Lean on Me

319 Words2 Pages
Lean on Me The 1989 movie Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman is based on the true story of Eastside High School principal “Crazy Joe” Clark. Mr. Clark is solely responsible for transforming a rough high school, filled with gang violence, drugs abuse, into a safe, clean place of learning. His other goal for the school was to raise the “less-than-average” basic skills test scores. Due to such low scores, there was a chance of the school being taken over by t he state. Though his methods for this transformation were considered unorthodox, they were also highly effective. When Mr. Clark arrives on the scene at Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, he realizes how extraordinary the situation is. His first step in transforming the school were identifying and expelling the “trouble makers”. He then began re-assigning teacher to different positions, all the while telling them how “incompetent” they were as teachers. He then chain locked the doors of the school to keep the “riffraff” OUT and the achievers IN. Mr. Clark had much resentment from the teachers and a constant battle with parents. Joe Clark had a simple philosophy: “If you don’t succeed in life, don’t blame your background, don’t blame the establishment. Blame yourself”. Through his tough-love type of education, Mr. Clark took Eastside High School and made it a new place of learning. The students began passing the basic skills tests, thereby saving the school from state takeover, and raised moral and self-esteem. Mr. Clark’s famous quote was “don’t lean on excuses, drugs, crime, or anger. Lean on Me and learn”. Mr. Clark’s “ideology was simply the idea that anyone was capable of getting an education and learning. His theology seemed to say that using the excuse that you come from a “bad” environment will not help you, but bring you down
Open Document