Bad Teacher? A Breath of Fresh Air
by Frederick M. Hess • Jun 27, 2011 at 8:20 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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ShareOn Friday, I finally walked out of an edu-movie without having to scrape off the sanctimony and treacle. Whether heartrending dramas or documentaries, edu-cinema has long gone for the mawkish affectations of ridiculously heroic educators reaching ridiculously noble kids.
After decades of watching (and digging) these movies, it was sheer joy to watch the just-released Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake, and Molly Shannon. Bad Teacher is rude, profane, frequently mean-spirited, and shockingly cavalier about things we're supposed to speak of in hushed tones. I took my AEI team to see it on Friday, opening day, and not everyone had much use for its gratuitous sex, drugs, and general nastiness--and its failure to push harder on the satirical possibilities.
The complaints are all valid. But, I dug Bad Teacher because it treated teachers, students, and schooling with snark, humor, and attitude, rather than the kid-gloves sentimentality that turns almost every edu-movie into a
