Dr. V, I am so glas that you had us watch this movie in class this week because that is the kind of teaching I am interested in. Education is one of the strongest tools we can use to reform people who have commited crimes in the past, and this is the kind of education that will really make a difference in the world. A lot of the guys in the movie were probably under privileged and under educated when they were younger, which could possibly be the reason they got into trouble in the first place. They didn’t have the means to get a job to support themselves, so they sold drugs. Or they just got caught up in the whole drug situation and made some bad decisions, but the point is, it all stems from education. Education is the solution to everything, as far as I’m concerned and it seemed to me like their teacher in the movie, Lauren Bell, made a real difference in the lives of those men.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the program where you go around and teach students in the United States who live in uneducated or under privileged areas, but I would love to be a part of something like that. It’s somewhat like the Peace Corps, because you don’t really get paid for the work you are doing; it’s based on volunteer work. I really would like to participate in a program like that or do something like Lauren Bell did in the movie Slam.
November 14, 2008 at 9:32 am
Do you mean Teach for America? It’s a very competitive program to get into, but they offer some great incentives for those planning to go on to graduate school, as does the Peace Corps. Not to mention the intrinsic rewards…