The Ron Clark Story

Last night, we watched The Ron Clark Story, a made-for-TV movie on TNT.  Ron Clark is a schoolteacher most famous for his book The Essential 55.  He has taught poor rural kids here in NC, and in Harlem, NY.  I love these kind of stories, and it's one we've seen before, probably most well done with Stand & Deliver, with Edward James Olmos & Lou Diamond Phillips.  Also similar to another (different) Mr. Clark film in Lean on Me, with Morgan Freeman.

I so admire teachers like Clark who go into the rough environments, not least because i know it's something i could never do.  And i don't take it for granted, to have a very contrasting educational experience, both in my own childhood and today with my own kids. 

We had open house at Calvary tonight, and the contrast couldn't be more stark.  A huge church auditorium full of parents.  Even more significant, perhaps, was that both Moms & Dads were there in roughly equal force.  Instead of a Ron Clark having to trudge the streets of Harlem to find caustic or indifferent or downright missing parents of his students, Calvary has hives of WASPs (NTTAWWT) swarming to the teachers right in their classrooms. 

Do come in, it's so nice to have your child, please put the big pile of supplies in your child's locker, and don't forget to sign up for all the field trips and classroom parties.