A decaying inner-city school needs to pass the minimum basic skills test so they hire a new principal who will turn the school around with harsh autocracy - based on a true story. Subscribe to our friends channel: tinyurl.com/Mo...
I like how the parent of the disrespectful kid was the villain cause that's usually how it is instead of her correcting her kids behavior she tried to make the world suffer
Sad thing is, most parents are like her (not all). Having this mentality: 'My little angel can do no wrong. Its everyone else bullying her/him that's the problem' I find it's the parents who ruin the child in the end.
Unfortunately with parents like her, it's never about her kid. It's about her being called out for bad parenting and she just wants to vent her anger in any way possible.
@@huyphamle159 it's a rare case where the dictator actually does an amazing job instead of failing like some certain country in certain part of Korean continent. The principal actually paid a lot of attention, put his efforts to the max, and cared a lot for the students (unlike some certain teacher in '60s failing at experimenting on implementing dictatorship to immature students carelessly) That school already had more than 2K clean students despite of already dumping out the early disappointment ones and yet it still functioned properly and even boosted the passing percentages more than 60% From this movie i can already tell why those bullies turned out like that just by looking at Leonna.
Funny how there was one kid who begged to come back and Mr. Clark actually gave the kid another chance. If any of those kids (or parents) cared as much then they would have done the same thing. Instead let's blame the principal for kicking out the kids who clearly don't care to learn
It’s actually sad that adults fail to realize that children, especially high school students, simply need the comfort, support and encouragement from their parents to excel in anything and everything they do. It is simply the feeling that someone will walk with you, fail or succeed, that they need during those years.
No that isn't always the case I had that and yet I still skip school I still did drugs I had nothing to do with the people who raised me, but I will give them this I have a strong set of morals because of them. But the school skipping that was all me and I only started caring when they threatened to put my grandmother in jail which makes no sense why are they threatening to put her in jail if I skip school? What is she supposed to do hold my hand the whole time and make sure I'm in class the whole time?
@@FallenxAngels91 - It's considered Educational Neglect. If a parent or guardian fails to correct the behavior CPS had the legal right to take the minor from said guardian. Depending on on the state as each penalty is different. Jail time can be one of such penalties for a parent or guardian. They gave you a choice. Your grandmother wasn't correcting the problem. As a minor and her being a legal guardian she's responsible for you well being. Unless the crime you committed gets you tried as an adult she can be held just as responsible
@@FallenxAngels91 Because you were a child and you didn't think about the consequences of your actions you only started caring when it started to effect people you care about. You were a minor which means someone is responsible for you and legally any consequences you bring on yourself is also on them
Kicking the bullies out of schools is probably the best thing that could happen for society in general and the well-being of the environments in schools.
agreed. there are alternative schools, charter schools and even residential schools for the more aggressive, or delinquent, students. The 'just having a bad day and lashing out' excuse does not cover the trend of dysfunction and multifaceted violence of and actual 'bully.' (ie nakshatra). Having twenty plus years in both youth and adult correctional environments as well as an MPA, placing troubled youth in a different learning environment it the better option.
They were beyond bullies. Had they done these things outside the school they’d have records. Schools need to stop allow criminal behavior go unchecked. Most minors get a one time pass for first minor offenses and that scares a lot from worst
Joe Clark was a literal legend! He was a man with a mission that went into that school and turned it back around. Dropped the dead weight and worked hard on the students that wanted to pass. Sadly, Joe Clark passed away in December of 2020 at the age of 83. He was regarded in New Jersey as one of the finest principals ever seen in the school system. How the world could use a Joe Clark right now. RIP Joe Clark! ❤️
@@junodonatus4906 his thinking was that the bad ones were creating more bad ones. basically, they were forcing the good ones to adapt to their bad environment. once they were removed they could thrive.
While the mother is trying to destroy the principal for kicking out her bad kid, her kid's probably out there getting itself destroyed with illegal stuff and bad influences. Parents should team with their kids and guide them to adulthood, but that woman was too blinded that she didn't even look at her kid.
