that seems to be the message of the film.In my own opinion
Escalante symbolizes as the math teachers in the modern world, trying their best to let the students
understand the lessons. Stand and Deliver has a big relation to mathematics.The film shows basic
arithmetic,algebra,calculus and trigonometry. His students shows how students in modern times act in
times of mathematical dilemma.Even though the film didn’t actually focused on mathematics but it shows
that teachers should be more focused on their students even though they have a hard time understanding
the lesson.
How I wish every teacher in the world would be like Escalante, sacrificing himself just to let his students
pass their AP calculus exam.He acted as the second father of each student spending more time in
teaching rather than himself.A teacher like Escalante deserves an award,devoting himself on
teaching.However being patient,hardworking as the no.1 solution to become just like Escalante.
 Plot

 Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a Hispanic neighbourhood.

Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods
help gang members and no-hopers pass the rigorous Advanced Placement exam in calculus.

- Written by Murray Chapman <[email protected]>

 Biopic of high school teacher Jaime Escalante whose approach to teaching inspired his
students and colleagues. He gave up a job as an engineer to take a job at Garfield High
School in East Los Angeles. The school is on the verge of being decertified by the school
district due to poor academic results and Escalante's philosophy is that students will respond
to expectations and those at the school are so low that they perform poorly. After several
years of success he decides he wants to teach them calculus, driving his students as hard as
he can. He also drives himself into having a mild heart attack. Working with the students
and also their parents, many of whom think schooling is a waste of time, 18 of them
eventually pass the Advanced Placement calculus exam, giving them college credit. The
Educational Testing Service finds a number of anomalies in the scores and suspect they
have cheated, leading to a crisis. When the students re-write the exam and pass - again
with high marks - they and Escalante are exonerated of any wrongdoing and their marks
are re-instated.

Gender equality key to national development: Expert

PTI Nov 12, 2015, 07.55PM IST

Tags:

 WCD|
 ICGE|
 gender equality
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/keyword/gender-equality

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM; A national policy with an action plan backed by resources is the need of the
hour to solvegender equality issues in the country, according to gender expert and activist Pam Rajput.
Rajput was participating in the first International Conference on Gender Equality' (ICGE -1), the country's
first-ever global conference on gender equality that is being held here in partnership with UN Women and
Kerala government.

Rajput, who chaired a high-level committee of the Women and Child Development ( WCD) ministry, gave
a presentation on her report - 'Status of Women in India' which was submitted to the Centre on June 1.
"This committee and its report emphasises on women's rights must be recognised, protected and
enforced for gender parity in the governance of the country. Because, gender equality is key to national
development," she said.

Based on studies done by the committee, the report recommends that the highest priority should be given
to issues like declining child sex ratio, violence against women and girls, economic disempowerment of
women and girls and feminisation of poverty.

"The government is very positive towards the report and responsive. They have also constituted a small
group who are trying to interact with the different ministries with regards to what actions can be taken on
the recommendations of this report," Rajput said.

The report also throws light on the alarming state of affairs of the declining sex ratio in the various states
in the country.

Highlighting the 2011 census report which has identified 262 districts as "Gender Critical," Rajput says a
national policy with an action plan with resources should be implemented immediately to solve the gender
equality issues in the country.

"In 2001 India did have a national policy for empowerment of women but the tragedy is that it was not
operationalised. So, in our report we have said national policy with an action plan with resources should
be implemented and should look at all issues into all the strata of society like Dalit, minority, Adivasi
women," she said.

Emphasising the role of the state in ensuring equality, the report recommends that entitlements be
guaranteed through gender sensitive institutions.

It advocates for adequate resources to be planned and allocated through gender budgeting and other
explicit means. Strong monitoring mechanisms must be in place with accountability towards the
community of women.

"Smart city projects should be made gender safe and sensitive. Make in India should include women of
the country through skill development. There must be rigorous institutional reforms, including those in the
private sector and in the media to ensure effective implementation of womens empowerment programs,"
Rajput said.
Marriage 'no longer the foundation stone of family life'
Marriage is no longer the foundation stone of family life in Britain, a major study of public opinion
suggests.
The belief that couples should ideally get married before starting a family has effectively collapsed
within a generation, the British Social Attitudes survey, the longest running and most authoritative
barometer of public opinion in the UK, shows.
Only a minority of people now view marriage as the starting point for bringing up children, with
support for that view almost halving in less than 25 years.
The wide-ranging study, which is in its 30th year, also revealed a dramatic shift in attitudes toward
sex, politics, economics, and issues such as welfare and Britain’s relationship with Europe since it
first began in the early 1980s.
But some of the most dramatic changes are in the area of family and relationships, with views once
classed as permissive now becoming the norm.
Moral disapproval of matters such as sex outside marriage and homosexuality has fallen sharply
since the Thatcher era, it shows.
That has been accompanied by profound decline in religious attachment, with only a minority of
people in the UK now identifying themselves as Christians, despite the effects of immigration which
has boosted Church attendance.
But in some areas of family life traditional morality is more strongly held than ever, with
disapproval of adultery higher now than a generation ago.
The survey, conducted by NatCen, a social research group, and funded by government departments
and charities, is based on detailed interviews with more than 3,000 people who were asked the
same set of questions about life in Britain as the study has posed for three decades.
This year’s report, which charts how opinions have changed in that time, finds evidence that people
have become increasingly individualistic.
While this is partly reflected in differing attitudes to issues such as the welfare state, it concludes
that the biggest shift has been in moral matters.
Having turned their back on traditional moral standards and religious affiliation, people have
become increasingly willing to “create their own moral codes” the report argues.
The proportion of the population which disapproves of sex outside marriage on moral grounds has
more than halved since the early 1980s. Then 28 per cent said that sex between people who were
not married was either “always” or “mostly” wrong, compared with only 12 per cent in the latest
survey.
The proportion who believe it is “not wrong at all” has risen to almost two thirds, an all-time high.
When asked how whether or not people who want to have children “ought to get married” seven
out of 10 people agreed in 1989.
Last year only four out of 10 people agreed with the idea.
When responses from different age groups were compared, the study showed that younger people
have a more relaxed attitude to marriage than older people.
But even then, the gap between the oldest and youngest generations on the question of marriage is
half what it was 30 years ago.
It comes after the 2011 census showed that the number of married people in Britain had dropped
by almost 10 per cent in a decade despite large increase in the population.
Nevertheless Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation think-tank, predicted that while people had
“lost confidence” in marriage, it is likely to stage a resurgence.
“What we’re seeing is a response to the doubling of family breakdown during the last thirty years,"
he said.
“We value commitment and faithfulness ever more. But we have lost confidence in marriage.
“The tide will turn when we realise once more that marriage is the best way to achieve both.”
The study showed that in some areas or morality, attitudes have become less permissive rather
than more.
The latest survey found that 63 per cent of people think that adultery is “always wrong” compared
with only 58 per cent in 1984.
“These findings suggest that we will continue to see attitudes in this area become more liberal over
time, as older generations die out, perhaps slowing at the point when the 1960s generation start to
become the elder statesmen and women among Britain’s generations,” the study concludes.
But it adds: “It is also true that, despite growing tolerance over time, a considerable minority of the
public remain very uncomfortable with less ‘traditional’ relationships.
“Among the political parties, this poses a particular challenge for the Conservative Party in trying to
balance their new social liberalism with the fact that their supporters are currently among the least
liberal on these matters.”
,