The following artifact was the culminating project for my EDUC 570 course. This assignment challenged me to look at a medium and examine the portrayal of schools, students, teachers, and administrators, as well as their relationships to one another. As an additional criterion for the assignment, I chose to evaluate the portrayal of individuals with disabilities in film. My analysis of these portrayals illuminates my understanding of the stereotypes that people with disabilities endure. This topic was important to me because I feel that individuals with disabilities are grossly stereotyped and disrespected in some of the films that I reviewed. I also recognize generalizations and insults made about other individuals, such as homosexuals, people of color, and people who are overweight. I had not yet enrolled in EDCT 556 when I completed this assignment, but many of the issues I examined are discussed in that course. I believe that this assignment serves as an example of critical media literacy as well as an analysis of the way schools are portrayed in film.
Terri Greenwood
Terri Greenwood
EDUC 570
Final Paper: The Film Project
Abstract
In order to complete this project, I chose ten films related to education to view and analyze. I focused mainly on the ways in which schools are structured, socially and physically, as well as the relationships of the teachers depicted with their colleagues and students. For an additional criterion, I looked at the way in which individuals with disabilities are portrayed in film, and created a poster to illustrate the most prevalent themes of these portrayals. Since I am a special education teacher, it seemed appropriate that I look closely at the way in which special populations are represented.
One of the main realizations that I have had in this process is the fact that 1) individuals with disabilities are often portrayed in an unflattering or inappropriate way and 2) that more often that not, people with disabilities are not depicted at all. The medium of film fails to provide a realistic representation of these populations. In addition to the above realization, I believe that this project has made me a better observer and a more critical consumer of media. This week, I have reflected a great deal upon Maxine Greene’s article from the first week of readings and I feel that I now have a clear understanding of her key points and am able to see how important it is to provide students with learning experiences that give them opportunities to be more critical of the information, explicit and implicit, that they are constantly taking in.
Criteria for Review
Being an educator in a junior high school setting, I have chosen to assign a grade to each film/show that I have watched for this project. These films were graded on an A-F scale. I chose to grade the films that I watched because I work with many students who care deeply about their grades. It often seems that all that matters is the grade, not what the student has learned in the process of earning the grade. That said, I have many students on my caseload who seem quite disconnected with their grades. These students focus much more on what they are learning and what implications this new knowledge has for them, if any. The vastly different values placed on grades by my students and their parents fascinate me. As a special educator, I have mixed feelings about grades and find myself to be disappointed because often grades do not actually reflect what my students have gained from being exposed to various content/curricula. The system I have used to grade these films is completely subjective and based entirely on what I perceive that I gleaned from watching them. These films were graded based on how much of an impact they had on me, good or bad.
A film that earns the grade of A must be entertaining and engaging. To earn an A, the film must either present a realistic depiction (according to this author) of teachers and students and the relationships between the characters, or it must provide such an absurd depiction of schooling that the audience, whether educators or not, is forced to question certain elements of the film. A movie that earns an A makes the audience think and reconsider preconceived notions about the field of education. A film that earns a grade in the B range is a film that is fun to watch, or moving in some way, yet there is something missing. That something could be a connection to the characters, a lack of closure, or a depiction of education and schooling that is either a) not realistic enough, or b) not unrealistic enough to encourage the audience to take a more critical look at the way schools are presented. A film that earns a grade in the C-range is lacking. While these films may have been made with the best intentions, there was something major missing for this author. Perhaps a film that earns a C is unexciting, or does not challenge or present stereotypes enough. I did not give any films a grade of D or F; had one been that bad (in my opinion) I would have turned it off and chosen a different movie to watch. I have a short attention span and need to be engaged in what is being presented to me.
Film Reviews
Glee The first season of the television show Glee earns an A! This show is hilarious! While the musical acts take a bit of getting used to, the show is amazing. Glee combines the perfect amount of humor with a look at the lives of fairly typical teens and their teachers in suburban Ohio. The scenarios encountered by the characters are for the most part completely unrealistic, but from an entertainment perspective, this show rocks. Watching this show is quite a nice way to unwind on a Tuesday night, and the absurdity of the assumptions presented provides the perfect opportunity for the audience to take a critical look at schooling and stereotypes of all sorts.
