Blackboard Jungle

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Blackboard Jungle (1955), directed by Richard Brooks, may seem tame now, but when it was released it tackled subjects the film industry avoided, such as teen violence, sexual candor, and racial issues in public schools. Even the use of rock and roll music was new, as the film begins and closes with “Rock Around the Clock,” by Bill Haley and the Comets, which became one of the biggest selling singles of all time thanks to this movie. The story begins with notes announcing the intent of the film, saying juvenile delinquency is on the rise and there is a need to address it. The title of the motion picture obviously is contradictory since it contrasts a school, a place that is meant to perpetuate a civilized society, with an uncivilized environment where the brutal survival of the fittest law dominates. The film uses references to fighting and music to drive home its theme.

Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford), the name suggesting a paternal parental figure, is a teacher arriving on the first day of classes at an all-boy high school. There are several others there applying for jobs at the inner-city school. Some may be just looking for employment because they couldn’t get a job in a better school district, or they may want to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youths. There is a mother asking her boy, as she drags him away from playing in the streets near an open fire hydrant, if he wants to be “a bum.” Her remark immediately shows us the local perception that the children in the lower-class part of the city may be doomed to failure. Kids in the schoolyard are dancing the suggestive jitterbug, demonstrating their rebelliousness to established social norms that held little promise for them. The high school boys whistle at an attractive woman walking by, not caring about the unrestrained, sexually harassing nature of their behavior.

Principal Warneke (John Hoyt) interviews Dadier for an English teacher position. The “war” in the educator’s name suggests there is a battle raging with the youths. Ford, who usually plays a hard-boiled character, sounds and looks nerdy here, and later becomes more combative out of necessity. The principal notes that Dadier speaks very softly as Dadier says he attended an all-girls college because after returning from the war as a navy veteran (more references to confrontation), there was educational assistance for veterans, but there weren’t many openings at the colleges. His background at a school with a female student body seems to undermine his qualifications to deal with hardened male students. Warneke asks if Dadier can be heard at the back of a classroom. Dadier says he was in plays in college and the principal asks him to project his voice. Dadier quotes from Shakespeare’s Henry V, about going “once more unto the breach,” which is a rallying war speech, again stressing the fight the educators have on their hands. Even Warneke notes its appropriateness. Dadier gets the job, but when he asks Warneke about the school’s disciplinary problems, Warneke cuts him off saying there are no such problems while he is principal. He is worried about his reputation more than fixing the problem, and so acts like it doesn’t exist. Dadier gives his paperwork to Miss Brady (Henny Backus), the secretary, who is curt and unfeeling, calloused from performing her job in this scholastic battlefield.

The next shot is of a teacher hitting a punching bag, highlighting again the fighting theme. The instructors talk about the need for discipline and obedience and complain about the principal’s denial of the problem. Jim Murdock (Louis Calhern), the teacher’s name suggesting like word “murder,” (more violent imagery) talks about taking a ruler to an unruly student, but one man says that the student will take that ruler and beat him to death. The teachers often vent about the seriousness of the situation but use dark humor to cope with it. The incongruity of a place of education turning into a penitentiary is emphasized here. Teachers view themselves as guards, and Murdock likens the situation at the school to the prison on Alcatraz. One of the teachers is named Manners (Tom McKee), his name possibly suggesting a desire to restore social rules. Murdock’s negativity is evident as he calls the school “the garbage can of the educational system.” He shows his defeated soldier’s mentality when he tells Dadier “don’t be a hero and never turn your back on the class.” He sarcastically says he’s been there twelve years and received two Purple Hearts (the military references abound) with no salary increase. Murdock says that they sit on the “Garbage can” so women can walk around safe from the dangerous youths. There is an attractive female teacher, Lois Hammond (Margaret Hayes), her name suggesting Hammond organs, which introduces the theme of harmony versus discordance. She asks if there aren’t some students who are not lost causes. Murdock asks if wearing her form-fitting outfit requires some bodyguards to protect her, which turns out to be a foreshadowing remark. (We have the sexism of the times revealed here with Murdock’s comments). Dadier echoes the thought about how all the kids can’t be bad, but Murdock asks why not, pointing to the hopeless abyss that people like him have accepted.

