It tells the story of the United States in 1953, when times were changing. Catherine, who graduated from the open-minded Berkeley University, went to Wesleyan Girls' School to teach art history, but Catherine, who was full of ideals and enthusiasm, boldly challenged the outdated teaching system. .
In the United States in the 1950s, the economy was developing rapidly, but the role of women was still dominated by family life.
Wesleyan Girls' School in the United States, where female celebrities are born in large numbers, is also conservative and closed. Half of the women on campus are married, and the other half are eager to get married as soon as possible, so that they can teach their husbands and take care of housework after graduation.
Wesley is not a daughter of a noble family. They are smart and beautiful, and they are not inferior to boys in their studies. But their parents gave them higher education for the purpose of: learning various subjects, which can provide conversational material for social occasions; learning etiquette, so that they can become the focus of the banquet and give their husbands a face. Learning housekeeping, you can hold a good family dinner and become a proud hostess of your husband.
In Catherine's words: This is not a place to cultivate future leaders, but a place to cultivate the wives of those leaders.
Kather Watson, a female teacher, has a distinct personality and is independent and free. Her arrival has broken the original dull and boring teaching mode. Catherine wants to let students find their own value in life through her education, except for marriage. When she first arrived, she was greeted by the students. As soon as she opened the first page of her work, the students at the bottom began to describe the author and characteristics of the painting. Every time she turned a page, someone would interpret it accurately.
It turned out that the students had memorized the art history textbooks in advance. Catherine suddenly fell into an embarrassing situation, and the class was silent. Betty, one of the celebrities in the class, said unceremoniously: If you have nothing to teach us, we can teach ourselves. It was only at this moment that Catherine understood what her colleague and roommate had reminded her of, that all those children were roses with thorns.
After returning home, Catherine carefully studied the files of all the students to understand their personalities and hobbies. Such as the arrogant Betty, the rational and independent Joan, the bohemian Livy, and the lively and lovely Connie.
Although the students were familiar with the teaching materials, but lacked the ability to think independently, she began to think about new teaching plans. She brought a painting that was not in the textbook, an oil painting of a bloody animal corpse, and asked everyone how they felt. At first everyone was silent. Katherine encouraged everyone to speak up: Ladies, there are no wrong answers, and no textbooks tell you what to think. It's not that easy, is it?
Everyone began to express their opinions and argue endlessly. Betty said, "It's weird, I can't even say it's art." Connie asked back, "Is there a rule that art can't be weird?" Livy said, "I think it's very avant-garde." Some people say that if this is art, then art has standards ?
Betty replied: "Of course there is. Art has standards, techniques, compositions, tones, and even themes. So if you say carrion is art, what are we learning?" Catherine's question successfully aroused students' thinking And the discussion, she took Betty's topic and continued to delve into the topic: what is art? Who defines art? Art is good or bad? evaluation criteria? The class ignited the enthusiasm of the students in such a fierce discussion atmosphere.
Katherine is always good at inspiring students and giving them a variety of ways to find answers. She took the students to appreciate Blok's paintings and told them to leave the class when they were done. She showed her students Van Gogh and pointed out to do what you love with the greatest passion, not imitate it.
On the one hand, she enthusiastically encourages students to find their own hobbies and continue to develop them, on the other hand, the home economics teacher educates the students how to be good hostess, telling them that only their husbands have the right to give them an A in their future family life.
The calm and beautiful Joan was hit with a C in a test, which is an unacceptable reality for Xueba. Catherine told her not to copy other people's opinions, and if I wanted to know, it was enough to buy a copy of his book. At the same time, I threw her a complete work and asked her to rewrite it after reading it. Joan accepted Catherine's request convincingly.
With the deepening of teaching, more and more students and parents have opinions on Catherine, among which conservatives, mainly Betty, are the most opposed. Even the principal found Catherine and asked her to follow the script and stop making trouble. During school, Betty had already found a good husband early through the arrangement of her parents, and the two held a grand wedding in the local area.
