MovieChat Forums > Precious (2009) Discussion > I teach in the Bronx, This movie is not ...

I teach in the Bronx, This movie is not exactly fiction...

posted 12 years ago by deem714
11 replies | jump to latest

I have to say, after working in the south Bronx part of New York City I notice how this movie is very similar to what my little darlings have to call their reality.

I have had parents be ignorant to the fact that they are their children's first teachers.

I have had parents tell me that teaching their child discipline is MY job.

I have had parents tell me "their child doesn't fvking swear, you fvking nijjer hater cracker bitch!"

I have had a student be absent from school for weeks at a time, and it turns out the mother was sending him to school. He was going to the park.

I have had students being taken cared of by their 13 year old sister because their parents are in Puerto Rico or wherever the hell they come from on vacation. A vacation that lasted 2 months!!

I have had the two month vacation father blame me when his third grade child LIED TO ME about her being able to walk home from school alone. SHE lied to ME!

I have had the office believe an insane parent who said I ignored her child. It took the child three solid days to go to her new class, because she was too distraught to leave our class. Yeah, okay, I ignored her so much she was too sad to leave!! NOT.

I have had a twice pregnant teenage sister yell at me because of what their psycho sister (my student) did: She bowled a computer down the hall. She brought in and sprayed bug spray in a "friend"'s eyes. She came to school but never made it to the classroom. She taped a dipshi7 kid to a desk because he wanted to know what it was like to be a dead fish. She and her friends hit me away when I was trying to remove the tape from dead fish dipshi7 kid.

And if just some of my stories don't convince you, maybe stories that made papers will...

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/03/nyregion/files-show-bronx-baby-died- from-child-abuse.html

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&; id=8356529

http://bronx.ny1.com/content/top_stories/138870/bronx-toddler-s-fa ll-out-window-caught-on-tape

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_uatGc1Wu8uOwKM8EKCEIVO

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/item_3iTZKxguymaRlIhFeQSouJ

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_qyq0HtwXpOufmoXk59tOXK

"Oh Thank you God! Thank you so BLOODY much!" Basil Fawlty

[–] SCP_One_Seven_Three 12 years ago

Sounds a lot like the Bronx....

[DATA EXPUNGED]

[–] bilsnod 12 years ago

That's exactly why I moved from the Bronx to Boston!!!! Sorry you have to endure that.

Yeah, one of my lovely Bromx neighbors thought is was his right to be each of his daughter's first lover! He had six daughters!

[–] TheMann3 12 years ago

Well yeah life throws crap at anyone but the lesson learned in the book and movie, a lot of times you are able to rise above it and stop the cycle of pain.

[–] Princess_Ashmi 12 years ago

"This movie is not exactly fiction"

I don't think anyone expected this to only be in fiction, a lot of people are aware that this sort of stuff happens around the world on a daily basis

Ashmi any question

[–] Arimas01 12 years ago

What grade do you teach, how old are these kids? What is a dipshi7 kid?

Before trying cookies for the first time, Cookie Monster's name was Sid.

[–] ShizaMinelli 12 years ago

The fact that it's adapted from an autobiographical novel kind of indicated the same (obvious) fact...

In other breaking news, Precious is of African American descent.

When you're 17 a cow can seem dangerous and forbidden...am I alone here?

[–] reaseltbim 10 years ago

well you might be sarcastic at OPs point. but how many people in here are saying that this story is too unrealistic or that it went too far?

OR not just in here but online in general or in other websites? people saying that a life like Precious couldn't be possible because it is too far fetched for someone to have so much "bad Luck"

People so sheltered that they have no idea of the conditions that people in other countries live in

I think it is good that OP decided to make this thread just to show others that, Yes, this movie is not that far from the truth

right....

[–] deem_bastille 9 years ago

African American descent.

oh, I can tell you that that has yet to be confirmed and it is not as obvious as that.

my old principal was not African -- she was Jamaican. and she was not American. she was born in Jamaica. therefore she is not African nor American and sure as shi7 not African American. she is just plain black.

and who cares what it is adapted from! adapted is the key word here. tweaked into a story that will look good on screen.

all my original post is saying is that this is not really fiction, as the genre of this movie says.

Reading the paper can really be depressing. Mr. Dithers fired Dagwood again.

[–] MrsMonroe74 9 years ago

I went to schools like this & I live in a rural area.

___________________
he left u NAKED in a DITCH!

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 9 years ago

I live in the Bronx, and while I'm not a social worker, I am aware of the socioeconomic situations and generational poverty in a lot of the neighborhoods here. The Bronx isn't all bad though, and I feel like all of your examples could come from anywhere USA honestly.

The Bronx gets a bad rap, and I don't think Brooklyn isn't any "better" in terms of crime; it just looks prettier because so much of it has been gentrified (this IS happening in the Bronx too, but it's still early on). I actually live in what's technically considered the South Bronx, albeit the northernmost edge of it (just a few blocks south of Fordham Road). It's not the prettiest area and definitely has a gritty edge to it, but it's not like there are people getting killed on the streets and utter madness and chaos. The Bronx today is not the Bronx of the '70s and '80s. New York is a very different city than what it was thirty to forty years ago in general.

[–] somesunnyday 9 years ago

Some of your comments come across as very immature. I know it's not a walk in the part to teach in disadvantaged areas but it seems to me that you don't have the psychological make up to be able to deal with it in a sensible and mature manner.