A Journey Beyond The Logical Mind

Salam to all.

Yesterday, as usual, I watched E.R on Hallmark. (Oh My God! I just love Dr. Carter sooooooo much (except for the part that he is such a playboy!) Never mind that, he got nice hairstyle~ Wahaha!) Then, I changed the channel to AXN, as I wanted to continue my medical drama marathon.( E.R, House MD, House MD for three hours straight)

During one of the (long) commercials, I accidentally switched to Hallmark and spent a few moments there to see if the movie on show was interesting enough. And yes, it was interesting.

The Triumph tells the story of a young teacher, Ron Clark, his students and how he bravely took up the challenge to teach his classroom full of brats. And no, I'm not exaggerating it. His students clearly did not show the slightest respect for him, and far from acknowledging his presence in the class. Oh God, if I were to be in his shoes, I would just walk out of that classroom and straight away type my resignation letter, like all the other teachers did.

But being a very dedicated teacher, Mr. C (as what one of the students called him) did not explode. He calmed himself down. Then, he imposed rules for his students. Like

Rule #1: We are family.

Of course, the students did not bother to listen to him. To them, rules are meant to be broken~

But rules weren't the only thing that they break. There was this fateful day when Mr.C walked into his classroom to find the wall written with 'Go Home Mr. Clark', 'We are NOT your family'...etc..etc and the whole thing was as though it was hit by a tornado. My, was he shocked.

The next day however, was the students' turn to be shocked. Mr. C had transformed the 'tornado-hit classroom' into a livable classroom again, all on his own, and acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The students did not expect this at all.

Mr. C realised that his students are different. So, he used a different approach; instead of punishing his students for not listening to him, he punished himself if the students are actually keeping quiet during lessons. What he did was, if the students can be silent for 15 seconds straight (if I'm not mistaken) while he was teaching, he will drink a pack of chocolate milk. True to his words, he drank nearly a dozen packs and for the first time, his students were actually learning! (his students fought really hard to zip their mouth, as they couldn't resist the chance to witness their teacher puke in front of them should he drink too much milk~ Unfortunately to them, he did not puke)

He also tried to be closer to his students by joining them playing double dutch during recess. He made a deal with Shameika; he learns double dutch from Shameika and her friends and in return, they must learn something from him.

With the exam (similar to UPSR I suppose) nearing, the pressure to excel intensifies, but that pressure was only felt by him. The students still did not show enough interest in studying, let alone having the thought to do well in their exam. Again, he tried a new approach, this time it's personal. One example that really touched my heart was his visit to Shameika's home. He went there to assist Shameika with her essay, but was surprised to see her totally occupied in babysitting her three small siblings.(cooking, cleaning and all those stuff) Upon returning home, Shameika's mother was furious with Mr. C and brought the case to Principal Turner.

To cut the story short (I need to have my lunch, as I skipped breakfast today), the result of the exam was out, and the principal himself came to the class to announce it. After all their hard work, the class produced a totally unexpected result; results that are even better than the Honour's class'. And everybody was happy! Shameika was awarded Best Student in English and Mathematics for getting perfect score in the two subjects.

This movie was based on a real life story. The thing that made this movie so special was the value that it emphasised; You Should Never Give Up.

A must-watch to all. (I am looking forward to watch 'Love's Unfolding Dream' and 'Sacrifices of the Heart'). Also recommended: Gracie's Choice.