Returning to school this year after being away for many years, plus
the
recent issues around racism here at OSU made me feel drawn to this
film.
The film Higher Learning is set at fictional Columbus University in
the
mid 1990s. It deals with issues of race relations, sexual discovery
and
personal awareness. The key issue seemed to be that of race relations.
The
film showed prejudicial thinking, suspicion, unequal treatment by
authority,white supremicist behavior, and different ways of coping
with
these issues.
We met the white supremicist students whoo seemed to see themselves
as
victims of reverse racism. The campus police who saw the black students
as
the cause of all tension. The female runner who seemed to deal with
racism
issues rather passively. The male track runner who seemed to deal with
racism more assertively. He often saw self as victim, and wanted to
change
things. The Literature professor, who spoke often of a strong work
ethic
and pushinig to be better.
Through the film we saw changes mostly in the male track athlete.
Guided
by his literature professor, this student did push himself to be better,
to face up to challenges and not back down. Sadly however, the film
comes
to an end with a racially motivated shooting spree. What we se as a
result
is that people who had met at the start of the film meet again. At
the end
of the film , because of the events that had taken place, they shared
, if
not a better understanding of eachother, at least more compassion for
eachother.
My five questions:
1. Was the Literature Professor supposed to be a method for conveying
a
larger message of "push yourself to be better"?
2. Were we supposed to see signs of change and growth in any of the
characters, and if so, in which characters?
3. Do you think that any specific character handled the situations better
than any other character? If so, who and why?
4. Do you think that even the perpetrators in incidents of racial violence
see themselves as victims? And is this what motivates the violence?
5. Do any issues in this movie have any relevance to issues of violence
in
schools today, like school shootings?
Submitted by Scott Greenhow