Josh Edwards (Richard Kiley, who later starred on Broadway in Man of La Mancha), a mathematics teacher, walks into Dadier’s classroom and talks about his conflicting feelings about teaching, wanting to do something meaningful and reaching a “goal.” But he also realizes he’s just doing a job. Edwards says despite the talk, a teacher should be able to handle any student. Dadier is doubting any success here already, saying Edwards’s enthusiasm may wear off soon, and the ability to handle difficult kids is questionable. 

Anne (Anne Francis, who starred in Forbidden Planet), Dadier’s wife, who is four-months pregnant, meets her husband at a restaurant. He wants to surprise her with a celebratory dinner since he was hired for the teaching position. (He ordered champagne, again showing the out-of-date ideas of the time). She is upset that she had a miscarriage before. He says no guilt should exist. He doesn’t want negativity from their past or what surrounds his job to intrude on their happy time. He says that the baby will have her looks and his brains (another marginalizing comment about females). When they go outside two hot rod cars race with one flipping on its side in front of the couple, showing how they can’t avoid the danger around them. Someone in the street makes angry comments about the youths driving the cars. The feelings here are similar to those expressed by adults in Rebel Without a Cause and The Fugitive Kind (both films analyzed in other posts on this blog).

The next day there is a very noisy gathering of students in the auditorium, (the word means a place to listen. Noise always contrasts with harmonic melodies in this story). One teacher says it sounds like when he landed in Salerno, Italy in World War II. Dadier says that at least the boys aren’t shooting at them. But the other man notes, “not yet.” The analogy to the teachers fighting a war with the students continues. The female teacher, Hammond, shows up with a more demure outfit and asks if the students will like her. Murdock continues the violence motif (and the sexist one) by saying the boys may “fight over” her. The boys shout derogatory remarks, saying that when the speaker says, “testing 1,2,3,4,” that he can count, showing he graduated from this school. Their sarcastic comments reveal their perception of the low level of education they feel they are receiving. The speaker retaliates, as if returning fire, by saying their remarks consist of “stupid nonsense.” Dadier satirically comments that the man probably teaches public speaking. When Hammond is introduced she is met with sexually aggressive taunting, showing the students’ lack of respect and decency. The scene demonstrates the hostility that escalates when people are entrenched in their combative stances.

While moving in the halls, Dadier tries to keep order. There is a boy in a suit who is crying, obviously from being bullied, because his studious appearance makes him stand out, ironically becoming an outsider and a target in a place meant for education. When Dadier asks the boy what’s wrong, the boy sees other students who give him intimidating looks to warn the youth against snitching. Dadier asks the name of a student, who is Artie West (Vic Morrow, the future star of TV’s Combat series and who died acting in the movie version of The Twilight Zone). Dadier wants him to write down the names of those who talk, which would be informing on others, and West isn’t about to do that. Dadier doesn’t understand the alternate rules that govern the school at this point.

Dadier goes into the restroom and finds boys smoking, He asks sarcastically if the place is the officers’ club, another military reference. Dadier tells them to leave, but two are slow to depart in defiance. Gregory Miller (Sidney Poitier) says the other student is Emmanuel “Trades,” (Paul Mazursky, the future renowned director). Miller makes up the boy’s last name, who Miller says jokingly had the school named after him. Miller’s words show that academic opportunities are not available to those attending the school. When Dadier threatens to take Miller to the principal’s office, Miller stresses the power struggle between them by saying Dadier can do what he wants because he holds “all the cards.” He keeps calling Dadier “Chief,” but it is in a mocking manner to show disgust for the teacher’s position of control over him. He says to Emmanuel, “Let’s go, bright boy,” but Emmanuel derisively says to Dadier that Miller meant him, not the teacher, which shows a lack of any respect for the intelligence of Dadier. They go through the doors to the restroom, which look like the ones used in saloons in the Old West, where gunfights occurred, another image suggesting violence.

