Educating Rita – An appalling teacher or an inspiration Essay Example
Educating Rita – An appalling teacher or an inspiration Essay Example

Educating Rita – An appalling teacher or an inspiration Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (641 words)
  • Published: September 23, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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Frank is a very unconventional teacher.

Although this can be argued as a good trait, Frank is not sufficiently detached from his students. This could lead him to look at her work from a bias point of view. To pass examinations, you're going to have to suppress, perhaps even abandon your uniqueness. In Act One, Scene 8, Rita has written an essay that Frank has describes as valuable, yet not what an examiner is looking for. He does not seem to know how to tell this to Rita for fear of hurting her feelings.

As a teacher, he should have the ability to constructively criticise her essay writing skills, for her overall benefit.Frank integrates his social and pupil-student relations too closely. Act One, Scene Six is an example of this; Frank invites Rita to his hou

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se for dinner. Frank contradicts himself when it comes to the matter of independent learning.

He encourages Rita to go to the theatre. Yet, on the other hand, when Rita comes back form Summer School, Frank comes across as jealous and discouraging when she endeavours to tell him about what she has learnt. Having mentioned all this, Frank can also be seen as a great inspiration to Rita. Many references of this are displayed.

In Act One, Scene Six, Frank explains to Rita the meaning of tragedy. By this stage of the play, he has mastered a way of explaining things to Rita in a way she will comprehend. He explains clearly and thoroughly so she does so. He has the skill to teach her in a very thought provoking manner. Entangling questions such as If I asked you to make

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a comparison between those books, into casual conversation between the pair. Frank's non-conformist teaching methods are apparent through out the play.

We see in Act Two, Scene Two that Frank is prepared to teach Rita outside his allocated teaching time.Although Rita has already began to show signs of drastic change and the less need for him, Frank is still prepared to put down marking essays to have a discussion with her about Son and Lovers. Rita finds a very attentive listener in Frank. She has someone whom she can tell all her problems and woes to.

Rita also finds Frank an inspiration because he knows everything and is quite content to verbalise his opinions of her situations to her. Frank is obviously also pleased to have someone like Rita to pass opinions to.Act Two, Scene Four shows how he becomes jealous and upset when she confides less in him; It struck me that there was a time when you told me everything. At the beginning of the play, Frank tells us that he is an appalling teacher. Through out the play, we can see that Frank shows various characteristics that put him a bad light. Perhaps this is due to our pre-conception of him from Act One, Scene One.

Yet, contrary to this, his non-conformist approach to teaching Rita obviously has had its effect on Rita, because we can see her change through out the play. Although it can be argued that this change was not necessarily for the better.Frank sees that Rita is losing her views that he initially found most appealing about her. Yet, to Rita, the change is the one she had

longed for and her wish was in effect granted for she did succeed in passing her examinations by the end of the play.

Overall, I believe that Frank is an inspiration to Rita; he has the important quality of explaining concepts to her in a thought provoking and clear way in which she will understand. Some of his teaching methods are controversial, yet all this ties together to bring out the best in Rita, which is what was the initial goal that was successfully achieved.

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