Precious A somber and riveting movie, Precious earns a B+. The acting in this film is absolutely superb; the viewer just doesn’t get much closure about the fate of the protagonist, Precious. The young woman has been through so much that the viewer cannot help but want to know more. Note: not for the faint-hearted; this film explores issues related to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
Juno A heart-wrenching, yet brilliantly hilarious and uplifting movie! Juno earns a solid A! Teenager Juno experiences one of the scariest circumstances a high school student can imagine: she’s pregnant. The audience follows Juno as she makes the most difficult decision of her life, with her dry sense of humor leading the way. A stunning performance from Ellen Page! However, schooling is not at the center of this story.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off This film is a salute to stereotypical popular kids everywhere. Who knows if any have actually been as clever, conniving, and charismatic as Ferris, but this film takes the audience on a wild ride, earning an A-. The audience has the pleasure of tagging along for a day in the life of Ferris Bueller-and we learn a few tricks along the way!
Fast Times at Ridgemont High Stoner Spicoli and others demonstrate the fantasy world of suburban high school in the early 1980s. From sex to smoking pot to pregnancy, this film is a hoot! Unfortunately, we don’t really get to know any of the characters on a deep level, resulting in this film’s grade of a B-.
Chalk This film is difficult to watch. It took a lot for me not to turn this one off and choose a different film, and its grade of C- reflects this. Chalk is supposed to look like a documentary (but isn’t), and it still does not truly reflect teaching in a realistic way. The last twenty minutes are quite interesting, but its slow pace and lack of excitement doesn’t do this film any favors.
Elephant A somewhat disturbing, yet gripping movie, Elephant earns an A-. The audience follows various typical high school students on what is supposed to be a normal day of school, but ends with tragedy. High school violence is explored in this eye-opening film. My only complaint is that I didn’t feel like I got to know the perpetrators…maybe that was the point.
The Breakfast Club Another John Hughes film! The Breakfast Club introduces the audience to a core group of high school students (and one administrator) whom we get to know quite well. These kids learn that it can be rough all over and develop a mutual respect through a day of Saturday detention. At the outset, these kids could not be more different, but they soon learn that they have more in common than they ever would have guessed! This funny and emotional movie earns an A.
There are a few themes that are common in the movies that I watched in order to complete this project. While not every theme was present in every movie, they occurred throughout my selections, and many films contained more than one of these prominent themes. The first theme that I began to notice is that of teen pregnancy. While the choices made by the various pregnant teens and the circumstances surrounding them were vastly different, there were quite a few pregnant girls in these films! Also, the ways in which the teachers and administrators reacted to pregnancy in these films were very different. Teen pregnancy is an issue in the following films from my selections: Glee, Precious, Juno, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In Glee Mr. Schuster, the Glee club director, tries to be supportive of the pregnant teen, Quinn, and her boyfriend, Finn (though he later learns that his friend, Puck, is the father). Schuster even takes them to a doctor appointment! Schuster does not judge the teens the way that their peers do, or in the even more harsh way that the PE teacher and cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, does. What strikes me as odd is that although the teens speak to the school guidance counselor about wanting to “be cool” again, she does not discuss Quinn’s pregnancy with her or talk about the teen’s options now that she is pregnant. Schuster, the teacher-hero, as Cowan and Mickleborough (2009) might say, seems to blur boundaries and take on tasks that may not be appropriate for a teacher, while the counselor is not shown doing what guidance counselors do: guiding! In Precious, the administrator at her first school intervenes and suggests an alternative placement for Precious, a school that would teach her to read and write during her pregnancy. The teacher at Precious’ new school even visits her in the hospital on many occasions after she gives birth. In Juno there was no intervention from school personnel-just a snooty look from the school secretary! The same goes for Fast Times, except that unlike the other films, the pregnant character chooses to have an abortion.
Teacher rivalry and teacher-administrator tension were also prevalent issues in many of the films. Some of these tense scenarios were surprisingly realistic, while others were pretty much ridiculous in terms of my own experience teaching in both the public school system, as well as in a non-public school designed to provide special education services to students with emotional disturbance who would benefit from day treatment services and could not be maintained in a traditional public school setting. In Glee PE teacher/”Cheerio” coach, Sue Sylvester and Spanish teacher/”New Directions” director, Will Schuster, are constantly at odds. Sue becomes quite upset when the glee club is reinstated by Schuster at the school after a hiatus. What ensues is a never-ending battle for funding and accommodations for each teacher’s respective extracurricular activity. No doubt, the lengths that Sylvester goes to are ridiculous and (at least in my experience) would not be tolerated in a pubic institution whatsoever. That said, I have experienced the politics of the public school system to a certain extent, and teachers do successfully play tug or war with administrators to gain funding for their preferred programs. Sometimes it really does matter “who you know.”