I grew up a few blocks from this highschool, its based on a true story & its truly no exaggeration. Till this day that school is nothing short of a tragedy.
@@khansahb-o4e lol, well what's true is that under that principles leadership that school did turn around, but once he was gone it was all downhill from there.
They set him up to get fired too. Celebrated them passing the HSPT by having Run DMC perform and next thing you know they had a stripper show. Who does that?
It's extremely difficult for a teacher or other school faculty to fix a kid that got messed up by his/her family situation. Most of the time it just doesn't happen. Teachers might try to turn the kid around but usually it's just damage control. Parents have much greater potential to help stop their kid's problem behavior than teachers. That's really sad because so many parents lack the time, ability or willingness to raise their kids properly.
Individual teachers can't do much but reforms do help a lot. My favourite is classrooms for teen mums /parents just a quite place to breastfeed, calm a crying baby ect. Most kids need those kinda reforms also a kick in the teeth(and sex ed), going through a pregnancy will normally do that to ya.
Teachers can do a lot by just listening, instead they’re too focused on saying shit based on presumptions. I broke down crying by my locker one day and was brought to a counselor, I said I was crying cause I hate my moms boyfriend. He didn’t ask why but started telling me about his childhood. I understood the purpose but if he had asked me what happened I would’ve said that my moms boyfriends is a meth addict who touched me that morning. He didn’t ask me why, he just wanted to spout shit to hide his inability to properly understand kids and nothing was done. I’ve looked to teachers for help and they only give a shit if something valuable to them is on the line. No teacher would care enough for any student to just listen without prejudice. His prejudice was seeing me as just a kid upset about moms new boyfriend, which is wrong. I was a kid getting abused and broke down one day looking for help, I just needed someone to listen. Teachers are people, people are full of bullshit. I think the least of everyone until I know them, but the more I know the more I hate them cause everyone is a piece of shit on the inside. No one reflects the ideals they hold, they simply hold them to say “hEY LoOK wHaT i CaN dO”. I’ve only seen teachers use their position as a podium for themselves, an example would be when students come back from vacation we have to deal with teachers telling us what they did. Maybe they’ll have their student pets talk but in the end we’re 20 minutes into class with the only progress being a self centered display of them shoving their heads up their assholes. If we don’t have time for every student to share then stfu, you shouldn’t have the time either. Every teacher I’ve met has shown themselves to be completely incapable of seeing a student as a student, with no prejudice. They see me as I look, but often our environment influences that and no one try’s to understand cause they don’t have to. No one makes the choice to understand, it’s forced on them. The counselor told me about his sad childhood so I’d be thankful for what I have, but he never took a moment to think I could be going through something far worse than he could imagine. But what should I expect when my Mom did the same thing.
I agree. The children that have been mentally damaged by their upbringing outnumber staff and are beyond simple exposure to a good role model. Even as early as middle school, the kids are beyond help and, like you said, it's just damage control. Keep them in the classroom, lower all the behavioral standards, and get (for the parents) get them diagnosed and on behavioral meds. That's the reality. They don't turn around when they're that far gone.
Really kicking out the children disrupting class and the school peace is a Must. If only that mother put that much effort into her child who was kicked out.
It's not a real documentary. IRL the Staff/Teacher's Union were after him, for firing teachers. I believe he also embarrassed the Cops & Criminal Justice folks for not arresting drug dealers as well??
Correct me if I am wrong but from what I understand public schools are funded by the number of butts in seats and thus don't expel the troublemakers which makes it difficult for those who want to learn and for teachers to teach. 🤔
No for real. I re-watched this the other day after like 10 years. And now that i've actually work with middle school kids before i totally agree with this. If they put half as much time into their kids as they do complaining how it's everyone else's fault. The kids might actually learn something!
Some parents can only see their children as perfect angels being held down by the man. Dealt with many of them in my life. It's never their babies fault.
Leonna is the model for every Karen parent who can't be bothered to be involved in their childrens' lives and studies to this day, who view school as free day care and teachers as mandatory babysitters. Having friends who are or were teachers, these are the most demoralizing part of education today for teachers, and the biggest reason for student failure. I grant that the entire system is failing, especially in inner cities, but parents only ever want to blame the teachers, if they even make it that far now. It's a genuine shame.
