Facing What’s Really Going On in the Schools

The reaction to “187” exemplifies the public’s unwillingness to face the facts about what’s really going on in our schools today (“ ‘187’ Demonizes Latino, African American Students,” Counterpunch, Aug. 18). Finally a teacher has offered a realistic account of teaching, and, typically, people would rather not listen to a teacher’s side of the story.

Even more typically, the main argument against “187” is spearheaded by a cry of racism. The authors of the article, John Fernandez and Tara J. Yosso, complain that the film “demonizes African American and Latino students.” But in truth, like all movies nowadays, “187” has taken the necessary precautions to fashion its statement with as much attention paid to political correctness as possible. By far the most unsavory character in the movie is a white teacher, and among the students tormenting their black teacher a white student is every bit as visible as anyone else.

So who’s being demonized? We’re all being demonized. Get over it.

In the past decade, there have been some very good movies, such as “Stand and Deliver,” which have shown the positive side of teaching. “187” is a very good movie that exposes its negative side.

ARNO KEKS

El Monte

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Although I don’t make it out to the movies much, finding it hard to raise a family of five on a teacher’s salary, I just had to semi-rush out and see “187” after reading “187” screenwriter Scott Yagemann’s Counterpunch response (“90% of ‘187’ Is Based on Schoolteachers’ Reality,” Aug. 4) to Kenneth Turan’s review (“Even Jackson Can’t Save ‘187,’ ” July 30).

Yagemann took particular offense to Turan finding the film’s closing disclaimer--”a teacher wrote this movie”--”the most disheartening line in the film.” Well, I don’t know about disheartening, but as I read the disclaimer, I lowered my head and sunk slowly down into my seat as far as I could. I quickly realized none of the other four people in the theater could possibly know I was a teacher, so I got up and went home.

Sure, Yagemann is correct when he states “90% of what you see in ‘187’ either happened to me or to other teachers.” With millions of teachers and tens of millions of students, the odds are heavily in his favor.

As for the rest of the film, the characters, the plot, etc., just let me say this: I have finally realized why the public is so down on teachers, students and public education in general. They’ve seen so many of these movies, going back to Rock Hudson raping and murdering students in “Pretty Maids All in a Row” and continuing through such recent gems as “The Substitute,” “The Principal,” “High School High,” “Lean on Me” and “Dangerous Minds” that they think all our public schools are like the ones they see up on the silver screen. Meaning, the students are all illiterate, foul-mouthed, undisciplined, armed-to-the-teeth, multi-tattooed gang members bent on murdering teachers before going on to destroy Western civilization as we know it, and the teachers (with few exceptions), if they aren’t cowardly jerks or burned-out cynics, are all child-molesting murderers with MAC-10s in their briefcases just itching for an excuse to send Johnny to that principal’s office up in the sky. No wonder the public is screaming for vouchers, refusing to provide adequate funding and, as a recent Times letter writer said, calling for a total dismantling of our system of public education. They’ve seen or rented one too many of these movies.

Well, let me tell you something. Movies like “187” do not portray in any real sense of what is going on in our public schools today. If you took the time to visit a public school you would find students who are well-behaved, respectful, hard-working young people being educated by under-paid, equally hard-working, caring, dedicated teachers and staff. And if our system of public education is so terrible, explain to me why our country is No. 1 in the world industrially, agriculturally, militarily and economically.

P.S.: A teacher wrote this column.

LOU COHAN

Cypress