Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds is a movie about a group of students made up mostly of African American or Latino descent attending an inner city high school in suburban California. These students are typically low income with parents who aren't concerned with their education and think that school isn't important. These teenagers rely more on their ability to survive on the streets than the grades they get in school. They have been coined with term "rejects from hell" by the school principal. Their lives are surrounded by gangs and drugs, many of which who are involved in one or both activities. The girls are tough and the boys are tougher. These kids have no faith in the education system and feel that they are misunderstood the majority of the time.

Michelle Ffeiffer, who plays the role of the teacher Louanne Johnson, is a white female ex-Marine teaching in a predominantly mixed race school of which society would call minorities. She has been nicknamed "white bread" by the students in her class and is oftentimes the product of reverse discrimination because she is both a female and is white. She wants to teach her class to overcome their disadvantages and gains the confidence and respect of her students by essentially going against the Board of Education to teach them in unorthodox ways.

The labeling perspective in this movie is apparent in how the school administrators (the dominant group) view the subordinate groups (the minority group). These minority students are oftentimes the consequence of stereotyping. Because there are the ones who misbehave and act out, school officials have dubbed this entire group as deviant and uncontrollable.

The conflict perspective explains the dynamics between each of these competing groups. Both the African Americans and the Latinos are forced to stand up for themselves in situations they would rather not be in just to be able to hold their heads up walking down the street. In addition, Ms. Johnson is facing her own battles as a caring teacher. She is in constant arrears with the school system on the best approach to teach and reach her students. That has meant stepping out of the box and leaving her comfort zone. That also makes her vulnerable.

The functionalist perspective explains how delicate the balance is between each of these groups. Each is expected to contribute to the society's stability and is passed from generation to generation. Discrimination aggravates the social problems such as poverty, dysfunctional homes, and inadequate schools.

I believe that each of these perspectives have an invaluable role in this movie, however, I believe that the conflict perspective is the one that is most prevalent. The conflict perspective states that social structure is best understood in terms of conflict or tension