Lucky enough to have had two teachers who played this for us while I was in school. A powerful movie and a deep dive into the culture. Great movie for youths.
So I used to attend a bad high school, one time, most of the class was failing math. My white female teacher, whose name I don't remember, initiated the course one day by saying, "they ask me why I am at this school when I could work for a better school, a suburban school where I can get paid better. I work here because I care for you all; I want you to succeed." Her words touch me to this day.
Yea, I had a similar experience, only the teacher was black. He taught boys how to be gentlemen and girls to be ladies. Every once in a while, we used to break out in song in class.
Pretty funny how Leona was mad about her kid getting expelled from a dangerous, crime ridden school that he wasn't going to graduate from anyways and was likely about to be shut down. Made a whole lotta sense.
If the school gets rid of her kid and the school succeeds, it means the principal was right and the kid was part of the problem, making the mom look bad. If the school keeps the kid and the school fails or if the school gets rid of the kid and the school fails, it means she has deniability and that she isn't a failure of a mother.
The issue is this stuff wouldn't fly in modern times because even good parents would find some of his methods unacceptable especially with school shootings and stories of teachers abusing students being more widespread
this really hits home for me, as this is exactly what my school is going through, it used to be a shining beacon of hope and prosperity for my city and the region of my state. As of today it is run down, kids openly disobey teachers and there are often school lockdowns because someone got into the school.
My middle school used to be like that back in the 80’s but now (middle schoolers vaping/ disobeying teachers/ illegal drugs/ etc. if you are wondering why I didn’t include school shootings because there hasn’t been school shootings in my school or county I live in Georgia btw Gwinnett county
@@-noplangaming-9268 I think something similar is Starting to happen at my school like literally people who goes to my school are posting themselfs consuming that green leaf thing and they are middle schoolers..
As a kid who could pass the minimum basic skills test, let me do some math. The school had 3000 students 40% of the school was passing already. That's 1200 students. He threw out 300 kids who couldn't pass dropping his total student count to 2700. 1200 out of 2700 students is 45%. He upped the scores 5% just by throwing out the worst kids.
And then he got a pass rate of > 70%, meaning at least 1890 kids. Eliminating the disruptions and bad influences increased the absolute number of kids who met the bar by over 50%.
Those 300 kids were creating an environment that was causing the teachers to struggle to teach the kids who did want to learn. The test scores went up at that school after Mister Clark expelled those kids who did not want to learn. they were disrupting order in the school. I am 79 years old, and I remember the situation because I followed the story from start to finish. It was not just one parent who sabotaged Joe Clark. Some kids had not attended class for three months and the parents of those kids complained that mister Clark was depriving their kids of getting an education. Most of those parents had never attended a PTA meeting in their lives and they were illiterate themselves. The white establishment wants to maintain an underclass to supply their businesses with a slave workforce. Walmart, Target, fast food joints, restaurants, pizza parlors, Amazon, and other businesses all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
@@maxxmabemwe4859 I'm not arguing whether throwing those students out was the right move or not or whether it was moral or not. I'm just pointing out that in one move he increased his pass\fail rate by 5%. He achieved 15% of his goal (actually 16.16% of his goal) to improve the pass fail rate by 30%. If you followed the story closely it's not hard to know more of the actual details than I do. I was in elementary school in the Joe Clark days in Florida a state that was testing in bottom two in most criteria across the board from k through 12 and continues to rank in the bottom 5 almost 40 years later in every measurable way. 60 % of our high school "graduates" require remedial classes to attend our colleges. If I flip 3000 coins on a table, physics and statistics roughly 1500 will land heads 50% or 1500\3000. If I take away 300 of the coins that landed on tails. It becomes 1500 heads out of 2700. 1500\2700 or 55.55%. I didn't change physics or statistics just eliminated the total. Same 1500 heads as before. Again I'm not arguing right or wrong decision or fair or unfair or even moral and immoral.
