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Tony David Potter ( mistapotta) wrote,@ 2007-11-07 23:25:00 |
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Ponderings about "Cheaters"
Drekking gradebook takes longer to load a class than it takes to enter a set of grades...
So, I purchased Cheaters because it poses many moral questions about cheating, and competition. It's rated "R", almost exclusively for language, since there are F-bombs dropped by students and teachers alike, but it's a good movie if you get a chance to watch it. I, of course, won't be able to show it due to it's rating.
The protagonists are from Steinmetz High School in Chicago, a poor inner-city school fraught with distractions, both from within and without. No one expects them to do anything special in the regional meet, and they finish in fifth place, far behind 10-time-in-a-row champion Whitney Young. Fifth place is enough for them to make it to state.
And then a student gets a copy of the state exam before the competition. And they decide they want to stick it to the system, to those who doubt them or look down on them, and to Whitney Young.
So they cheat.
And, amazing enough, (with foreknowledge,) they win the state meet. They shock the world, all is new again, and an inner-city school has shown they can compete with the big dogs.
And then they get caught. A subtle innuendo here, a confession in a n English paper there (with names changed to protect the innocent, now there's a laugh with a team as small as AD,) and their world crumbles.
The story resonated with me, because I graduated from Jay. While not the inner-city derelict that Steinmetz is portrayed in the movie, John Jay is a poor sister in the school district. Not much was expected of us. Especially when I was there.
And our UIL and AD, while hoping for success (against Clark for UIL, Holmes for AD) were never really considered serious competition.
And deep down inside, I really wanted to stick it to them.
As I said, I purchased it to show my UIL kids, to inspire them, but then I realised.
We're Whitney Young.
We're looked upon as the darlings of the district, the "promised land" where everything is right. Of course O'Connor does well on AP/TAKS/UIL/YouNameIt -- they have a strong teaching staff, supportive parents, and exceptional parents.
Of course, a movie about a school trying to maintain a strong team over a period of years wouldn't be near as interesting (unless, of course, they encounter some catastrophic situation which, God forbid, we won't have.)
The difficult part is in it being a team. Not just strong individuals, but a team.
People ask what will happen when Susan and Amy leave; what will the team do without their strengths. Of course the same could be said about when Nick, Nathan, and Oliver left in 2007.
Or Karen Man in 2006
Or Elias Gonzalez in 2005
Or Jenny Man in 2004
Or Kevin Hughes, Jason Tang, Neil Gandhi, Hilari Tiedeman in 2003
Or Keith Joji in 2002
Or Andrea Jereb in 2001
The fact is, we recruit. We rebuild. We retool.
We reload.
We are the evil empire.
And we will maintain.
~MP
Drekking gradebook takes longer to load a class than it takes to enter a set of grades...
So, I purchased Cheaters because it poses many moral questions about cheating, and competition. It's rated "R", almost exclusively for language, since there are F-bombs dropped by students and teachers alike, but it's a good movie if you get a chance to watch it. I, of course, won't be able to show it due to it's rating.
The protagonists are from Steinmetz High School in Chicago, a poor inner-city school fraught with distractions, both from within and without. No one expects them to do anything special in the regional meet, and they finish in fifth place, far behind 10-time-in-a-row champion Whitney Young. Fifth place is enough for them to make it to state.
And then a student gets a copy of the state exam before the competition. And they decide they want to stick it to the system, to those who doubt them or look down on them, and to Whitney Young.
So they cheat.
And, amazing enough, (with foreknowledge,) they win the state meet. They shock the world, all is new again, and an inner-city school has shown they can compete with the big dogs.
And then they get caught. A subtle innuendo here, a confession in a n English paper there (with names changed to protect the innocent, now there's a laugh with a team as small as AD,) and their world crumbles.
The story resonated with me, because I graduated from Jay. While not the inner-city derelict that Steinmetz is portrayed in the movie, John Jay is a poor sister in the school district. Not much was expected of us. Especially when I was there.
And our UIL and AD, while hoping for success (against Clark for UIL, Holmes for AD) were never really considered serious competition.
And deep down inside, I really wanted to stick it to them.
As I said, I purchased it to show my UIL kids, to inspire them, but then I realised.
We're Whitney Young.
We're looked upon as the darlings of the district, the "promised land" where everything is right. Of course O'Connor does well on AP/TAKS/UIL/YouNameIt -- they have a strong teaching staff, supportive parents, and exceptional parents.
Of course, a movie about a school trying to maintain a strong team over a period of years wouldn't be near as interesting (unless, of course, they encounter some catastrophic situation which, God forbid, we won't have.)
The difficult part is in it being a team. Not just strong individuals, but a team.
People ask what will happen when Susan and Amy leave; what will the team do without their strengths. Of course the same could be said about when Nick, Nathan, and Oliver left in 2007.
Or Karen Man in 2006
Or Elias Gonzalez in 2005
Or Jenny Man in 2004
Or Kevin Hughes, Jason Tang, Neil Gandhi, Hilari Tiedeman in 2003
Or Keith Joji in 2002
Or Andrea Jereb in 2001
The fact is, we recruit. We rebuild. We retool.
We reload.
We are the evil empire.
And we will maintain.
~MP
