Remember the Titans
Movie Review by: Amanda Hageman, American University

When Coach Yoast made this comment, I felt it was demeaning. Especially since he seemed like he had been trying to make an effort, I wondered why he was taking this step backwards. This comment is an excellent example of expectation theory. Expectation theory is when a teacher does not expect much from kids of a certain race or ethnic group. Because the teacher expects them not to succeed, s/he teaches the student differently and the student is truly not able to perform highly. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Coach Yoast exhibits this. He doesn’t believe that the African-American football players will be able to perform as well as the white players. Therefore, he treats them in the demeaning manner as exhibited with this comment. If he was the only coach and was treating the African-American players in this way, they probably would not end up performing well.

A few other over-the-top part of the film included Nikki’s comment: “I’m not playing, I’m accessorizing;” Cheryl’s comment: “I’m not gonna lie. I wanted the Hall of Fame real bad. As old as Cain and Abel;” and the depiction of the California boy as being gay. These over the top parts of the film could be looked at in two different ways. Today, they challenge stereotypes because they are so over-the-top and exaggerated. However, in the time that this really took place, it would reinforce stereotypes because they seem to go along with negative views of people. These stereotypes, if they were reality, would not show love and acceptance of each other.

One quality that I have noticed more strongly about myself since I have been at AU is my strong group of political beliefs. The area I grew up in, outside of Chicago, was heavily Democrat, so I never had many encounters with other young people who had strong Republican ideals. However, since I have been here, I have met a large number of Republican students and this has been something new for me. Some of my Republican friends have tried to convince me to attend one of their College Republicans meetings. I feel that if I were to attend one of these meetings, it would definitely push the barriers of my world. I feel very strongly about my beliefs and I think that it would be hard to sit through one of the meetings without speaking up and disagreeing with the views being expressed. However, though I may disagree with certain beliefs, I firmly believe that each person should have the opportunity to express his/her own views. I feel that this is an important quality for teaching. I think I am a pretty open-minded person, so I would be able to accept and teach a wide variety of students even if I did not agree with some of the things the students have to say (for older grades, especially). Also, though I was raised in an area that was primarily Democrat, in all other respects, it was a very diverse area. I think that this will definitely help me in teaching because I grew up in a classroom where I, as a Caucasian girl, was in the minority racially, and in many classes, by gender as well. Having a wider view will help me to accept a wider class of students, I think.