In his classroom, Dadier tells everybody to sit and settle down. West keeps talking, and rebelliously asks Dadier “why” should he stop talking, as if there is no point to paying attention to the teacher. Dadier writes his name on the blackboard in a bit of a condescending manner by breaking up the syllables and pronouncing them. At this point a baseball, an object usually associated with American pride but which here is used like a weapon, hits the blackboard like a cannonball, removing a chunk of the surface where Dadier has written his name. The sound is like an explosion, resembling incoming fire aimed directly at the teacher. Dadier picks up the ball, but instead of escalating the battle, does not try to single anyone out, and uses humor by saying whoever threw the ball will never play for the New York Yankees. Here, Dadier diffuses the violence. There is a slight smile on Miller’s face as he appreciates the comment and Dadier’s not taking the usual authoritarian reaction to the students. 

Some of the boys call Dadier “Daddy-O,” making fun of his name, but their word strengthens the connection to the teacher as a paternal symbol. Dadier says pronunciation is an important part of English and he wouldn’t want to fail anyone for not being able to say his name. When Dadier tells West to say Dadier’s name and to take his hat off, West responds with a threat, asking the teacher if he ever had to fight thirty-five guys at once. West’s remark reveals that he relies on others to fight his battles, and hints at his insecurity and weakness. Dadier does not back down, and tells West to take off his hat or else he’ll knock it off. West looks around the classroom for support, but the others turn away, realizing Dadier is not someone who can be easily intimidated. West backs down when it is he alone fighting in the conflict. 

The students joke around some more, with Miller mockingly repeating Dadier’s statement that they would be surprised that English can help them get a job, pessimism being the ruling feeling here. Dadier tells West to stay after school, and the others make gay sexual suggestions about the detention. Dadier goes along with the kidding to a degree, as West asks why Dadier will come back the next day. Dadier says he would miss seeing West, which shows he can play along with the boys’ humor. Dadier asks why one student, Santini (Jamie Farr, later coming to fame in M*A*S*H*), keeps smiling. Miller explains that the boy is an “idiot,” since the politically correct “mentally challenged” was not used at this time, and these boys wouldn’t have been sympathetic enough to say it anyway. But, the film highlights the lack of the period’s education system in trying to accommodate someone with a disability.  

Dadier asks Miller to stay after class. He says he looked up Miller’s records and thought he was a natural leader. Dadier says he knows that Miller is smarter than the rest of his classmates and the other students will follow his example. He asks Miller to consider using his leadership talents. Miller first dismisses the idea, but agrees to consider what Dadier said. As he leaves the room, West and a few other boys look at Miller, suggesting their dislike with the possibility of him being a traitor, conspiring with the enemy. 

Hammond offers to give Dadier a ride home at the end of the day. As she goes downstairs to meet him at the door, she lifts her skirt to straighten her stockings. It appears she has romantic notions toward the married Dadier. However, a student, Joe Murray (Peter Miller), at the bottom of the stairs, covertly watches her actions, suggesting there will be trouble ahead. Dadier hears Murdock at the elevator saying the students don’t know anything about mathematics, only how to multiply themselves, showing his belief in the baser nature of all his students. His surrendering in this battle to negativity can be seen when he says there will be a never-ending chain of substandard students going through the school. Dadier goes downstairs to join Hammond, but she is not there. However, he finds a woman’s shoe in the hallway, and we know that she is in trouble. Dadier hears Hammond scream from inside the locked library, where Murray is grabbing her, trying to take off her dress. The movie again depicts ironic contrast by showing a vile act in the library, a place where culture and learning should be taking place. Dadier takes his briefcase, which is supposed to be used for scholastic purposes, and makes it a tool of destruction, breaking the door window to get into the library. He then must further debase the briefcase by turning it into a weapon to fight Murray. Murray throws books at Dadier, perverting the objects of learning by transforming them for violent purposes. The student tries to escape through a closed window, but only succeeds in cutting and hurting himself. As others come to help, teacher Edwards asks what happened. Murdock cynically says it’s just the first day of school, as if mayhem is customary here.