Like Glee, Chalk also displays pretty intense depictions of teach-administrator tension, as the PE teacher in the film tries to convince her best friend, a former choir director-turned assistant principal, that the harsh tardy policy should be a top priority on the school. In addition, Mr. Stroope, a third-year history teacher, seems to be completely preoccupied with winning the teacher of the year contest. He even campaigns against his competition. It’s all for naught; he loses anyway. This brings me to another common theme among these films. Besides the teachers in Precious, many of the teachers depicted are focused on very traditional values, like punctuality. I am not saying that attendance and punctuality are unimportant; it is just the opposite. However, locking students our of class for being a few seconds late, as suggested in Chalk, is counterproductive and only causes students to miss out on important instructional time. What is truly important here? Mr. Hand in Fast Times is also very irritated by Spicoli’s chronic tardiness and also locks his door. In my experience it is often the tardy students who are at risk for academic failure as it is and should not be locked out to miss educational opportunities.
While there are common themes of teachers and other school personnel who are portrayed to care deeply about their students, such as Will Schuster and Emma (the guidance counselor) in Glee, and both the public school administrator and the alternative school teacher in Precious, I found more examples of teachers and administrators who are shown to be out to get students. Examples of these portrayals are found in The Breakfast Club (Mr. Vernon), Glee (Sue Sylvester), Ferris Bueller’s day Off (Mr. Rooney), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Mr. Hand), and Chalk (the PE teacher). Perhaps these examples of school figures who are not portrayed in a flattering light are exacerbated by my choice in films, as I did not watch such movies as Freedom Writers and Dangerous Minds, but I do know that the teacher-heroes in these films are depicted to care deeply about their students in a holistic way. I believe that the way in which these figures are represented has a great deal to do with the intended audience for each respective film.
Movies do have intended audiences. These intended audiences determine which previews will be played before the movie begins and what other types of advertising an other subliminal messages will be communicated. The way in which the characters of each movie I viewed were depicted was strategically thought out and carefully planned. The intended message of these films to their intended audiences determines how each character will be portrayed, and this explains why characters in the same school “role” are seen differently in the films. For example, Will Schuster is the major teacher protagonist in the show Glee. He is practically bullied by Sue Sylvester, PE teacher and Cheerio coach, who is depicted as butch, gruff, conniving, manipulative, and cold-hearted. She will stop at nothing to make sure that her squad stays on top, popularity-wise, and when it comes to funding. To accentuate how awful Sue Sylvester is, her Cheerios are also depicted as terrible people, always making fun of others, preoccupied with how much they weigh, starving themselves, and even spying on the glee club for their coach. Schuster’s image is aided by the fact that the initial participants in the glee club, New Directions, are for the most part underdogs who nobody likes or cares enough to pay any attention to them. Take Rachel, who is always talking about her dads, or Kurt, who is incredibly stereotypically homosexual, or Tina, whom we believe has a stutter, or Artie in his wheelchair, Mercedes, this large, fabulous young black woman, or even Finn, the awkward, but popular jock who has a thing for singing. Even Quinn Fabray earns a little audience pity after she learns she is pregnant and is kicked off the Cheerios and out of her house. Quinn still seems a Cheerio at heart, though, when she refuses to tell Finn that her baby is really Puck’s. Whew! So much drama! What I am trying to say is that the audience is manipulated into identifying with Schuster and the outcasts, rather than Strom Thurmond, wait, I mean Sue Sylvester.
The administrator in Glee is portrayed as being powerless over his own power. He is easily manipulated and allows himself to get sucked into the rivalry between Sylvester and Schuster. He does not intervene when Sylvester makes inappropriate comments about Schuster’s hair, lack of manliness, and even about the glee club members, calling them “mouth-breathers” and referring to individuals with disabilities as “cripples!” I suppose the ambivalence of Principal Figgins is what allows the shenanigans between Sylvester and Schuster to ensue. Similar to the way in which Figgins is portrayed, Edward Rooney, the administrator in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, is presented as a power-hungry, yet unstable and ultimately powerless character. Rooney will stop at nothing to catch Ferris in the act and punish him, kind of like the way that Sylvester continuously searches for something to tattle on Schuster of the glee club kids about. This illuminates the other characters as reasonable, thus the audience tends to identify more closely with them. Mr. Vernon, in The Breakfast Club, is yet another administrator who is portrayed in a negative light. Vernon is easily fooled by students, whom the audience grows to care for and empathize with. He is kind of a pathetic character, sitting at school all day on a Saturday to carry out punishments that the students couldn’t for the most part care less about. All he can do when they (Bender in particular) continue to act out is issue them more and more Saturday detentions. Still, another character meets this parallel: the PE teacher in Chalk, who, like Sylvester, is portrayed as butch and mean-spirited, as she tries to insist that teachers lock their students out when they are tardy. The way in which these characters exemplify specific roles in schools was not done by accident; the film makers thought carefully about which characters the audience would identify with and what message they were trying to get across in the film.
