The media is rarely a hero when it comes to accurate depictions of people from various demographic backgrounds, and when it comes to stereotyping teachers, it’s downright demonizing. All one has to do is watch this official trailer for the movie, Bad Teacher to pick up on the typical media stereotypes of faculty:
Within this two and a half minute clip, the audience meets Elizabeth (played by Cameron Diaz), an oversexed, shallow, drunk who is obsessed with finding a guy to take care of her, earning bonuses by turning students into sex objects, and venting her cruel rage at her classes. Viewers also meet the meek and matronly martyr-type (Phyllis Smith), the nerdy substitute, Scott (Justin Timberlake), and the immature buffoon gym teacher (Jason Segel); these three are also significant in that they seem to show that academics cannot function in any kind of adult professional environment. With childish countenances, Smith’s character expresses anxiety to please, Timberlake’s character is lost, needing a mommy figure to show him the way, and Segel’s character argues with a middle-schooler displaying an equivalent level of maturity.
Not Funny
Although some will argue this is a comedy and not meant to be taken seriously, there is cause for concern. The frequency of these stereotypes not only in cinema and television, but also in other media outlets like the daily news and the fact that these images tend to stick in most people’s minds as true should make educators think carefully about how they’re being depicted. Duncan, Nolan, and Wood, for example, in their study of physical education teacher stereotypes in movies, refer to research showing that 68% of people who view a movie with any semblance of reality mixed with fiction tend to take the entire content as fact, believing the stereotypes as portrayed (2002). It is also telling that these three were the first to conduct a serious study of the presentation of gym teachers in film. Is it because the issue is not taken seriously even among educators themselves?
Bill Walsh, contributing writer for Media Literacy Review of the University of Oregon, makes the argument that TV teachers have actually been admirably depicted. He cites Miss Brooks (1950s), Mr. Novak (1960s), Mr. Pete Dixon (early 1970s), and Gabe Kotter (late 1970s) as his examples. However, a quick review actually shows that these characters were also subject to the same negative stereotypes of educators as those in recent films like Bad Teacher. Miss Brooks rode to school with a male student and pined after a male teacher named Boynton. Mr. Novak and Pete Dixon were the subject of more than school girl fantasies, and there were plenty of storylines showing teachers like Mr. Otis who is busted by Dixon for entertaining rather than teaching students, drug abuse, sexual relations between faculty and students, etc. Each of these examples including the beloved Mr. Kotter also fit into the teacher as martyr stereotype; each is described as “idealistic” and each gave their all to be a crusader or surrogate parent for their students. I vividly remember watching Welcome Back Kotter as a kid and feeling annoyed that his students would invade his home with their issues. Walsh goes on to add a list of examples where principals are “almost universally portrayed as inane and ineffective, unconcerned about any but the most petty concerns, and often as outright evil or comic” (nd.). Sound familiar?
Seriously, Not Funny
If this review is changed from an examination of fictional characters in TV and movies to an examination of the stereotypes that plague teachers in real life, these stereotypes switch from “not funny” to “seriously, not funny” in an instant. A quick search of Google News during the last 24 hours for these stereotypes produced some shocking results. Over 4,000 stories about teachers and sexual abuse; about one-fourth of these involve the rapes of teachers by students. A search of the term ‘tenure’ results in 1,600 hits within the last 24 hours; most directly state or strongly imply that these inane teachers need micromanaging in order to function as professionals. A search within the same time frame for “merit pay for teachers” results in nearly 400 hits like one from Boston.com that even expresses the concern that bonuses for 20% of faculty based on student test scores will undermine collaboration among faculty and all of the benefits of that collaboration or of the bonuses?. Finally, It’s a bit difficult to measure the teacher as martyr stereotype in the news, but this sample high school teacher job description (note the average salary first!) indicates there are no boundaries. Let’s add, “Leap tall buildings in a single bound,” too.
The frightening reality check that negative stereotypes of educators impact not only them but also their students and our society in the most detrimental ways cannot be ignored. I, for one, am not laughing.
Strength in Numbers
Solutions are hard to come by; however, it is largely up to educators themselves to reverse this trend. Here are a few thoughts on how they might begin:
• Don’t play the part! Being the consummate professional in all that you do each day will do much to assuage any connections made between educators in real life and those in media.
• Speak up! Educators are articulate and intelligent. Write to various media and news outlets demanding that positive role models be depicted and negative ones be boycotted. Get your union and professional organizations involved.
• Engage! Be as involved as possible in making your voice known in the socio-political arena before detrimental decisions are made based on these negative stereotypes.
• Post your ideas for ways of counteracting this in the comments area of this post. Let’s get a conversation going!
The reality is that most of us in education know how truly dedicated professionals in our field tend to be. We also know that the majority of our students see that and appreciate what we do. The day-to-day reality of being an educator might even make for a good film too!
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