‘Dangerous’ Tells It Just Like It Is

When the Los Angeles Times described the movie “Dangerous Minds” as “stereotypical, predictable and simplified” and “meaningless piffle,” I was not inclined to go (review by Kenneth Turan, Calendar, Aug. 11). I have been a teacher for more than a decade, in London and L.A., and I really don’t like to see Hollywood making light of my profession.

However, I knew the movie was based on the real-life experiences of a teacher, LouAnne Johnson, whose book “My Posse Don’t Do Homework” did sound interesting, so I eventually decided to risk the going to see the movie after all.

My concerns were unfounded. Negative reviews in The Times and elsewhere were wrong. The moviegoers who made “Dangerous Minds” the No. 1 movie were right--it is a wonderful film. It has heart and humor and most importantly truth.

I wonder which elements the reviewers found “piffle.” Was it the way Michelle Pfeiffer’s character wins over the class by being kind and positive and showing that she cares? She demonstrates perfectly realistically that difficult students will never listen unless you first establish some rapport.

Perhaps her choice to teach poetry is seen as “piffle,” but the truth is that these students would have accepted anything from her once the rapport was established, and her justification for teaching poetry was perfectly valid, “if you can read poetry, then you can read anything.” She accurately tells them that “the mind is like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets, which will make you that much harder to knock down.” What’s unrealistic or mindless about that?

It also makes sense to me that her high expectations would do wonders for her students’ self-esteem, as would small gestures such as her bothering to praise some students to their parents.

Small gestures like this really can make a huge difference. It may sound unlikely, but I recently had an experience where one hug completely changed the attitude of a very angry ninth-grader. He appeared to hate his life, his school and most definitely me, but I happened to talk to him about his situation one recess and he burst into tears and poured out his heart. I spontaneously hugged him. For the rest of the year he was sweet, cooperative and raised his grade from a D to a high B. Incredible but true.

The rewards for teaching do not appear great--the pay is bad, classes are often too big and many teen-agers are not motivated. Yet when you do reach a child who seemed unreachable or you see a reluctant learner make progress it is incredibly rewarding.

This movie captures that excitement. It does not imply that LouAnne Johnson was able to save them all, but it demonstrates perfectly accurately that one small step in the right direction can lead students away from the wrong path.

As I left the movie I was amused to see one of my own minor success stories--another once very difficult ninth-grader. He hadn’t even bothered to learn my name for the first half of the year, but as he walked out of the theater, he gave me a big, knowing smile, as if to say, “We’ve been there, haven’t we?!”

I feel the reviewers of this film clearly have not been there and are therefore too divorced from the reality to judge the movie fairly. That’s dangerous.