Dadier tells his wife Annie how upsetting it was to hear Hammond scream. Annie voices the antiquated sexist idea that the woman probably dressed sexy and provoked the attack. Dadier assures her that she did not dress seductively. Annie is jealous, since her husband knows exactly what Hammond was wearing, and asks if Hammond is attractive. She asks what she was wearing when he came home, but he playfully turns the tables on her because she doesn't remember what he was wearing. His response is a smart rebuttal of stressing the importance of how women look as opposed to men, and how feelings of love are more important than just appearance. 

Around the schoolyard, the students talk about Dadier’s overcoming Hammond’s attacker. Dadier’s reputation as a fighter spreads and the boys exaggerate the facts, saying that Dadier carries brass knuckles and was a boxing champion in the Navy. The boys now see him as a challenger to their toughness, and a threat to them personally. Miller ignores Dadier when he addresses him, and other boys are silent as they give him threatening looks as they crowd the doorway to the school, making it more difficult for the teacher to enter the building. In his classroom, everyone is eerily quiet. Dadier has sentences on the board which allow a choice between correct and wrong grammatical responses. He picks Miller first, since he is a leader, and hopes he will initiate proper class participation. But Miller subverts the process, deliberately giving the wrong answer. The rebellion continues as each student follows Miller’s lead by giving the incorrect word. 

Dadier takes their rebelliousness and turns it against them. showing their actions have consequences. He says to copy the numerous sentences and for homework they must choose answers, which will count as a test that may determine whether they pass or fail the course. He asks to see Miller outside the classroom. When he accuses Miller of arranging the silent treatment and giving the wrong answers, Miller says maybe the boys don’t like it that Hammond’s attacker, Murray, is going to jail. Miller says Dadier’s earlier complimentary comments were a “snow job,” as he questions the teacher’s sincerity. (It does not seem believable that at the time in which the movie is set that an African American student is accepted as a leader, but it is an admirable act to portray him as such).

Hammond asks Dadier to escort her safely to her car and wraps her arm around his for security, but also to get closer to him. West sends his girlfriend to spy on Dadier and Edwards at a bar. The two teachers have some drinks, and Dadier is a bit drunk, wondering if there were many teachers who were alcoholics, given what has happened already during their day. Edwards is very disappointed that the circumstances get in the way of allowing him to do what he wants, which is to teach. He loves jazz, and has a great record collection, with some irreplaceable recordings. He wants to play them for his students to show how the disciplines of music and mathematics overlap in an attempt to enrich their world. 

Edwards says they should take a dark backstreet shortcut to the bus stop. As they walk, Edwards says that the students are just ignorant, but Dadier at first adds they are also bad. He admits shortly that he doesn’t really think they all are lost causes (like Murdock does). Some boys go past the two men, bumping into Dadier, while others follow behind. Suspense again builds as we anticipate an ambush. Dadier says he hears footsteps, and then one boy jumps out calling him “Daddy-O” and hits Dadier, which symbolizes an attack on a surrogate parent. Several boys assault Dadier and Edwards, who suffers collateral damage since the attack is revenge for what happened to Miller at the hands of Dadier. It is ironic that the students harm Edwards after he had just defended the boys. 