The way a school fails first starts with the parents, than the teachers, than the kids. I don't expect a 12 year old to act like an adult, but I sure as hell expect the parents and teachers to act like adults, and to set ground rules.
This happens when woke people are in power and when parents are punished for trying to raise their children properly. You can't expect someone to act like an adult when he had been codled like a child his whole life.
Teacher as the least to blame. They care and that's why they got into teaching. The parent's can't raise kids, and administration wants to keep kids in the classroom and not have discipline issues. So, the teachers hands are tied. As soon as you send a bad kid out of the room so the rest can learn administration blames the teacher for poor "classroom management." Mainly it's the parents, or lack of parenting that are to blame.
You can say all of that nonsense because OTHER school districts were NOT deliberately designed to fail to create a straight line from horrible education to horrible prisons...America deliberately designed the worse housing schools and jobs...TO MAKE BLACK PEOPLE A PERMANENT UNDERCLASS...to quote Joe Clarke.
Sooooo YOU give absolutely NO regard to the buildings, resources, security, home conditions and communities students not just came from but were designed to be in. Why are WHITE schools and colleges better equipped with whatever is necessary to create better outcomes? So blame the parents, who in most cases, may be the mother or grandmother who must work 2 or 3 jobs to keep the home going. It is certainly NOT accidental that the self styled greatest democracy and richest nation in the world, DOESN'T HAVE FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL.
@@zapazap It does increase their risk of an exit IF a fire breaks out. The reason for padlocking the doors was to stop the bad kids from breaking into the school from unauthorized exits (doors). Yes it is against the fire code and that is why the fire inspector plays a big part in this movie.
I adored my strict principal and teachers I was a good student but those were the ones you can tell were truly passionate about their job and wanted to see you reach full potential. They were also funny and cool to be around when not teaching or having to deal with wayward students
back when i was in school it pissed me off when the teachers would stop class cause two of the class clowns would be talking or on their phones or something like, you got a room full of kids that wanna learn the material still, stopping class every 10 minutes to wait for the troublemakers is only hindering everyone else. then a few grades later i had a teacher that took no bullshit and was so thankful cause kids that didnt wanna learn were separated and the rest of us got to attend class with no interruptions.
The part where he congratulates Mrs Powers is the best, because you had no idea it was coming. He was marching down the the music room with Sams and the other boys, looking al pissed off that they weren't singing the school song he knew, and you're sure that Mrs Powers is about to get the ax. But instead he congratulates her for her dedication and spirit, and adopts her new version as official. It showed that he wasn't simply a hard ass, and that he valued his teachers more than they thought.
That part was one of my favorites too. 👍🏽👍🏽😊 You expected the worst to happen and then he makes her version of the school anthem the official version. 1💪🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Because her character is a mammy Definition : Used to describe women who baby, coddle, and take care of men in any race or ethnicity. Usually used to describe black women since they are the biggest offenders.
Yeah lol they know that their kid is doing bad in school and is doing illegal stuff and the only thing they cared about is the principle expelling their kid
I wish we had principals like him in the schools here in the Philippines. But the school management here (in public and private schools) are more concerned on how they can increase the school budget so that they can buy that new car and phone they've been wanting 🙄
@@nakshatramusic21 you said a whole bunch of nothing,the coment above is clear enough,parents are the ones who you blame first them the kids you keep making excuses for shitty parents and their shitty kids,wich makes me belive you are either one of those,you can and have to blame them so they can maybe MAYBE change this whole caring bs only breeds more of those trash parents with trash kids you my friend is blind and soft
One of the best movies I've ever watched. So touching and it shows how people can change lives if they can go beyond their comnort zone and care about what they are doing. I know in real life things are different and this changes don't appear from one day to the other, but it shows how dedication can change a whole school mind.
My mother was in charge of the education system of my city. Similar story, when she arrived to the job everything was corrupted, everyone hated her for replacing their boss, the education statistics were in the floor. In a few months she managed to fix everything and made our city the number one in education statistics in the entire country. Everyone to this day love her. But she didn't do it in this violent confrontation way, she did in very small But super smart ways changing people little by little to create the bigger benefit. Someday I'll make the movie, her story is filled with lots of amazing stories, specially when you take into account that the narco used to be the maximum power in the state and apparently they knew her and leave her alone because she helped thousands of kids that no one else helped before.