Betty's proud of things, in Catherine's place is regarded as a delay in school may be graded as a failure. Unconvinced Betty confronted Catherine tit-for-tat, scolding her because she hated marriage because she couldn't get married. The tradition at this school is that it is normal for students to skip a few classes because of marriage. No teacher would scold the students for this, but would instead wish them a good marriage. They have been instilled in their childhood that a woman's duty is to marry and have children, and to be a good wife is something Betty has to defend herself, so she can't tolerate Teacher Katherine's actions.
For this, she slammed Katherine in the newspapers: "I can roast chicken with one hand and write the outline of the thesis with one hand. When our mother joined the Women's Liberation League, we had a duty, no, an obligation to take up our role in the family again. , raising children and raising them continue to uphold our heritage. We should stop and think why art history teacher Katherine Watson decided to declare war on sacred marriage. Her subversive and politically charged teaching encourages us Wesleyan girls reject their calling."
Not only that, Betty also attacked another teacher, the female nurse who gave out condoms to the students, believing that this was a way of corrupting morals and teaching bad students, and the principal dismissed the female nurse. When sending off the female care worker, she said to Catherine, the most terrifying thing is that you don't even know who is protecting, what is protecting, and who is protecting? The closed traditional school was tightly sewed up when Katherine ripped open a hole, and the water was not leaking.
An angry Catherine came to the class, and she asked all the students present: "50 years later, when people study the women of this era in 1954, what will they say? What kind of laundry detergent do you use to clean your husband's clothes? Use The physics you learned here, to examine the reasonableness of the temperature at which you roast your chicken? How will scholars of today look at us when they study us? Portraits of women today? Striking resemblance to Wesleyan graduates : Excellent grades, do things according to what you have learned. Do you quote Joseph's verses when you are still ironing your husband's shirt? The knowledge you learned in physics class is enough to help you calculate the volume and weight of meat..."
Katherine's words in class were deeply engraved in the hearts of the students, and this time they all thought that Betty had gone too far. Although Catherine was disappointed, she did not really give up her education.
At this time, Betty's marriage turned on a red light. She ran back to her mother's house in the middle of the night but was persuaded by her mother to go back. The reason was that you were already married. If you have anything to discuss with your husband, she asked Betty not to be seen as a joke. The derailment is only temporary, and he always comes back to the family. Betty was extremely disappointed, she stared blankly ahead, but there was a fog, and she was lost in it.
And Joan began to think about her future under Katherine's education. She applied to Yale and was admitted, but the problem now is that her fiancé also has to go to school, and it is difficult for her to do both. Connie responded enthusiastically to a boy's courtship, but believed Betty's words and believed that the boy was just looking for her for entertainment. After learning the truth, she ventured into the boys' dormitory to confess and finally found her love.
Li Wei, who suffers from the divorce of her parents, is a negative example of rebellious and dissolute among many parents and teachers. She behaves frivolously and does not want to marry a wife like others. The way to fight against the one-acre and three-point land set for women.
Catherine wanted to get Joan to continue her studies at Yale, but Joan chose family. This time, Joan is a choice after careful consideration and familiarity. She is not subject to her parents like Betty. She listens to her husband. She walks with her husband on an equal footing. Betty could no longer bear her husband's betrayal and pretended to be happy in front of everyone. She had a complete showdown with her mother, filed for divorce, and continued her studies.
At the beginning of the new semester, students have chosen Catherine's classes one after another, which made the school very embarrassed. They agreed to continue to hire Catherine as an art history teacher, but they were not allowed to revise the teaching materials without authorization, and asked her to strictly follow the teaching materials. Catherine felt that such teaching was meaningless, so she chose to leave. When she left, the students rode her bicycles to send her away.
For the non-cooperators of the times, I will pay tribute to my heart. They always face the pain points of the times with a prudent and indisputable attitude. Their cries and pursuits will prompt those in power to reflect and improve. Even if it doesn't change much, it can affect some people, just like Teacher Catherine. Whether it is gradual infiltration or radical change, society has progressed under the impetus of such people.
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