Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Lesson
Respect for Miss Moore. College educated Miss Moore comes (back?) to the neighborhood and takes on the responsibility for teaching the young ones not just school style education but a little about life. If any of these kids manage to escape their neighborhood surely they will look back and give Miss Moore credit. I liked that before she took them to the store she was talking about how 'money ain't divided up right in this country'. Words are one thing but the kids seeing how much she was right really drilled the point home. Even Sylvia who likes talkin like she all tough probably won't admit it to Miss Moore but she's questioning things. Of the people who can afford to buy things in the store she wants to know "What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain't in on it?" Sugar says out loud what Sylvia is thinking. Eventually she will probably speak her thoughts but I think that she walked away very quickly when Miss Moore looked at her while asking "Anybody else learn anything today?" shows Sylvia is having a problem coming to terms with what she learned on their outing.
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Well, Syvia's homegirl pride might be getting in the way, but she probably learned more than she knows. Right about there being lessons (not just lesson); and, yes, 90% of learning is knowing what questions to ask--Ms. Moore's teaching "method"--which encourages confrontation and response--i.e, not "lecturing" a "lesson" is important. Of course the learner must be self-motivated, or at least one who is bothered enough by an unfamiliar experience to spend time figuring it out, and perhaps change his/her outlook and maybe even life as a result, for this kind of pedagogical approach to work--so, why does Ms Moore look at Sylvia, and not, for eg, Big Butt? Sylvia has the "right stuff," despite her front. Even more so than Sug, who gains an intellectual grasp of certain socio-economic realities--but notice the subtle differences in the ending scenes. What's the difference in what the two decide to do next...
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