Anne was planning a romantic dinner but Dadier comes home with wounds from the ambush, undermining their time together. (It seems unlikely that Dadier wouldn’t have been sent to a hospital to be treated since the police were called by a neighbor near the bar and arrived at the scene). Anne says he won’t be going back to the school, but Dadier, showing his desire not to retreat, says he will return because even though he is beaten up, “I’m not beaten.” It is suggested here that physical danger can be overcome with mental toughness.

Dadier goes to another school and talks with the principal, Professor Kraal (Basil Ruysdael), who was Dadier’s teacher in college. Dadier says he’s going back to his school, but he admits he doesn’t believe the kids want to learn. Kaal says that Dadier is like a blind man who feels the tail of an elephant and thinks it’s like a snake. In other words he is being microscopic, and not appreciating the bigger picture. Kaal takes him around the school and the children there are learning Latin, science, and are orderly at assembly as they sing the national anthem, with its words highlighting the ideals of the United States. (Important to note, there appears to be a single person of color among the student body, but then there are few in Dadier’s school. So the film doesn’t single out one race as problematic, but it doesn’t show children of color exceling). Dadier says anyone can teach successfully at Kaal’s school because the student body is from a different part of society that is receptive to receiving an education. Professor Kaal says all children are entitled to an education, but Dadier argues how can he reach students who have low IQ's or act like wild animals (the “jungle” of the movie title surfacing here). Kaal agrees that the teacher preparation in college was not adequate to deal with the problematic younger generation, which is where the film lays some of the blame for the lack of scholastic accomplishment at schools with a disadvantaged student body. But, he says there are many schools that are successful compared to where Dadier works. (Is this the case today with large inner-city schools having persistent violence and poor academic results?) Kaal offers him a job there, but Dadier says he’ll try again at his school, showing his desire not to surrender his hopes.

Dadier was out for a week, and walks in with a police detective asking him to give up the names of his assailants. Dadier is reluctant, saying it was dark, and points out identifying the perpetrators will do more harm than good. He is probably thinking about the boy who assaulted the teacher and was arrested, which just spawned revenge. The detective says that the current generation had no fathers around because they were in the military, and the mothers were at work, so they had “no home life, no church life, no place to go.” He says they formed gangs to fill the void so they could be where they felt they belonged. The movie may speak to educational shortcomings today where those who come from deprived neighborhoods seek a group where they feel they belong and join gangs as the only alternative. He says the kids are like the rest of the world, “mixed up, suspicious, scared.” (Again, the film may seem relevant to people today who may relate to those feelings given the political climate). The detective says that the problems cut across social classes, but we have already seen a school that was successful, so the possibility of children receiving a successful education is not shown to be out of reach. 

Dadier enters the classroom and West, one of the attackers, just smiles at Dadier, as if gloating. Miller makes a joke about Dadier needing make-up to cover his bruises, and makes a covert gay reference about knowing guys who use cosmetics. The effect is one of stressing traditional manly stoical appearances when dealing with physical altercations. The whole room begins to shake as a loud noise fills the room. Miller tells Dadier that they installed a new machine shop. Obviously the school management doesn’t seem to care that they are making a difficult situation worse. Dadier brought in a tape recorder to encourage participation and move the focus away from himself to the students. The class wants Morales (Rafael Campos) to talk, but Dadier wants another boy. Miller challenges Dadier, saying maybe he doesn't want someone who doesn’t speak English so well. Miller here points out bigotry in the system. Morales is allowed to speak. He jokingly relates to what happened in his morning, repeatedly using the word “stinking,” but it reveals how awful his life is. But then West uses an ethnic slur referring to Morales while accusing Dadier of bigotry, showing West is the one who is really prejudiced. Morales retaliates with a derogatory comment about West’s Irish ancestry. Dadier tells them to stop, basically saying derogatory words are like throwing verbal punches, each one eliciting a retaliatory response. The class ends with the machine shop blaring its sounds and shaking the classroom, showing that noise has replaced communication, and chaos has been substituted for order.

