"...when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." I saw this on a bumper sticker a few months ago. I've gotta get myself one of those!

No matter how painfully annoying it is to watch Hillary Swank try to keep a beat while bobbing her head to Tupac's 'Keep Your Head Up,' this story is sure to hit home for many of us. 'Freedom Writers' is a good reminder that our public education system continues to fail us... miserably.

I remember being pushed through the bureaucratic chaos of public school. During my freshman year of high school I was failing most of my classes. Little did I know that there was only one thing that mattered to the school administration -- my test scores. They had to do something to try to keep me -- any everyone just like me -- on track. "Get good grades, get paid." That was the unofficial slogan for a pilot program that was brought into my high school. While the thought of getting paid $50 for every 'A' I earned sounded good, even that wasn't enough to motivate me into coming to class. I understood that I was being taught to memorize rather than learn. But as long as students tested well in school, teachers weren't facing pay-cuts from their already below-average salaries, and unfortunately this was, is, and will likely continue to be the bottom line.

It's easy to play the blame game, but in reality there are so many factors as to why this system has failed us. We can start with the government, who has placed emphasis on spending for weapons and security as opposed to resources for our youth and future leaders. We can move on to the teachers and school administrators who care only to follow along with class curriculum and make it through the day. And we can end with the parents who have swept their kids out the door to be raised by the streets. This is the cycle, and the message that 'Freedom Writers' makes a good effort to deliver.

The film was a testament to what we've known all along; our kids can't be expected to succeed in substandardsocial conditions, especially when they are forced through a public school system that expects them (and ultimately sets them up) to fail miserably in the end. Looking past the dialogue (which sounded more like a compilation of refrigerator magnet quotes) and overworked inspirational scenes, I can appreciate the real life Erin Gruwell for her unobstructedeffort to change the way these kids perceived education and their own capabilities. Frankly I could care less about the cliché 'white teacher saves the day again' story line. If there were more Erin Gruwell's in this system, we would be making some serious progress towards educating our youth beyond tests.

Controversial author and educator Akil put it best in his recent writings, which I have embraced and I respect him for his forthright honesty: "Just because the student has "memorized" information, doesn't indicate that the student has developed the ability to think, intellectualize, contemplate, or mentally problem solve. This "memorization" is not mind-development; it is mind programming. This memorization doesn't train a person to use their mind as a productive tool at all, it just uses the mind as a dysfunctional empty bucket to hold irrelevant information."

Posted by celiaherrera12