The class

This week we watched the movie "The Class" from Laurent Cantent. It was a very interesting movie about a multicultural class in a Paris school.

During the film I took notes about things I recognized. In the following text I will take a look at the teacher and the class as a whole in particular.

In the teachers meeting at the beginning of the school year the teacher have prejudices against their pupils. Mr Marin tries to ignore these prejudices and concentrates on improving the skills of his pupils. Within the teacher’s community Mr Marin is a loner. He never talks about private things with his colleagues. Often he has different views than his colleagues, which are made clear in the several meeting they have.

Mr Marin tries to be a good teacher and to equip knowledge to his students, but the class often interrupts the teacher while talking.
He tries to gain acceptance, but this is a hard proposition because the class isn’t listening to him or contradicts everything he is saying. Mr Marin tries to motivate his class as good as possible, but the pupils often try to provoke him by refusing to work. By writing self portraits he succeeds in encouraging the students. When the students make good things, Mr Marin praises them and they get proud of their work. (e.g. Souleymane’s self-portrait)

One day the situation in class escalates and Mr Marin and Souleymane lose their composure. Mr Marin insults to girls in class and Souleymane acts disrespectful.  

The teacher tries to see only the good in his pupils. He defends them in every conference and wants to prevent Souleymane’s exclusion from school. He knows that Souleymane didn’t behave the right way, but he also sees the good things.

At the end of the school year the atmosphere in class has changed. Everybody tells what he or she has learned in the school year. During this situation nobody interrupts or is laughing at each other.  

During the school year there are always some fights within the classroom. You don’t recognize a team spirit in this class. Often the pupils insult or ridicule each other. But if worst comes to worst they stick together. They come to Souleymane’s defence when the teachers want to expel him. Also when Mr Marin insults Esmeralda and Louise, the class “fights” for the girl’s rights.

In these situations you can see the company in class. Every pupils can count on his class members if problems occur.

This film clearly shows the difficulties in teaching a multicultural class. “The Class” showed me conflicts, which I was never aware of. I noticed the importance of respecting every culture in class and not characterizing people without knowing.