As Principal Warneke scolds Murdock for slapping a student, (emphasizing how physical blows just escalate violence), Dadier arrives after being summoned by Warneke. In Warneke’s office, the principal complains about “brutality, stupidity, and bigotry,” elements that create destruction in a society. (Just like in the classroom, there is discordant noise created by trains nearby, emphasizing the lack of harmony in this environment). A student twisted the situation in Dadier’s classroom, saying that the teacher was bigoted, using slurs including the “n” word. Warneke accuses Dadier of prejudice, but an angry Dadier says he used them as negative examples as to what not to say. This scene shows how the system can be manipulated when the person in authority is more concerned with how he will appear instead of checking into the facts first. Warneke assigns Dadier the job of putting on the Christmas show, since he had some dramatic training in college. Bringing up the benevolent time of Christmas contrasts with the lack of “peace on earth” at the school. As Dadier leaves Warneke, he encounters Miller after school as the student is working on a carburetor in shop. Dadier wants to know if Miller tried to get him into trouble with the principal. Miller plays with Dadier by not denying he twisted what was said in the classroom. When Dadier accuses him of being involved with the beating, Miller seems genuinely outraged and says Dadier just has it out for him. Miller goads Dadier, saying he wants to hit the student and that will finish him as a teacher. Dadier starts to make a racial reference, but stops short, apologizing to Miller, who seems surprised that Dadier did the right thing by asking forgiveness.

Outside the school, West is with others as they plan to steal a newspaper truck. Dadier wanders nearby to get a newspaper from a newsstand. The boys hit the driver of the truck and ride off. West knows enough to just direct the heist, but not actually participate. He throws a bottle at Dadier to distract him as the teacher tries to follow the truck. West acts like somebody else threw the bottle of booze (that he illegally was drinking), but Dadier questions the boy’s presence there at the scene of the crime. He points out all of the boys are wearing identical jackets, indicating they belong to the same gang. West, stressing that he attends the school of reality, tells Dadier that the teacher is in his classroom now. He says the first lesson is not to butt in, showing how this delinquent defies Dadier’s attempt to help, so cynical is he and his generation of marginalized youths. West’s words stress what he feels is the irrelevance the school has to offer to help him in his precarious life on the streets. 

Edwards is playing his records when West and his classmates arrive, without Miller, who is absent. Edwards says the music is for his next, more advanced class. This condescension just irritates the boys, and they also want to hear music. Edwards relents, but when he does not trust West touching the records, West’s anger surfaces and he destroys all of Edwards’s rare collection of recordings. All that is left is the scratching of the phonograph needle, again providing an example of noise replacing melodic sounds. Dadier shows up, and Edwards says he just doesn’t “understand,” because there is no logic in pointless destruction. 

Dadier wants his students to contribute to pay for the loss of Edwards’s record collection. West makes a joke about whether they would get a tax deduction, which satirizes the fact that they are so poor that the idea is a ridiculous one. Later, in their lounge, the teachers show their contempt for the students. Murdock says the kids will probably steal the contributions for Edwards’s records. Another says he’d like to rig up an electric chair to shock the boys, a particularly nasty comment implying the students will eventually be condemned to execution. Murdock shows scorn about the principal just making the students write five hundred times that they will respect the property of others following the destruction of the records. Dadier chastises them, for either being too brutal (which has no effect on kids who are used to brutality at home and on the streets), too apathetic, or too accommodating. He admits he is just a “fumbler” and is no more successful than the others. But he, as opposed to Murdock, believes they can’t give up and have to continue to try to connect with the boys. 

Anne gets an anonymous letter warning her that her husband is involved with another woman, an obvious reference to the female teacher, Hammond. This scene shows that the attack on Dadier even invades his home life. Since Dadier hasn’t come home yet, Anne is jealous, and goes to the school. But she is reassured as her husband comes out alone and says that he helped Edwards clean his desk since he quit. Anne says that Kraal responded to her letter and she urges Dadier to get a job at his ex-professor’s school. Dadier sidesteps the issue, because he still feels that if the students were just left to teachers who didn’t believe in helping them, then they would be lost forever. The scene ends with the noisy elevated train again blaring discordant sounds.

