I think it means that a lot of teachers are desperate for validation. Low wages, media and political bashing, stuck between administrators and parents, there isn’t a whole lot of positive feedback for a lot of them. Being able to get that, even vicariously, is probably a great relief for some.

I find this manifests itself when I see teachers asking to be treated professionally. I spent decades working professionally, and what that meant was that you were in a dog eat dog world where you’d get your butt handed to you on a plate if you didn’t perform at the top of the group.

As little as I think the rest of the world understands teaching sometimes, I’m also afraid that our teachers don’t have a great grasp on how a lot of the business world works – I’m not sure they’re the best to prepare our kids to go out and deal with that.

Whoops – sorry about that. I had no idea I was going to rant on this.

These tropes get even scarier when you glance backward in the theater and watch all the teachers just eating them up along with the popcorn. What does that mean?

You forgot my favorite teacher movie theme: White woman saves urban children with revolutionary teaching method, such as listening to them or doing a home visit.

And there’s always the teacher inspires kids to Dance-Away-Socioeconomic-Struggle theme!

With that said, the documentary Mad, Hot, Ballroom was adorable and inspirational. The remake with Antonio Banderras made me want to throw up.

I agree w/ your overall film critique, but the mindlessness of Prez’ prep does not seem to be wildly exaggerated.

(Were you saying something earlier about shitty content standards?)

And all I’m saying is, nine cases out of ten, “these kids can’t learn,” is equivalent to, “that teacher can’t teach.”