Dangerous Minds: A Dangerous Lack

Dangerous Minds: A dangerous lack of choice

Do we choose our fates -- or do uncontrollable circumstances determine what happens to us in life? The plot of the film Dangerous Minds seems to present a strong, persuasive case for the ability of individuals to consciously choose their fates. Although the characters live in deprived social circumstances, the inspirational ex-Marine LouAnne refuses to allow the students in her class to accept their apparent lot in life. Through discipline, caring, and commitment, the class is motivated to strive to overcome the limits of their environment. But while the general theme of the movie seems to reinforce the common American cliche that 'I am the master of my fate' or that it is possible to pull one's self up by one's own bootstraps, on closer analysis, the ability of teachers and students to resist their environment through sheer force of will becomes more ambiguous.

The first challenge to 'choice' theory is LouAnne's presence: not every teacher who comes to an inner city high school possesses her personal capabilities. LouAnne is willing to put in extra time and effort to educate her students. It would be very easy for a teacher to simply go through the motions when teaching an inner city class, given that the students are expected to not want to succeed. A teacher could attribute the class' failure to its bad attitude and the dire circumstances of the students' lives. The merging of LouAnne with the personalities and intellects of the 'dangerous minds' in her class is an chance of fate, not simply a willful choice, even if LouAnne exercises tremendous will and determination in her role. The film illustrates how chance actions can have a profound effect upon people in desperate circumstances. An ineffectual teacher in the career of an affluent student who assumes he or she will go to college will simply be a bad memory for the student. But for LouAnne's students, who lack role models, money, opportunities, and reinforcing mechanisms when they undertake positive actions, a bad teacher can sour students on learning permanently, in a devastating fashion.

LouAnne must also respond to the particular character of her class -- when she enters the classroom armed with a textbook and a lesson plan, they resist her. When she returns armed with candy bars and the visceral poetry of Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night," they respond, and eventually accept her as their teacher. LouAnne must be flexible to be a good teacher, she cannot simply force her students to learn, and her choices are thus limited in the approaches she can take. She must have a sense of humor, and use her background as a marine to impress them as well as to discipline them.

Even after being exposed to LouAnne's teachings, the fate of her students is far from assured. Had she been born in different circumstances, Callie would likely never have felt pressured to engage in unprotected sex. Callie must balance the social expectations of her environment with her own innate intelligence -- it is not fully reflective of her life's challenges to merely say that Callie should 'choose' to be abstinent, given that like any young girl she is torn between the need for approval from her boyfriend and her ambition. Only because she is poor, the consequences are much greater if she decides to have a baby, and the judgment of society of a poor, African-American pregnant teen is much harsher than it would be for someone else of a different demographic profile.