The Ron Clark Story

The Ron Clark Story is based on a true story? REALLY?

The Ron Clark Story is an exceptionally inspiring movie. I felt like The Ron Clark Story gives the audience hope for a better tomorrow, if we would only step out on faith

The film is based on the true-life story of Ron Clark, a remarkable teacher who takes on the challenge of a rebellious Harlem school. He teaches his students to dream big but it takes a lot of effort and patience on his part as he chips away the stone and begins to see the first small cracks of light and hope.

The kids disobey Mr. Clark, vandalize his classroom, bully other kids, gamble, and bet on when Clark will quit. But the students eventually learn to treat Clark and themselves differently. They learn to believe in their academic abilities and to dream big. Clark's students have difficult family lives. One child is in foster care and gets abused by his foster parent. Another child is the de-facto mom to her younger siblings, as her mother works multiple jobs. The children have bigger problems than not knowing grammar. The same is relevant towards our student. So how do we make learning relevant to these problematic students? What can we do?

The steps he takes, the approaches he makes, the energy he extends and the devotion he shows produce a wonderful outcome. He reaches the children that everyone, including their parents, had written off. He successfully brings out their strengths: the artist, the scientist, the math wiz. Best of all he makes each of them aware of their own self-worth. He gives them more than an education and a desire to keep on learning; he gives each one the knowledge that they do matter, and that when they put their hearts and minds to it, they can achieve anything.

We find a compassionate teacher who truly is there for his students and leaves his fingerprints on their lives in a positive way. And the entire class changes by film's end. He stands by his classroom rules which eventually are respected by the students.
There are several times in the movie in which Mr. Clark almost seems superhuman and lives, eat and breathes being an educator. That in and of itself is not necessarily bad, however, I think it sets us up to have unrealistic expectations from those who have never stepped foot in a classroom to teach. Teaching is tough, even more so when you choose to teach in an environment such as the one that Mr. Clark was in, however, does it really require us to be extraordinary? Is it not enough for us to go into our classrooms, give it our all and simply teach?

All teachers make a difference in students' lives, good or bad, in any part of the world. The important thing is to change their lives for the better, that's the main point of "The Ron Clark Story"