The Freedom Writers, Newly Licensed High School

The movie “Freedom Writers” is based on a true story. Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell plays an inspirational teacher at Wilson High School. She is ready to take on the teaching world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day. Her class, varied with teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds, wants nothing more than to just get through the day. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, gang members, and much more are from poor neighborhoods, that all share a similar hatred for each other. On the first day of teaching she is very scared and unsure, but she knows she has to stop the racism in the class as well as their attitude towards life. Despite her students' persistent refusal to participate

Freedom Writers is a movie based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell. The movie was directed by Richard LaGravenese and it was released in 2007. This movie discusses significant themes such as stereotyping and racial discrimination but most important the power of tolerance and understanding. The purpose of this movie is to promote the message that knowledge is power and in a world filled with disparities where hundreds of ethnic groups convey and interact humans are obliged to accept and tolerate the differences that define each person. This film is a perfect example of how these rhetorical components are used to create an effective argument. The director of the movie as well as the characters build their

Freedom Writers begins with 23-year old Erin Gruwell starting her first year as a teacher. She is extremely optimistic, until a fight breaks out in her classroom on the very first day. The principal warns her not to get her hopes up, seeing as those students most likely will drop out after freshman or sophomore year. Most of them

In the movie, The Freedom Writers Mrs. Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) plays a role of a dedicated teacher who did all she could, to help her students learn to respect themselves and each other. She has little idea of what she's getting into when she volunteers to be an English teacher at a newly integrated high school in Long Beach, California. Her students were divided along racial lines and had few aspirations beyond basic survival. Mrs. Gruwell was faced with a big challenge when a group of freshmen students showed her nothing but disrespect which made it hard for her to communicate, teach and understand them. However, Erin Gruwell was determined that no matter the cost she would teach her students not only

For my writing course, I picked the film Freedom Writers and Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education by bell hooks to be paired together because of the many similarities and connections they have. Both tackle race, and family values and how it links with education. I will address what is shown with the relationship of racially divided students and how it played a role in the film and text.

A perfect example of a movie that demonstrates how poverty and feelings of oppression affect school violence is “Freedom Writers.” In this movie a 23 year old teacher named Erin Gruwell (Hilary swank) takes on the challenge of teaching at a school full of students brought up in gangs. These students had been written off by their school as hopeless cases but she tried to change that and get through to them by buying them new books such as Anne Frank and believing in them.

This can be easily identified throughout the film in Freedom Writers where the nonwhite students behave. They are portrayed as dysfunctional, criminals, degenerates, illiterate and racially divided miscreants. There are many signs and signifiers of how discrimination among the people of color is depicted, often to heighten the message of ‘White people saving the day’. One example is through the students in which the film portrays a certain stereotype of one’s race or identity. Andre Bryant is one of Erin Gruwell’s student.

As a social justice group, the Writers adopt many campaigns to promote tolerance and understanding, one of which is focused on ending violence in all of its forms. In his letter to Zlata, Freedom Writer Tommy Jefferson writes, “Now that I’ve read your book, I am educated on what is happening in Bosnia. I would like the opportunity now to educate people on what is happening in my ‘America’ because until this ‘undeclared war’ has ended, I am not free!” (79). Using the information and techniques this Freedom Writer has learned through experiences like reading Zlata’s book, Tommy will work to end the racial discrimination and violence perpetrated in American society. Ultimately, the idea of ending bigotry and systemic oppression through education and writing lies at the heart of the Freedom Writers’ goals. Similarly, many of the Freedom Writers recount their experiences in Washington D.C. where they were able to cover up swastikas which had been painted on public property and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust while visiting the Holocaust museum. In response, the writer of Diary 85 affirmed. Furthermore, the author of Diary 86 professed.. Whereas the students has majorly ignored injustices prior to Ms. Gruwell’s class and their union as the Freedom Writers, they later developed the desire and drive to bring about change in humanity. Empowerment through firsthand

