Although both are true stores but both teachers (heroines) took different approach in reaching out to the students. I'm not saying which one is better than which but since I'm writing about Freedom Writers, and I'll focus on its lessons and make my $ paid for the movie worthwhile.
What I know after watching the movie, my movie partner - the cooking pot and I actually ran to the bookshop and grabbed The Freedom Writers Diary straightaway. Yep. We both have our own copies even though we stayed under one roof. To us, it's that good. They have definitely reached us. And guess what, I've finished the Diary in 1 day. :-). now I got those panda eyes -.- ... bleh. But it's worth it.
Synopsis
Erin Gruwell (Ms. G) was a new teacher in Woodrow Wilson High School who didn't expect to have gangster's members in her class 203. To be exact there are 3 tribes ... the Latinos, the Asians and the African American. Some even brought guns inside the classroom. Amazing. -.- She has planned her lesson before hand but all those didn't work out that well. In fact her lesson plan was folded into an airplane and flew back to her.
Constant fighting and demeaning about the other tribes were the daily attraction in her class but the turning point was when one of the student (African American) was mocked by the entire class over a hand-drawn image of him having a big lips. He didn't retaliate (surprisingly) he just sat there and felt really sad.
Ms G managed to get the drawing and actually put it in the book and she shared about she saw a similar drawing in the museum before. It's when the Nazis were trying to demean the Jewish and created very ugly portrayals of the Jewish and in the end killed millions in Holocaust. When asked whether any of the students know what Holocaust is ... none of them know except the one and only white boy in the class. She knew then that she has to totally changed her curriculum and made history came to life through the lives of the students.
What went from there was Ms G constant effort and sacrifices in bringing the students what the school system couldn't provide, such as opportunity for field trip and even books. When Ms G suggested to let them read The Diary of Anne Frank to the department head, she was quickly shunned down by comments like ... the students didn't deserve it, they'll tear the book anyway, the books are too difficult for them since they even have reading disabilities. Ms G didn't give up. She took up 2 more part-time jobs (selling bra + concierge for Marriott) in order to buy new books for the students. It did make a difference. When the student had those new books on their hands ... they felt noticed, acknowledged and most importantly cared. Since then, books have been their best friends, especially those who were written by teens and survived the ordeal like Zlata Filipović (who survived Bosnian war and being called Anne Frank of Sarajevo) and even progressed to books by Shakespeare like Romeo and Juliet which the stupid gang fights the student can relate and also found it really stupid.
When you think that the journey ended for the students who finally made reading is their number one hobby, you were wrong. They (with Ms G efforts of course) took one step further and actually inviting people such as Zlata herself and Miep Gies (the lady who hid Anne Frank and preserved Anne Frank's diary for publishing) to come to the school and talked to them. Those moments were just priceless.
D.D.'s A-HA Moments
Actually the turning point of the students was not only while reading, it's actually by writing - and hence they are called the Freedom Writers. Ms G gave each one of them a notebook. She asked them to write an entry every day, be it only one paragraph or one sentence, they have to make a commitment to write everyday. If they wanted it to be read by Ms G, they were allowed to put it in a locked shelf where only Ms G had access. To her surprise, majority put it there. And that's when Ms G knew all their stories, hardships, shame, feelings, families, drugs, killings, etc. And the act of writing itself has freed the students from the tyranny of being caged inside their own tragedy. Once they let out ... things have never been the same again.
And to my surprise, the diary does exist. They compiled it ... and it has become a book and it's on my hand. Inside I can find the entries from various souls, who have voices to be heard and I just want to tell that ... hey, I'm from Singapore and I heard ya.
Another touching moments to me and to the students was when Ms G brought them to the Museum of Tolerance. As Wikipidea puts it, The Museum of Tolerance is a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, with an associated museum in New York City, designed to examine racism and prejudice in the United States and the world with a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust. When they entered the Holocaust section, each of them will get a card of about a kid that's related to Holocaust. By the end of the trip, they can scan it to a computer and find out whether the kid they got is alive or dead. If they are dead, they can find out how they are dead. You can even print out the results. (So cool ....) Even though I'm not there to take the card personally, I can just feel how horrifying when you got a 5 yr old girl's photo and by the end of the trip you realized, the girl was put to death in the gas chamber. it's horrifying. Though you may not know the kid but you could just feel a wave of sadness swayed through your heart.
Guess my entire lesson from this movie is the word - Tolerance. Ms G has definitely taken the class to a bigger plane where the students of different races are finally come to terms and helping each other. What amazed me is that in my own small little life ... in the same races that I am ... I still see people can't tolerate each other due to even more stupid reasons. I'm ashamed as I may be part of that too. Do I really need the "near-the-bullet-shot" experience that what I think matters now actually will not matters in years to come? Do I really need to experience how it is like to live thinking that you may just die tomorrow due to some gang fights and stray bullets and then I'll realize that what I have right now is actually one of the best experience on earth?
Tell me about it.
Hall of Fame
The Freedom Writers - Image source www.gruwellproject.org
Zlata Filipović - Image source http://shreveport.blogspot.com
Miss Erin Gruwell - Image source www.freedomwritersfoundation.org
Miep Gies - Image source www.miepgies.dk
Hillary Swank and Erin Gruwell - Image source www.washingtonpost.com
Videos
Trailer
Be Heard: Erin Gruwell on Her First Year of Teaching
Be Heard: Erin on Bonding with Her Students
Be Heard: Erin on the Freedom Writers' Journals
Be Heard: Erin on Her Students' Perspective
