The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Up the Down Staircase (1967), Conrack (1974), Stand and Deliver (1988), Lean on Me (1989), Music of the Heart (1999), The Ron Clark Story (2006), The History Boys (2006), Freedom Writers (2007). These and plenty of other movies over the decades have told more or less the same story: idealistic teacher accepts job at tough inner-city high school, struggles to get through to the kids (who have troubled home lives and are indifferent to education), experiences disillusionment and even comes close to quitting, but ultimately succeeds – if only, perhaps, with one or two of the students.