@@vienna-mf8xb There are a lot of cool little stories and anecdotes about her time working there. For example, the state where we live is extremely political when it comes to teachers, they are one of the main forces in elections. That's why she had lots of enemies that wanted her job. She had lots of traps that people gave her like sending her oficial papers to sign among the hundreds of papers she used to sign weekly that would make her look bad or risk losing her job with the help of the news media but she managed to avoid all those in very clever ways and specially with the help of secretaries that used to hate her but she made them her best friends later on. Schools used to be secuestred by corrupt parent organizations that used to steal from the school store, they used to block schools with chains demanding things and she found a way to make that stop forever. She had the press at the beginning against her, payed by corrupt powers but in the end some reporters saw the good she was doing over time and secretly told her they were paid to do some things but they would always try to help her or advice her so she could keep doing her job. And when you take into account that she had 4 kids and her husband, my father, used to beat us in very monstruos ways the story takes on to another level. My father didn't want her to study, to advance her level, so she used to wait until he was asleep to study, that's how she managed to get her education job. Just imagine waking up to ready 4 kids for school, cooking, ironing, then going to work as a teacher, then coming back home to cook again endure abuse and then waiting for your abusive husband to go to sleep to study and do homework in secret to get higher grades and job opportunities, sleeping a couple hours and doing everything again. They were both teachers but she was special, she got the highest scores in her exams and presented tesis that advanced the field. I have written little by little the stories for years in hopes of someday making a script for a movie. She is still alive and to this day every single teacher in the city knows her and the kids she helped years ago who are now adults still give her presents and recognize her work and the help she gave them to thrive regardless of their economical situation.
Fun fact for those who don’t know, Fetty Wap used to attend this school and even filmed one of his music videos there. This is an an incredible movie that I strongly encourage everyone to see atleast once. There’s no better true story told than this one.
I must agree. His ways may have been unorthodox, but schools like that need some heavy-duty industrial cleaner, the big guns, and no kid gloves. Because a spritz of water, a cap gun, and Mickey Mouse gloves just weren't gonna cut it.
A principle like this would not work in Real Life USA. There is always at least one asshole who can easily buy or steal a gun anywhere and start murdering teachers. Take away all guns, fu** the 2nd ame.., defund the police and teachers can finally get rough on rowdies and bulies without the fear getting shoot one day.
He actually didn't. The school did not improve over his tenure and was taken over by the state as a result. Expelling a large number of students increased crime in the area. His actions have been regarded as a failure over the long term.
Yes there are rules for teachers at school but when a school goes out of hand, I believe teachers at that school have the right to go to extreme measures to benefit the school, keep good students safe and to help them learn better, preparing them to become great adults in the future contributing to society. It all begins at home and at school.
because like the one woman in this movie, parents can NEVER see the wrong their child did, even if their kids are beating people up or doing drugs at school etc, theyll just scream and cuss out the teachers and principle instead of taking responsibility and like the movie, try and get the teacher or whoever fired cause their kids a pos. so teachers cant do much
Because of Parents JUST like Leona Barret. (The shrew literally was never ostracized, we never even see her Son try to get back in. She is a shit parent that wants everyone to burn with her shitty actions.)
Although he was a bit harsh he genuinely cared about the students and helped them with their situations or at least offered support for them, he had the doors locked and chained for his students safety however he likely didnt take into account the fire safety code and if they had talked with him instead of trying to arrest him Im sure they could have come up with a solution that keeps his kids safe from people on the outside as well as from events that would require evacuation
This movie moved me so much. If there's no one stood up for this youth imagine what kind of life they'll have ahead like just being criminals, robbers or cancelled people/garbage to society.
