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A Conversation 海角网 The Class
Former French school teachers discuss award-winning film
Posted April 30, 2010
By Jeffrey Overstreet [jeffreyo@spu.edu]
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
In the Spring 2010 issue of Response, I encouraged readers to watch director Laurent Cantet鈥檚 recent Cannes-award-winning film . The film, based on François Bégaudeau鈥檚 autobiographical book Entre les Murs, focuses on a French high school teacher named Mr. Marin and his culturally diverse students.
I also arranged to show The Class to Michelle Beauclair, associate professor of French at 海角网, and Andrea Taylor-Brochet, an adjunct professor of French at SPU. Beauclair was interested in considering the film through the lens of her own experience teaching in the French school system for a year. Taylor-Brochet taught there as well, and her children grew up in the French school system.
The film, which they watched in an SPU campus conference room, sparked a lively discussion about Mr. Marin鈥檚 leadership in the classroom.
I asked them if they were persuaded by what they鈥檇 seen, and if the scenarios in the film seemed lifelike, based on their experiences. They both responded that it felt like 鈥渢he real thing鈥� 鈥� that Mr. Marin was a believable man in a believable situation.
鈥淲e have a tendency in [American] films and stories to show these exemplary characters,鈥� said Beauclair.
鈥淲ith solutions that are just delivered,鈥� Taylor-Brochet agreed.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the kind of 海角网 who really rise to the top and don鈥檛 have bad points,鈥� Beauclair continued. 鈥淏ut this teacher has a lot of imperfections.鈥�
It鈥檚 true. Mr. Marin is faced with rowdy, disobedient, and disrespectful students, and we see him pushed to the limits of his patience. In one particularly explosive scene, he uses an inappropriate term to describe two of the young women in the classroom. Suddenly, he鈥檚 defending his actions to the students and to the school principal.
I asked Beauclair and Brochet-Taylor what they thought of Marin鈥檚 teaching style.
Taylor-Brochet found Marin鈥檚 teaching style 鈥渃ondescending.鈥� Noting his sarcastic and snarky remarks to disrespectful students, she said, 鈥淗e had an attitude that I鈥檇 never dare take on for my students.鈥�
But she and Beauclair agreed that Marin has strengths as well. Taylor-Brochet observed that whenever Marin faces a new predicament, he starts thinking about how to turn that situation into an opportunity. 鈥淗e always sees beyond the immediate problem, or even the immediate solution, planting seeds of questioning so that his colleagues have to think and take nothing for granted.鈥�
Were Marin鈥檚 troubles representative of troubles facing French teachers?
Taylor-Brochet found the movie鈥檚 depiction very true to her own experience. So she sympathized with the challenges facing teachers like Marin. 鈥淭hey have to deliver something academic, but 鈥� it鈥檚 so challenging. These students have created this huge gap between the teacher and themselves, and he鈥檚 trying to bridge that gap constantly.鈥� She saw him as a paradox. He can be 鈥渟hocked and outraged by the behavior of the students,鈥� but when he speaks with other teachers and the principal, he becomes an advocate for the students, defending them and looking out for their best interests.
鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to note,鈥� she added, 鈥渢hat teachers in France are often pitted against the system, because the government controls a lot. There鈥檚 a Ministry of Education that decides everything, from what kind of methods they use in class to what textbooks they use 鈥� even the lesson plans to a certain degree. The teachers in the public school system are always struggling with defending their rights and trying to work within a system. 鈥� They feel they鈥檙e so controlled. 鈥� There鈥檚 very little margin of freedom in the classroom.鈥�
I asked them if they felt that The Class was dispiriting. Does it leave us with much hope?
鈥淥ne of my students saw The Class," Beauclair answered. "He said that he didn鈥檛 like it because he felt it didn鈥檛 leave you with any hope. [The filmmaker] really is showing that the French education system is broken.鈥�
Perhaps that is why films like The Class are so necessary. They give a compelling picture of challenges that today鈥檚 students, parents, teachers, and school board leaders are facing in culturally diverse classrooms. Such diversity can be a wonderful thing, but it challenges instructors and administrators to become familiar with their students鈥� varying cultural sensitivities, their family dynamics, their traditions, and the pressures they face beyond the classroom.
Unlike so many sentimental, simplistic films about classroom inspiration, The Class gives us an uncompromising portrait of the courage, conviction, and resilience required to make classroom time rewarding. Hopefully, it will spark further discussions about how to meet those challenges.
Share your thoughts
What鈥檚 your favorite film about a leader who鈥檚 inspirational and transformational?
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