Freedom Writers

The Freedom Writers In America, extremely costly, and inspirational movies on leaps in education and devoted teachers absolutely hinders our society. Our goals are flawed as the actors and actresses who take the persona of these incredible real-life characters are paid far more than the actual people who sacrifice their lives for the social betterment of the future. The flaws in the educational system following the recession of our economy has indubitably been caused by the cutbacks on school funding, and the laying off of many teachers who simply hadn’t gained enough seniority to keep a job. Our culture needs a major shift in priorities; this sort of occurrence has created a form of mockery among the school system in America. If this morose pattern of paying people to portray real teachers ludicrous amounts more than the actual teacher themselves continues, our future is in danger. Unfortunately the goals of our society have nothing to do with promoting great teachers who devote their lives to their careers, creating a morose setting for them outside of their job. This is due to the low salary of teachers; some even have to get more than one job outside of their vocation. The movie, Freedom Writers, shows a story of a devoted teacher who works for a gang-filled school, and cannot find any support or resources for her classroom because none of the faculty believes they will even pass freshmen year. The phenomenal and life changing teacher Mrs. G is portrayed by the well renowned actress, Hilary Swank. Throughout her plight as a low-paid teacher, she struggles to purchase resources for her classroom, and as a result she takes up two extra jobs. In the process of changing the hostile environment of her classroom to one filled with love and care, she drifts away from her husband, resulting in their divorce. This story is absolutely true to real life situations that today’s teachers are facing. Teachers like Mrs. G shouldn’t have to worry about paying for resources, because they should be provided, and her home life shouldn’t be interrupted by extra jobs to “pay for her job”, because that is quite oxymoronic. (La Gravanese). As a student in the United States of America, I can attest to the issues I see everyday as I go to school. I often hear about how we can’t afford colored paper, but I see the perfectly functional roads being repaved. And I often hear from my best teachers that they lose their homes and struggle with balancing their personal lives and their vocations. While my teachers are shaping me into a better person and student, their struggles are the result of their efforts. That fact of life is paradoxical and extremely absurd. While outstanding people devote their lives to the betterment of tomorrow and our society, actors such as Hilary Swank are being paid extravagantly more to portray a real life hero who probably won’t make anywhere close to Swank’s salary in her lifetime. Phenomenal teachers all over the country are feeling the similar pain that Mrs. G felt, “[t]hese cuts actually helped make the economic downturn worse, as they forced states and localities to layoff teachers and other education-sector workers. Since 2009, more than 200,000 teaching jobs have vanished” (Waldron). The vanishing teaching jobs are a result of the government cutting school funding, which is quite paradoxical, as it is harming the economy. The movie was inspirational, but what would make is even more inspirational would be if Swank took no more than the teacher she portrayed. Our society is headed down a dark path if we continue to value trivial entertainment over the education of our youth. Inspirational films such as this should not be something vital to our society, as it is just a movie created for our entertainment. The production of the movie, Freedom Writers is a demonstration of how our society is skewed in our goals for our country, “States have made deep cuts to their education budgets in the years since the Great Recession, and as their budgets remained crunched by lower levels of tax revenues, more than half are spending less on education this school year than they did last year” (Oliff). These continuing cuts on education and the continuation of supposedly inspiring films about our education system’s success and very low wages is ironic. Our society is very much aware of the slighted system out into place and we continue to place entertainment higher on our priority list. With the education being cut back, the youth of our society will be negatively affected. Unfortunately films like this hinder our society and take away from what should be of utmost importance, the education of today’s youth. Inspirational films based on teachers brining together students for the betterment of society, is a ridiculous production and waste of money that should be used t o fund our dissipating numbers of teachers. In the United States, and actor makes millions more than an teacher, and their parts are often based on their inspirational stories and sacrifices to educate our youth. These philanthropic individuals who dedicate their time to their students and as a result lose loved ones and struggle financially, should not feel the plight of their selfless actions. Our educations system is instead losing money whole actors are being paid far more than our provincial heroes. If our society wants to continue moving forward successfully, our priorities need to be shifted from the entertainment industry to the education system.

Works Cited
La Gravanese, Richard. IMBD. 7/13/07. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/. 5/3/13
Oliff, Phill. Center on Budget Cuts and Priorities. V. 1. 3/19/13. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3927. 5/3/13.
Waldron, Travis. Think Progress. V.1, 9/4/12. http://thinkprogress.org/education/2012/09/04/791981/study-26-states-cut- education/?mobile=nc. 5/3/13.

Cited: La Gravanese, Richard. IMBD. 7/13/07. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/. 5/3/13 Oliff, Phill. Center on Budget Cuts and Priorities. V. 1. 3/19/13. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3927. 5/3/13. Waldron, Travis. Think Progress. V.1, 9/4/12. http://thinkprogress.org/education/2012/09/04/791981/study-26-states-cut- education/?mobile=nc. 5/3/13.