People don't know the reality of what happened with Joe Clark. He was a good principal before the movie, but he let fame get to his head, and was often out on the road promoting the film after it came out rather than continue being a principal at the school. People complained about this, and at one point a horribly raunchy performance involving only slightly dressed professional music/dance performers was done at the school auditorium. Clark, out on the road again, only stated that those in opposition were "prudes". I don't quite remember but I believe he was let go over this incident. Lowered my support for the man considerably.
That's interesting. Even without knowing that it doesn't take much to realize this movie is fantasy. Just like Dangerous Minds. It's not that easy to turn kids around, if ever.
My thing is that the teachers were demanding respect when the whole time they had been failing up to this point. These movies make it out like only one teacher can save the school but the other teachers are just pissed because they aren't the one. This school was decent 20 years ago, and it takes a lot of little compromises that leads to it to end up the way it did. All of the staff had a hand in that. It took 1 staff member to change things for the better, but it takes all the staff to keep things that way.
At first glance I thought it was horrible to get rid of all the bad kids without trying to give them a chance, but then I realised they've already had their chances and should have been expelled earlier
This is such a good movie. The writing, the directing and of course the phenomenal performances out of the actors. What I love the most about this film is that it shows that his efforts were not flawless. That he struggled in his attempts. He failed many times, but his heart was always in the right place even if his actions and words sometimes weren't. This is a film I never grow tired of.
This was one of my childhood movies. I was only ten years old when I first watched it, and though some things flew over my head, I was still just thinking that that school needed a great big fire up until the last few acts of the movie because it was way too rotted from the inside, no matter how hard Morgan Freeman tried to gut the school of impurities. It also baffled me how the troublemakers would be so pissed off that they got the Big Expel and a literal stage exit. They no longer have to go to school. Shouldn't they be doing back flips of joy, or is it just a "turf" thing? Anywho, I thought the school needed a great big fire and that they needed to toss Leona in it. Because DAMN she made me mad. I'm an adult, and she makes me even angrier. XD But I must say, Joe Clark had some real Mt Everest sized stones of steel, because most people are not cut out for such a task.
😂😂 Yep. Watched this movie when I was a kid too and my biggest take aways were I loved Morgan Freeman's character and I absolutely hated that Leona woman. 👀👎🏽👎🏽
The trouble makers being upset and trying to break back into school is an extremely accurate portrayal of what would happen. Misery loves company, and expelling them while they get to see all the other kids stay and make a legitimate shot at making the school better would enrage them to no end. Imagine the means for your entire existence and justification for existing, spreading misery, was suddenly ripped away from you. You'd be pissed!
This is honestly how the high school I went to is right now. When I was in high school, we had a wonderful, amazing African American woman as a Principal. She made sure everyone felt safe in the building. The place felt like a home away from home and the school was one of the best in the district! But now that she isn't the principal there anymore and the current principal is an absolute coward who thought the best way to assert his authority was to change the entire school dress code. My little brother had an absolutely HORRIBLE bully for his entire freshman year who made his life a living hell, but instead of expelling the kid like he should've, the current principal decided that the kid would get suspended for the rest of that school year. THE BULLY BROUGHT A KNIFE TO SCHOOL!!! HE BROUGHT A WEAPON!!! THAT IS PROPER REASONING FOR AN EXPULSION!!!
@@firechasersparkles2023 I'm sure you are right but the people the blame are not the principal or the teachers. The blame falls with the voters and the school board they elected.
Loved this movie. I always hated that mom who was more concerned with her kid getting expelled, and rightly so, over the other kids learning and being in a safe environment.
I love the concept of not letting a few bad apples spoil the entire tree, I've always been the kind of person that believes there's hope for everyone and that no one is completely hopeless but as I grew up and experienced how the world works I've accepted the fact that you can't help some people because quite simply, they don't want to be helped, take the kid in this movie for example who came back and apologized to the principal and ended up doing great, alot of those expelled kids could've had the same opportunity if they really wanted it but instead using probable movie logic and normal logic, I imagine they got expelled, went to a life of crime in the streets and then blamed it on their expulsion and their "lack of opportunities"
I see it more as, everyone can be redeemed if given the chance but they have to mean it and put effort into it. I still think that no one is completely hopeless, it's just that, if they don't want it you shouldn't waste your energy on them when you could use it for something more productive.