Film is an incredible medium. Media messages can be constructed in film in order to “set-up” scenarios that communicate even more messages. For example, the character Becky, in Glee, is a student with Down syndrome who tries out for the Cheerios. Surprisingly, Sue accepts her onto the team. Schuster is sure she must be up to something, but soon after, the audience discovers that Sue’s own sister has Down syndrome and appears to be institutionalized. Sue implies that people with disabilities should be treated the same as anyone else, and the audience sees a different side to this character, who is so easy to dislike. Immediately when we see that she has a sister with a disability, we assume “oh she can’t be that bad.” It is so easy to forget that this character also referred to Artie as a cripple.
Even the clothing that people wear in these films serve as examples of media messages constructed specifically to convey messages. For example, Kurt, from Glee is stereotypically homosexual and wears designer clothes in each episode and references them multiple times, even removing certain articles of clothing before being thrown into a dumpster by the “popular” boys. The cheerleaders are always wearing their Cheerio outfits to signify their status in the school, as well. The fact that the members of the glee club are unpopular is yet another embedded message that people who are gay, overweight, of color, raised by two parents of the same sex, have physical disabilities, have speech dysfluency, and who enjoy singing and dancing are not popular people. The popular people in this show are overwhelmingly thin, white, and do not have disabilities. The same pattern can be found in the remainder of the movies that I have reviewed for this project, notably Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Juno, Elephant, and The Breakfast Club.
Language is also used in films to emphasize certain connotations. In Precious, our protagonist cannot read and write. She also speaks in a very distinct manner, without enunciating her words. He mother uses crude language with Precious, as well. Precious even calls her own daughter “Little Mongo.” Her daughter has Down syndrome, so her nickname shows the family’s insensitivity to her disability. In most families this would be extremely inappropriate. In Glee the characters threaten one another with the term “Lima loser,” after their hometown. This implies that most people from the small Ohio town never leave and inevitably become losers. Another insult that appeared in The Breakfast Club and Elephant is the term “retard” or “retarded.” This insult implies that people with cognitive disabilities are bad, similar to the way “gay” implies that homosexuals are bad when it is used as an insult. When the glee club in Glee is referred to as a “homoexplosion,” it suggests that men who enjoy singing and dancing must be gay.
Media messages can be understood in different ways. For example, Emma, the guidance counselor in Glee, is presented as a delicate, meticulous person. Even though Sue Sylvester refers to her as having a mental illness, some audience members may view Emma’s quirks as cute. As a teacher with experience working with students who have significant mental health needs, I had a problem with the way Emma was depicted. I do not believe that making a caricature of a seriously dehabilitating condition is appropriate in the least bit. My fiancé, on the other hand, thinks that it is adorable. People with disabilities, homosexual people, people of color, and school figures are all depicted in ways that can be interpreted differently by different audience members. Feminine homosexual characters may represent reality for some, while other may feel as though these characters suggest that masculine gay men do not exist. Also, a student may see Vernon from The Breakfast Club, as a mean principal who takes pleasure in insulting students, like when he called Bender a “gutless turd.” A school administrator, on the other hand, may view Vernon as an overworked, over-stressed, frustrated employee who has good intentions, but does not know how to cope with his stress.
People create media and people have perspectives that are unique. These perspectives are almost inevitably embedded in the media that people create. For example, the creators of Elephant clearly feel that school violence is an issue worth exploring and exposing. The film shows one of the perpetrators of the school shooting having food thrown on him in class without any notice or intervention from the teacher in the class. The frustrated student goes to the bathroom and washes the food off of his clothing. In this moment, it is quite easy to empathize with this character. He is practically invisible. No one cares how he has been disrespected and violated. It appears that this type of abuse has contributed to the violent streak in this child; this may be the cause of the rampage. As a schoolteacher, I interpreted this depiction to mean that we need to pay more attention; we need to be more present to the struggles of our students aside from just their schoolwork. We need to show that we care. Perhaps if someone had intervened and shown that he or she cared, this tragedy would not have occurred. Elephant has a way of portraying all of the students as victims, not just the shooting victims.
