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First Title Cards: The following is based on a true story. Once considered one of the finest schools in America, Eastside High of Paterson, New Jersey, declined over the years until an official report called it a "terrible cauldron of violence." The battle of one man, Joe Clark, to save Eastside High School and to restore its former pride is the subject of our story. It began about twenty years ago.
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Joe Clark: [on bullhorn to teachers] ... You ask, "How do we get the students in on Saturdays for remedial reading?" So I'll tell you how: We'll go to their homes. We'll talk to their folks. If their folks can't read - as some of them indeed cannot - then they can come in, too. The only way we're going to get anything done around here is to get everyone involved! That goes for all of you: it's time to GET INVOLVED! Everyone in this section, put both your hands above your heads. Raise your hands! PUT THEM UP!
[the teachers do as they are told]
Joe Clark: You people represent the 70% of our students who just failed the practice exam. SEVEN OUT OF EVERY TEN STUDENTS! But that is not THEIR failure. I don't blame THEM. The problem is with YOURSELVES! How many hours do you spend preparing your lesson plans? How often do you stay after school to give your students, THE ONES YOU KNOW NEED IT, the extra help they require? *Keep your hands up!* Now you are getting a hint of the hopelessness and shame which makes those failing students throw up their hands at the thought of facing a world for which you have not prepared them. You now get the merest inkling of the despair they feel when left to the mercy of the streets. Keep your hands up high! Now, look around at yourselves. TURN AND LOOK AT YOURSELVES!
[They do so]
Joe Clark: Because you are failing to educate them, this is the posture that too many of our students will wind up in. Only they'll be staring down the barrel of a gun!
Jermaine Hopkins
Extended Reading