I remember moving from NYC to the suburbs of Pennsylvania and the kids thought that the movie was exaggerating. I was like nope that's how high school and middle school s were.
They are important and should be treated as such. Which means restructuring our failing systems to better support their needs and helping them as individuals.
He wasn’t the best principal, not even close. But he was the principal that fixed that school, being nice isn’t the way to fix behavior, the way to fix it is get rid of the source.
Well he knew the best way to actually turn to school around was by getting rid of bad apples which was a good thing along with being a strict disciplinary. i’m not gonna lie but are used to last year live in an apartment for almost a year before I finally got a condo this year and I went back to it and it used to be a complete total disgrace now it’s gotten a little better now. They had a bunch of tenants living there most of them affiliated with drugs gangs and other kinds of criminal activity and I guess they finally the new management got rid of them all made changes to then again doesn’t mean I’m gonna go back to renting I prefer pay mortgage better
That program is strictly to get govt funds since districts are paid based on attendance. Nothing to do with bettering education. Make them repeat grades or let them leave is right.
There are a dozen entire cities full of parents just like her and kids just like him, millions of them. This school is like looking into a crystal ball 15 years into the future. My High School was one of the best in the country for education, standardized testing and sports. Then hurricane katrina happened and over a thousand kids from New Orleans were moved into my school and given free homes in our neighborhoods. In a couple of months it became one of the most crime infested, violent schools in the state with more guns being found, more drugs, more weapons and dozens of bomb threats made by hoodlums that wanted to get out of class. We started spending entire schooldays in the football stadium for “bomb drills” which weren’t drills at all. At that point I just stopped going to school, I was no longer receiving an education and we couldn’t even have normal days in class due to constant disruption’s. 17 years later the neighborhood and area went from one of the best places to raise a kid in Texas to one of the worst hoods in the state. The families that were given nice, 200-300k homes for free still live in them except now there are 3-4 generations of the family living in one home and despite record values for homes that area is somehow similar value. The people that lived there before all those house were handed out to Katrina “victims” for the most part lost their homes due to 2008’s crash leaving mostly people that have never paid a mortgage. This area will never recover and do to that demographic change and steep increase in drugs, crime and violence that has only gotten worse over the years, it will only continue to get worse.
You mean turning the city into a cesspool 😂🤣😂🤣😂 Paterson NJ crime skyrocketed because of Joe. What happened to the expelled students? No school means free time to perfect crime skills
for some reason, it reminded me of another great teacher. John Keating. from Dead Poets society. the story's end isn't as happy as this but it has a similar value. if you want students to learn, you must first learn who those students are. what they like, what they hate, what they want, what they need, what they know, ... students aren't learning machines. if you want them to learn, you need to motivate them to study. you need to make them understand that what you teach is related to what they enjoy. don't you want to know how this author made his book or her song or that picture or that... ? they want. everybody wants to know more about what they enjoy.
@@zapazap he didn't. but that's beyond the point. both did everything they could, and had to, to ensure students want to study. both saw students as human first. and each human has ideas, preferences, goals, ... if you don't understand that. you can't teach.
If no body is believing in you believe in your self, your self confidence will attract others and will become a motivation to rest, I love how Jo managed to single Handedly change the life at school.
This was a classic movie, and you never hear much about it. When lists are published about great movies, movies everyone should see in their lifetime, and movies that made people sit and think, Lean On Me is one that should be included. Sadly, I have never seen it mentioned. Too bad, because I think this is a great example of the state of our inner city schools. Be the change parents, make the difference.
Lucky, I wish I had a good school... My school is filled of those bad apple everywhere.... 4 years wasted in high school being stuck with those animals
It's very difficult for some teachers and school staff to deal with such delinquent students. Most of their problems derived from their homes and families, and their parents more than likely so don't play an active part in the kids' lives. Many parents just consider their kids innocent and refusing to accept the fact that they're bullies or doing something negative and blame the school and system instead of putting effort and properly parenting and disciplining their kids. Parents play the most critical role in a child's upbringing and development. There's only so much that the school or teachers can do to help students.