The Freedom Writers tells the story of an unusual yet brilliant and quite enthusiastic new high school teacher who takes a chance on teaching an English class filled with students that are considered both troubled and incompetent regarding their academic performance or even in their day-to-day

This film reminded me of the blue eye, brown eye experiment in how if we influence children to believe a certain way about people they do it without realizing the damage. And in the “Freedom Writers” instead of being the blue eye, brown eye experiment the parents or parental authority influences the kids to discriminate other race. But what the teacher does is show the students how discrimination is a hateful action. Erin teaches the students the different discrimination that happened around the world that ended in death and jail. Erin taught the students to be in other peoples shoes but also to become a

The films “Freedom Writers” and “The Great Debaters” tell inspirational success stories of students fighting racism on their way to the top. Freedom Writers tells a story of a school filled with gang violence. One class, led by teacher Erin Gruwell, is taught to overlook their differences and unite. The Great Debaters accounts Wiley College’s debate team and how they had to fight extreme racism, on top of becoming a successful team. In both movies, discrimination based on race is clear. A group in power is looking down and taking advantage of people, based on their race. A strong teacher figure, in Erin Gruwell and Melvin Tolson, is present to push the students to their potential. Although there is racial tension and discrimination in both stories, they are between different races. The school setting is also different, as Wiley College in The Great Debaters is segregated, and Woodrow Wilson

The film Freedom Writers directed by Richard La Gravenese is an American film based on the story of a dedicated and idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell, who inspires and teaches her class of belligerent students that there is hope for a life outside gang violence and death. Through unconventional teaching methods and devotion, Erin eventually teaches her pupils to appreciate and desire a proper education. The film itself inquiries into several concepts regarding significant and polemical matters, such as: acceptance, racial conflict, bravery, trust and respect. Perhaps one of the more concentrated concepts of the film, which is not listed above, is the importance and worth of education. This notion is

Freedom Writers kicks off with its opening scene depicting the depths of ethnic stereotypes. It films a young Hispanic female, Eva, looking at a white barbie who has “grace and beauty” and then sees a doll of an Hispanic (Aztec) girl who “is not equal in beauty and blessings.”(Freedom Writers) But the blatant demonstration of prejudice doesn’t stop there…when Gruwell is talking with the department chair, Margaret Campbell, she compliments her pearl necklace and says “I wouldn’t wear that to class.”(Campbell) This comment is an example of prejudice against the minorities and reinforces the stereotype of people of color as “thieves.” Another example where stereotypes and discrimination are addressed is when Mrs. Gruwell wants to introduce Romeo and Juliet to her class but Mrs. Campbell declines her request to rent books for her students because she believes they don’t have the necessary skills to read and comprehend it—believing that these students are incapable of learning is

The movie Freedom Writers is about Erin Gruwell who is starting her first year as an English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School. This school is racially divided with many gangs and violence erupting at any time. Ms. Gruwell was the students main subject of hate too. After having a discussion with her students about what they were feeling about their lives and situations, she took the responsibility of educating the students no matter what the cost was. She would eventually get through to the teens by passing out journals for them to write their personal life stories in. As the year went on, the students started to trust Ms.Gruwell. The next academic year, she had the students getting along with one another and reading The Diary of Ann Frank. She faced many critics within the school, but she ultimately succeeded.

“Everybody thinks you should be happy just because you’re young. They don’t see the wars that we fight every single day”. Brandy Ross, one of the students in the movie Freedom Writers once said. This is the predicament that the students in Woodrow Wilson High School faced every day. There are dead bodies on the street, the students have to protect themselves from other gangs, and most of them didn’t finish high school. It might not be a big issue for us because we didn’t face it by ourselves, but after watching this movie you will know that it is a significant thing to look at. The differences among race caused all of these problems, to deal with this is not easy at all. Freedom Writers show us that we can live our life with distinction because it shows us how to understand and accept dissimilarity that we have and also to