In contrast, the next scene has Dadier entering the assembly room because he hears harmonious singing. Miller leads several other black students in a hymn, appropriately containing the words “let my people go,” which fits in with the plight of African Americans, and probably echoes the feeling of confinement that the school signifies for the students. Miller guesses that Dadier wants him and the other students to be part of his Christmas program, which Miller admits is what they have been practicing for. While they talk, Dadier handles a lock that sits on the piano. Could it symbolize how the students and the teachers feel imprisoned in this malfunctioning educational system, and Dadier is trying to find a way to escape the dilemma, open things up between himself and his students? Dadier tries to reach out to Miller, asking him what are the rules that make Miller cooperative when the two are alone, but not in class. Miller avoids answering, since he isn’t ready to break through what divides the two of them yet. 

Dadier shows a cartoon that is entertaining and funny which tells the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” They all enjoy it, but West is the holdout, looking sullen because the others may be shaking off his negative influence. The discussion that follows explores the question the cartoon story raises as to who is the hero and who is the criminal. The students want to see more stories, and being an English teacher, Dadier is happy to oblige. Other teachers are surprised to see Dadier’s students excited. Murdock is still skeptical. In a way, he is West’s counterpart on the faculty, still finding solace in cynicism, which justifies not trying to work at attempting positive actions.

Anne keeps getting letters and then receives a call saying that Dadier is with Hammond. The voice sounds like that of West. At the school Dadier works with other teachers and Miller on the show. After the other teachers leave, Hammond remains. (She is taking care of the costumes, which is a stereotypical role for a woman to be employed at). She says she doesn’t have any purpose in her life and she puts the moves on Dadier. She admits to being bored and she asks why don’t they just leave the school and go away together. He is not interested since he is committed to his marriage and his job, in contrast to most of the teachers there. 

Dadier walks Miller to his job telling him he should continue his education because he really doesn’t want to be a car mechanic. Miller seems to be giving into the same defeatist attitude as the other students and teachers, saying that car mechanics are needed by white and black people, so it will give him a living. The sense of incarceration is at work here since Miller feels locked into what jobs he must take. He expresses his confinement when he says he has to live in a black neighborhood. He says that he and Dadier are on “opposite sides of the fence,” which shows again the divide that occurs in a stagnated, partisan society. Miller says that he tried giving school a chance at first, but found the other students don’t care about what happens to them, neither do the teachers, and not even his parents. Dadier says that many African Americans have found success now, and that he should keep trying. He makes a pact with Miller that he won’t quit if Miller tries to go after what he wants out of life.

When Dadier arrives home there are a number of people outside saying his wife had terrible pain and was rushed to the hospital. The doctor tells Dadier that Anne had a boy that is still in danger since he was premature. The doctor says Anne seemed upset, almost mentally unbalanced, concerning something secret, and wonders if there were any problems she was experiencing. Dadier comforts Anne and reassures her of his love. On the way out, the neighbor who helped Anne out of the apartment saw the letters that insinuated Dadier was involved in an affair. 

Dadier is outraged by the letters. Later, after the Christmas show, which was a success, he rants in front of Murdock, saying that the other teacher was right, that the school is a “garbage can.” After what happened to his wife, Dadier gives into the nihilism that surrounded him. Murdock, realizing he was wrong, actually encourages him to stay, saying Dadier showed that not giving up allowed him to reach the kids, and that enthusiasm spilled into Murdock’s classroom. Dadier talks about going far away from the “delinquents,” but Murdock says that if Dadier quits here, he’ll keep on giving up no matter where he goes. Dadier repeats what Miller says about it doesn’t matter because nobody cares. Dadier talks about how teachers get less money than so many other workers, which implies how the country does not respect what teachers do. 