One of the best inspirational movies. Sadly in reality many schools in the inner city still have problems, actually the school system has a lot of problems to deal with. Like it or not there will always be bullies in school. Also, there's problems on every side with students, teachers and parents. I remember when I was a kid that I did disorganized the school property and a teacher saw me and I was physically disciplined. It was a lesson I had a to learn and it make me think twice before doing something bad again. Nowadays kids get away with everything with no consequence. Also, there are some good and bad teachers. The good teachers don't have enough support and should be paid more, but that's my opinion.
This what schools needs nowadays, at least in my country no one respects teachers and think (the parents toothat they have the right to get good grades or pass without any effort because otherwise your taking chances from them like wtf and that school is suppose to educate them in a 100% which is not right, the first education comes from the family. Then when they go to college (if they have the chance) they hit their head a 1000 times against the wall because they dont know the basic things and even if they dont go they cant get a job and they expect to get a very well paid job without any skills
reading all the comments here like we were all his students in eastside high back then. great movie, story, act, and lesson for all. A good leader does what needs to be done. well done Mr. Clark and well-done Mr. Freeman👏👏👏
My experience in school is if you get bullied, it's your fault. Teachers hold special meetings with you, bullies don't get special meetings. You'll get thrown into special programs, bullies don't get special programs, bullies can literally destroy your homework, that's your fault and you fail the homework. Literally happened this way for me growing up and that was the start of my life troubles, the same school district wonders why they can't pass levies either and hasn't passed more than one levy in something like 20+ years last I checked, that's not because the staff at schools is terrible though, people are ok with that because it's trash and people like trash, it's that the school administration takes the money and doesn't put it back into schools, but instead, their wallets.
bro dont be a pussy, if you are getting bullied fight back. like getting in a fight isn't going to stop you from getting into college. They dont even care
Surely there's a simple solution to this. It used to be called "the remove". Basically a class where you dump all the moronic violent thug students and unleash them onto each other while everyone else is free of their influence. Put them all in the same classroom.
That sounds like something my old high school Principal Jenny Gibson Linhk.. she was my Principal at Olympia high school in orlando . When we graduated in 2012 ; she left then went to the worst high school in orlando( Evans High school) and she changed the outcome of that school from an F school to now an A school , it may have gone down cause she is no longer the principal but I know the evans I once knew is no longer the school it is today and it's all because o f that woman . She was the most courageous, humble and amazing Principal I've ever had . She is an incredible woman and truly cared about the well being of her students.
I respectfully doubt that. One person isn't enough. It starts with parenting and then an entire school district. One person can run wild and do whatever they want, even if they think it's right.
@@junodonatus4906 it does happen in reality where u think those scum go when they get expelled for the 50th time? where do you think criminals come from?
@@toniotrussardi8126 What I mean is in reality schools cannot simply snap their fingers and get rid of the bad students. It's difficult to impossible even for one student to be expelled. This is why schools do not do turnarounds like in this movie.
Having chains on every exist is possibly one of the stupidest and dangerous idea ever. All one person has to do is throw a lit match and the rest is history.
What I learn from my experience in school is that not everyone is worth saving, some people is just beyond saving and should be let go, instead of spending energy on troublemakers we should focus on those that actually excels and support them in any capacity we could.
Theyre still kids. We are talking about 15 16 year olds, not 60 year old hardcore serial killers here. Some people need different forms of help. And so few people can actually get the help they actually need.
@@TheKillaShow no, 7-13 are just kids. 15-16 is old enough to mature up and pay attention in school. If they don’t want to care, don’t waste your time on them. They’ll bring down the rest of the class
@@TheKillaShow I'm 15 yrs old and let me tell you that we already know of what's good for us and our future. We are not kids but teenagers and every single one of us already know that what should we do to succeed of course unless they are mentally disabled.
I watched this thrillling movie years ago but your recap is equally thrilling. You have great talent at story telling and summary right there. Well done.