It is no doubt that media messages can be organized for profit and/or power. The first example that comes to mind is that in The Breakfast Club when the students begin to eat their lunches, each and every one of them has a Coke! Another example of subliminal advertising is that Kurt, of Glee, drives a Lincoln Navigator and refers to the car as his “baby.” This implies that the car is fancy, and of good taste, as Kurt has already been implied to have good taste in material possessions, as he mentions his designer duds constantly. The referencing of the designer clothes in itself is also a subliminal message that these clothes are fabulous and suggests that audience members who identify with Kurt would also enjoy those clothes. In Juno, Mark gets Juno’s attention when she spots the Les Paul guitar in his music room. She is completely enthralled in him from that point and perhaps even forgets why she is at the house he shares with his wife, Vanessa, in the first place. This message suggests that Les Paul guitars get girls’ attention (which they may), but it is not guaranteed, nor is it the only to way mesmerize a member of the opposite sex.
School authority and the organization of schools are presented in ways that parallel the salient points in many of our class readings, notably Martin Carnoy and deMarrias and LeCompte. Martin Carnoy (1989) suggests that American education is a product of reproductive forces of the dominant class to impose its ideology and democratizing forces of subordinate groups trying to shape schools to contribute to their cultures. Many media depictions of schools reinforce the reproductive forces of the dominant class. For example, in The Breakfast Club, all of the characters and the administrator portrayed are white and live in stereotypically suburban Shermer, Illinois. Each character has his/her own issues and concerns regarding school and family life, but the only issues explored are those related to white people in the suburbs. Ethnicity and socioeconomic status are not mentioned at all in the film. Therefore, it is implied that life can be equally rough for everyone. This idea perpetuates the idea of equality of opportunity that the dominant culture wants people to believe truly exists. Perhaps this question will always exist, but does equality of opportunity exist? Peterson may argue that this depiction of student life is detrimental because students must recognize their oppression. Most viewers of this film would not be aided in recognizing their own oppression by watching it. If anything, The Breakfast Club may encourage ignorance of oppression. Glee, on the other hand, includes a scenario in which there is discussion about building a ramp in the auditorium to accommodate Artie and other students with physical disabilities. The members of the glee club rally together and hold a bake sale to raise money for a bus with a ramp so that Artie can ride to sectionals with the rest of the group. In the end, Artie decides that the money should go to build a permanent ramp in the auditorium. This is an example of subordinate groups attempting to shape a school to support their interests. Carnoy might confirm that the reproductive and democratizing forces work against each other and are the source of conflict and thus change in the public school system.
deMarrias and LeCompte (1999) described the way in which Martian scientists would see the physical organization of schools. The physical organization of schools in the films included in this project supports the claims of deMarrias and LeCompte. Schools are divided into separate classrooms and even wings for specific subjects. Administrators’ offices are separated from classrooms, usually in buildings set aside specifically for administration. Administrators are not seen in classrooms. Teachers’ lounges are popular places for school employees to socialize during free times. Adults are seen socializing with other adults, not with students. Except for Chalk, teachers do not even socialize with other school employees, such as administrators. The social organization of schools, as depicted in the media also follow the patterns identified by deMarrias and LeCompte, as well as the historical patterns discussed by Joel Spring. As previously mentioned, people on school campuses tend to spend time socializing with others in similar roles. Additionally, it is noticeable that administrators and other powerful individuals are physically and socially separated from the institutions that they control. Mr. Vernon, in The Breakfast Club, wants to punish the students in Saturday detention and keep a close eye on them, yet he does not consider sitting in the library with them.
These films suggest that schools can be harsh, life changing places. Some life changes that occur through schools are positive, as depicted in Precious, and tragic, as can be seen in Elephant. The way in which students and teachers are presented depends on whether schools are being presented as positive or hazardous institutions. A common theme related to schooling that occurs in all of these films is that it is so easy for society to forget how important schools are. Schools are the center of the lives of our children. Schools are where our children are exposed to academic content and where, for the most part, they are socialized. Schools also employ many members of society and we need to be cognizant of the influence these people have on our youth and the future of society. Schools are still republican centers, just as they were when free public education began. For the most part, teachers are represented as individuals who care deeply about students and who are passionate about their careers. Of course, there are exceptions (i.e. Rooney, Vernon, and Sylvester), but these bitter exceptions exemplify the positive characteristics in teachers and students.
