Detachment is a 2011 drama film which depicts a substitute teacher’s stint at an inner city high school, This Tony Kaye directed film might not be everyone’s cup of tea as it is a very realistic and graphic take on the problems and atrocities that are evident within the education system; and even more so glorified in the inner city public school setting. The storyline focuses on Henry Barthes (played by Adrien Brody) who establishes three relationships during a single month of substitute teaching that affect his daily life, and create a lasting impact that resonates after the events of the movie. The three relationships include a friendship with a student, a casual dating relationship with a teaching colleague and a more dynamic relationship with a young female working the streets as a prostitute (who probably should be in Barthes‘ class) who is taken in by Barthes in order to get her life back on track, The realistic outlook on the teaching profession helped reiterate a few valuable lessons which will help mold my own teaching experience.
My three main takeaways from Detachment were the significance of finding a way to relate to the students and the fact that teaching is not always going to be easy. Detachment provided a concrete example of how classroom performance and success is dependent on how the teacher can relate to the student. Henry Barthes’ substitute stint begins in a very hostile atmosphere. The students are very disrespectful and it is difficult for Barthes to maintain control of his classroom. After a few weeks, the class begins to warm up to Barthes once they realize that he cares about them, and that a few antics will not drive him away. One particular assignment that Barthes uses to connect to the students is a journal assignment.
The students are tasked with writing a journal entry which describes what friends and family would say at a funeral if the student were to pass away at the current time. Some of the students take the assignment as a joke; however, everyone in the class participates and Barthes reads every entry to the class. The assignment allows the students to express some of their feelings and helps establish a level of trust in Barthes as he demonstrates that he is not going to censor what goes on in the classroom as long as another student is not harmed. This particular assignment shows the significance of establishing a working relationship with the students in order to motivate the students. And in the end, the students may actually teach the teacher something, whether that be through relationship building orjust simply about aspects of the student‘s life at home.
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Another important lesson that can be taken away from the film Detachment is the fact that being a successful teacher is not something that will always be easy. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty,..” and the same holds true for the education field, In the film, Henry Barthes is tasked with taking over a troublesome class for an entire month in the middle of the school year. Outside of the behavior problems, the movie briefly highlights other problems which are evident in the education field. First, Barthes is stuck with a limited amount of resources in a rather bare classroom setting. The film depicts the classroom with the bare essentials, a teacher’s desk, student desks, and a chalkboard, There is no evidence of computers (for either teacher or student use), classroom textbooks, or even an overhead projector.
Sadly, this is a reality that many teachers face in their own classrooms. In terms of the school‘s administration, the school’s principal is told on multiple occasions that this will be her last year at the helm of the school due to low student achievement However, the principal is given no additional funding or support to improve the students‘ test scores, one of the great paradoxes of our education system. At one point, the district sends a representative to the school to lecture the teachers about the test scores, yet his intentions are clearly financially driven and not student or teacher driven. These areas of the film reminded me of the grim areas of the education field.
A lack of resources is a problem that i may encounter at some point during my education career, but i must persevere and provide the best possible education for my students with the limited amount of resources that I may have. Overall, Detachment was not the best teacher oriented film that I have seen, but I truly appreciated the raw, gritty reality of the education system that was presented. By tackling the challenges that are present in many school districts across the country, the film provided a couple valuable lessons. First, the relationship that a teacher maintains with his or her students carries a huge significance. It is vital for the teacher to establish a strong relationship so that the students understand that the teacher truly cares.
However, it is important to know when is crossing the line, as in the case of Mr. Barthes and Meredith. At the same time, the film dealt with a theme of overcoming adversity as a teacher. As a teacher, opposition may come from the students, the administrator, the district board, or any other number of outside factors, yet it is necessary to continue to provide the best possible education, At the end of the day, the main goal is to prepare the largest number of students possible for their professional careers and futures. This cannot be done in the most efficient manner if time is being wasted worrying about what resources are not available, To conclude, Detachment gave me an insight on the more graphic side of inner city schools and through the film viewing and analysis has made me more prepared to enter the field as a future teacherr.
