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Populär Culture Review
it, and the discussion leads to a lesson on simile, metaphor, and
Oxymoron. After the students leave Rago muses with some wonder: “I’m
teachin’ Shakespeare.”
His success encourages him to make a serious effort at teaching,
and because the students come to believe he is really interested in their
success, instruction progresses fairly well. But, as typically happens,
things fall apart when the students suddenly think he does not care about
them, a set piece in these films. He is late for d a ss one aftemoon and
apologizes by confessing that he had to attend a job interview. They are
surprised and disheartened because they thought teaching them was his
job.
“That’s okay, Bill,” says one. “W e’re used to it,” i.e., not being
important.
“W e’re part time, like a paper route,” says another.
“Hey, what do ya want from me?” he asks in irritation.
“N ot much, I guess,” one replies
“L et’s get out of here. Who needs him?”
“W e ain’t nothin’ but a hobby to you,” another says as the group
leaves the classroom. “Last time I come to this d a ss.”
The incident is a tuming point for Rago. Their disappointment
and his realization that he has let them down makes him angry with
himself, and he realizes that he is about to fail again. This realization
causes him to admit to him self that he has come to care about teaching
them. “If I lose ’em now, I’H never get ’em back.” The d a ss walked out
fifteen minutes before d ass was over, so Rago decides to demonstrate
that he does care about them by confronting them on a rappeling tower to
get the fifteen minutes back. Seeing him do the same thing they are being
asked to do impresses them enough they retum to d ass, and eventually
they volunteer to take a final exam which they are not required to take
even though they will be discharged if they fail it, which none o f them
do. At the graduation ceremony, his students salute him as they pass in
review, and Rago sticks around for the next batch o f recruits that has
sawdust for brains.
Teaching English changed Rago. He began his teaching career a
cynic who valued only money. Although he could afford it, he refuses to
buy his daughter, an aspiring astronomer, an airline ticket to Mexico
where her Science d a ss is going on a field trip to observe an eclipse; he
doesn’t see her dream as a career choice for grown-ups, which he defines
as one that will lead to the “big bucks.” She sees his criticism as
evidence that he does not care about her. But his success as a teacher