Dadier is at the hospital and seems very sad while the announcer on the radio, in contrast, wishes everyone a happy new year. He gives into negativity as he says that maybe their son may not live. Anne tries to encourage him, saying she was like his students, that “somebody told me a lie and I believed it.” She doubted him because she believed the lie about his infidelity. The suggestion here is that the kids were told that there was no point to work toward achieving their goals, and they accepted the falsehood, and capitulated to a life of failure. (Could her statement have relevance to our current divided society that gives into fears and believes fake stories and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories?) Even though her epiphany may seem forced here, she delivers a positive message. She says she now understands why he wanted to remain at the school because kids need the same things as do all people, which are “patience, understanding, and love.” The doctor enters and brings the good news that their boy is out of danger. He turns the radio back on with its New Year’s celebration sounds, in contrast to the noise previously heard in the film. He wishes them a happy new year, offering hope for the future.

Back in the classroom, Dadier tries to teach the boys practical information about applying for jobs through the want ads. West says it’s cheaper to steal a Cadillac than work for one, as he continues to undermine cooperating within the system. Dadier takes the test paper from Belazi (Dan Terranova) and deducts points to show that the arithmetic that Artie employs doesn’t work, because one has to pay with penalties for breaking the rules. When he tries to get West to bring up his paper for cheating, the boy challenges Dadier. Miller comes out in support of Dadier and West tells him to stay out of it, calling Miller “Black boy.” Dadier doesn’t want Miller to get into a fight as he is trying to shield him from acting violently. West challenges Dadier to force him to go to the principal’s office. He mockingly calls him “Daddy-O,” denying his parental authority. West pulls a knife, and cuts Dadier on the hand. Miller stops Belazi from helping West. The other students don’t come to West’s aid, and Dadier points out that West isn’t so tough without his gang. Dadier accuses him of twisting the teacher’s lesson about prejudice, jumping him and Edwards with other boys, and writing letters and calling his wife. Dadier is able to disarm West, and slams him against the blackboard repeatedly, as if trying to break down the “blackboard jungle.” West pleads that Dadier not do this there, implying it is too humiliating in front of the others to be beaten. Belazi, West’s only remaining ally, grabs the knife but Morales gets it and plunges it into a desk, breaking off the blade. This disarming of the fight mentality that permeated the school from the beginning of the movie is followed by another symbolic act. Santini, the mentally challenged student, takes the American flagpole and thrusts it into Belazi, as if showing that the country's ideals will vanquish those that would try to destroy them. The students now are protective of Dadier, saying they want him to have his cut cared for. Miller says they are all willing to help him take Belazi and West to the principal's office, showing they realize that the two don’t, as Dadier says, “belong in their classroom.” Dadier has acknowledged that the students have ownership over their education. They are now willing to discard the lie that there has to be a war between them and the faculty, and can banish the liars who foster that division for their own power grab. Without support from the others, Dadier knows that the two hardcore boys have no backup, and will go with him. Dadier has performed the exorcism of the evil elements in his classroom. West sucks his thumb momentarily, symbolically showing that he is reduced to the misbehaving baby that the father, Dadier, must discipline. 

The last scene has Miller bringing Dadier the can that has a small amount of money in it to reimburse Edwards for the broken records, an attempt to restore wholeness to the broken relationship between teachers and students. Miller asks if Dadier will be leaving the school. When Dadier asks what does he think, Miller says that Dadier knows the ropes now, and it would be a shame to have to break in a new teacher. Miller uses humor to act as if the students were the ones that did the instructing. Dadier asks if Miller was quitting, but Miller says they had a pact so he’ll see him again. A social contract has been made in an attempt to bring people together. The film suggests that maybe we could all learn from what the main characters are trying to teach.

The next film is Ulee’s Gold.