To Sir, with Love (1967)
Directed by: James
Clavell
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Lulu, Christian
Roberts
To Sir, with Love is our first of three films in the series that looks
at inspirational teachers. Teachers play an undeniably integral role in
education; they are the primary purveyors of it.
The film industry has long been interested in portraying teachers as
individuals with the power to make a difference, more so success stories of
teachers assigned to “trouble” schools.
The movie is a classic that was made memorable by the performances of Sidney
Poitier and the students (as well as by the theme song of the same title sung by
Lulu).
Set in 1960’s England, Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) is a trained engineer
unable to find work. Out of necessity, he takes up a teaching position at a
school in the slums of London’s East End.
Assigned to the senior class made up of rambunctious and rebellious students,
the film follows his journey with the students from struggle to success and,
parallel to this, his eventual conversion to the teaching profession.
Lessons learnt
Thackeray has a hard time with his students — they show him no respect, have
no interest and pay no attention during class time — until he realises that he
must stop treating them like kids and start treating them as “adults”.
At this pivotal moment of realisation, he symbolically throws all the
textbooks into the bin, “These are useless to you,” he tells the class.
“We’re going to talk, you and I. About life, survival, love, death, sex,
marriage, rebellion — anything you want.”
From this point on, he no longer begins his class with “copy this down,” but
with “what would you like to talk about today?”
Immediately the students sit up; they are more interested and engaged, their
class time has become more enriching.
He also implements a strict code of common courtesy and personal grooming in
the classroom, advising the boys to be men and the girls to be ladies.
There are discussions, a cooking demonstration (by Thackeray himself) and
even, for the first time, an excursion to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
At the same time, the student-teacher relationship improves, perhaps largely
helped by the maturity with which Thackeray treats the students. They get to
know him, laugh with him and respect him.
In fact, so grateful and attached are they that they even get “Sir” an
end-of-the-year present.
From these positive developments, we can see that his teaching methods work
well.
Consequently, the film raises an interesting and topical point regarding what
is being taught in the classroom: are students being taught the right and
relevant things in the right and relevant ways?
Thackeray abandons textbooks in favour of life skills and life issues;
exercise books in favour of culture and exploration.
He encourages questions and stimulates discussions.
What Thackeray teaches may not be the prescribed syllabus or curriculum, but
by no means is it less of an education.
In fact, by preparing his students for what is waiting for them “out there”
and for what they will need in the working world, he is arguably providing them
with something closer to a real education.
Talking points
Now that we have started a discussion, these talking points are included in
the spirit of furthering it. They are merely jumping boards to help you along
with thinking about the film.
- What do you think a real education is?
- Can you think of something important you have learnt in the classroom that has not come from a textbook?
- Do you have a good relationship with your teacher/students? Do you have a teacher that inspires you? What do you think makes an inspiring teacher?
We encourage you to watch the film and formulate your own ideas.
Tags:
Innovation