Teachers in these films, as in reality, often have tumultuous relationships with their students. In Glee, Will Schuster has his ups and downs with the students in the glee club, as does Mr. Hand, with Spicoli, in Fast Times, and Mr. Lowrey with his students in Chalk. Although these relationships can be frustrating and hurtful on both ends, the common message is that these relationships are worth it in the end! Teachers and their colleagues definitely have discrepancies, as well. The depictions of these relationships in film closely mirrors reality, except that in the situations in film are often exaggerated for entertainment’s sake. At the same time, however, teachers are displayed as having a genuine bond with other teachers-perhaps we feel one another’s pain as we struggle to achieve our own ideals. None of the teachers in the films that I have reviewed had any sort of relationships with the families of their students. Mr. Rooney, the administrator in Ferris Bueller, was willing to take his “relationships” with Ferris and Sloan’s parents to very inappropriate levels when he was so pushy and accusatory. Also, I am not sure how many parents would welcome a school administrator spying on their children. Perhaps this lack of contact with families is accurate for general education teachers, but as a special educator and case manager, I am in constant contact with parents and feel that building and maintaining positive relationships with families is essential for effective collaboration and maintenance of a true team-approach to the IEP process.
Concrete solutions to problems related to education are not explicitly offered in the films that I watched. However, there are implied messages about what makes a good teacher and the idea that stereotypes must be called into question in order to move forward. It is also suggested that teaching and learning are highly existential, individual activities. A few of the implied messages for/about teaching is that it is important to care for students; part of this involves recognition of the fact that students learn much more than academics in these institutions. Maxine Greene might say that a possible solution to the social stratification in schools can be found in Glee, if the audience acknowledges the idea that New Directions has broken some of the barriers of popularity and encouraged students to look beyond and become more critical of the world around them.
There is not one concrete idea or concept that the completion of this project has taught me. It is more accurate to say that this project has made me a better observer. There is so much communication going on all the time; it is actually quite overwhelming! I believe that I am now more critical of the messages that are being communicated to me, and I am becoming better able to myself look beyond the surface, to examine the whys of the world. I am also becoming better able to relinquish control. I think that I tend to be quite the authoritarian in my classroom. I dictate what topics are allowed to be brought up for discussion by my students and often have a difficult time hiding my astonishment at how much these children have been exposed to. I tell my students, “If you would be embarrassed to watch it with your grandma, don’t bring it up in my room.” Now, I believe that these conversations that I have previously deemed inappropriate could have been used as learning tools. I think I may have missed out on some excellent opportunities to give my students experiences in critical thinking, self-reflection, and addressing questions they may have about why a specific movie was inappropriate to discuss. I tried my best to explain to them why, but saying, “Borat can be interpreted by some people as sexist and ethnically prejudiced,” does not really mean anything to a bunch of 8th graders. I could have created more learning opportunities for my students and (Peterson would be proud) used “curriculum” relevant to my students’ daily lives. I honestly credit this project for making me realize this. I have a long way to go yet.
Bibliography
Carnoy, M. (1989) “Education, State, and Culture in American Society,” in Critical Pedagogy: The State and Cultural Struggle, Giroux, H., and McLaren, P., editors, SUNY Press.
Cowan, P.C., and Mickleborough, T.L. (2009) “A Clash of Cultures: Exploring Teacher Movies and Their Effect of Pre-Service English Teachers’ Models of Being Teachers,” 58th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference, national Reading Conference, Inc, Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
deMarrias, K. B., and LeCompte, M.D. (1999) “Theory and Its Influences on the Process of Schooling,” The Way Schools Work, third edition, Longman.
deMarrias, K.B., and LeCompte, M.D. (1999) “The Social Organization of Schooling,” in The Way Schools Work, third edition, Longman.
deMarrias, K.B., and LeCompte, M.D. (1999) “Social Class and Its Relationship to Education,” in The Way Schools Work, third edition, Longman.
Greene, M. (1992) “The Art of Being Present: Educating for Aesthetic Encounters” in What Schools Can Do: Critical Pedagogy and Practice, edited by Kathleen Weiler and Candace Mitchell, SUNY Press.
Horton, M. (2003) in The Myles Horton Reader, Jacobs, D., editor, University of Tennessee Press.
Peterson, R.E. (1991) “Teaching How to Read the World and Change It: Critical Pedagogy in the Intermediate Grades,” in Walsh, C. (ed) Literacy as Praxix: Culture, Language and Pedagogy, Abblex Press, New Jersey.
Spring, J. (2008). The American School: From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind. Mc Graw Hill.
