I just happened to stumble across this movie by being in front of the TV at the right time, and it made a great impression on me.
I'm involved with an organization called Invisible Youth Network (an outreach for homeless and/or otherwise at-risk youth), and C.T. would fall under the category of "otherwise at-risk" in deciding his place in our mission.
This movie came out when I was just a baby, and I'm 57 now, and it goes to show that there have been children who are in danger of falling through the cracks of society even way back then just as there are now--and that the choice is constantly being made re: what choices we have to remedy the situation--or not.
C.T. had been repeating each grade ever since he had started school (meaning that he should have been in seventh grade instead of fourth grade), and the principal and teachers were about to give up hope on his making much of his life.
Not so with the school's brand new teacher. She believed that C.T. had potential that just hadn't been tapped into yet. This came partly from, also, being his Sunday School teacher where she had observed that he could be a deep thinker who wasn't afraid to ask hard questions. I assume that this also came from the fact that she was still new at teaching and had yet to experience any teacher burn-out and was, instead, eager to excite and educate young minds.
The thoughts going through her head as she began to deal with C.T. as a student in her class were expressed in voice-overs--and those voice-overs expressed concerns that, perhaps, she had been expecting too much. Yet, something kept her from completely giving up on him.
Perhaps, it was because that--even though he was doing very poorly in all of his studies and didn't seem to be at all interested in getting with the program--she was won over by his smile, helpfulness, artistic talent, and how he was sweet on one of his classmates even though he didn't really relate that well to any of his other classmates.
His unique views on a children's game and the familiar song that went with it also struck a chord with his teacher.
I'll leave it to the viewer to find out just how, but I'll say this much: In the end, C.T. became the teacher and even the authority figures became the taught! How this one brand new teacher who didn't insist that C.T. would fit perfectly into a mold but, instead, tuned herself into him ended up making the difference between his continuing to be an invisible youth and one who was empowered with vision, visibility, and voice!
I'm involved with an organization called Invisible Youth Network (an outreach for homeless and/or otherwise at-risk youth), and C.T. would fall under the category of "otherwise at-risk" in deciding his place in our mission.
This movie came out when I was just a baby, and I'm 57 now, and it goes to show that there have been children who are in danger of falling through the cracks of society even way back then just as there are now--and that the choice is constantly being made re: what choices we have to remedy the situation--or not.
C.T. had been repeating each grade ever since he had started school (meaning that he should have been in seventh grade instead of fourth grade), and the principal and teachers were about to give up hope on his making much of his life.
Not so with the school's brand new teacher. She believed that C.T. had potential that just hadn't been tapped into yet. This came partly from, also, being his Sunday School teacher where she had observed that he could be a deep thinker who wasn't afraid to ask hard questions. I assume that this also came from the fact that she was still new at teaching and had yet to experience any teacher burn-out and was, instead, eager to excite and educate young minds.
The thoughts going through her head as she began to deal with C.T. as a student in her class were expressed in voice-overs--and those voice-overs expressed concerns that, perhaps, she had been expecting too much. Yet, something kept her from completely giving up on him.
Perhaps, it was because that--even though he was doing very poorly in all of his studies and didn't seem to be at all interested in getting with the program--she was won over by his smile, helpfulness, artistic talent, and how he was sweet on one of his classmates even though he didn't really relate that well to any of his other classmates.
His unique views on a children's game and the familiar song that went with it also struck a chord with his teacher.
I'll leave it to the viewer to find out just how, but I'll say this much: In the end, C.T. became the teacher and even the authority figures became the taught! How this one brand new teacher who didn't insist that C.T. would fit perfectly into a mold but, instead, tuned herself into him ended up making the difference between his continuing to be an invisible youth and one who was empowered with vision, visibility, and voice!