‘Opus’ Could Even Score for Schools

“Mr. Holland’s Opus” evoked emotions and memories in me that I thought had long been forgotten (“Why Has ‘Opus’ Struck a Chord?,” Calendar, Feb.3). A lump in my throat, a tear in my eye for dreams lost, dreams found: My personal identification with some of the characters was complete. Part of me was the aspiring young singer. Another part was Mr. Holland, the impassioned composer-turned-teacher who found success and fulfillment on the stage of a high school auditorium.

But just as nothing in life remains constant, Mr. Holland was forced to face a new challenge after 30 years at the same school. Fiscal problems necessitated elimination of the music program. Mr. Holland had become expendable. But he was never to be forgotten. The unexpected ending, which I won’t give away for those who haven’t seen the film, was just right.

This film makes me want to stand up and cheer for those who have chosen the “noble” profession of teaching and for those who strive to find a place for the arts in our local schools and communities.

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As I look back, school only became purposeful for me when I took my first drama class and acted in my junior high school play. Piano and ballet classes helped me develop the discipline necessary to become a productive adult. But true to the plot of the film, last year when I was a counselor at a Los Angeles public middle school, there were no drama classes; there was no school play. When I wrote a story a few years ago about an orchestra made up of children who traveled for miles every Saturday morning to play their instruments together and perform classical music under the baton of a conductor, I discovered that few junior and senior high schools maintained full orchestras.

The rationale for the lack of arts classes in public schools has always been the same. Proposition 13, passed by California voters in 1978, shifted school funding from property tax revenue to the state, and there has never been ample funding in the state’s budget for education.

I have to hope that “Mr. Holland’s Opus” could be the vehicle to influence a change in governmental priorities and in the way the teaching profession is perceived--that is, if it is viewed by enough people, particularly legislators, teachers and students.

School districts continually attempt to recruit high-caliber college graduates into the field of education, but teacher morale remains low. Teachers want higher pay, smaller classes, more supplies and less paperwork. Why should students aspire to become teachers when they can be more highly regarded and compensated as members of other professions?

Yet if they would go to see this film, they might change their minds.

“Mr. Holland’s Opus” is the first movie in a very long time that takes us back a few years, when sensitive lower-budget films were able to find success. Congratulations to screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan and actor Richard Dreyfuss for creating a significant work that is truly memorable.