Overview

This curriculum is designed to help students of a Teaching and Therapeutic Community improve their emotional literacy by exploring the following questions:

• How has resentment affected their lives?
• What things have students rationalized?
• What are positive and negative uses of resistance?
• How have their reactions to events shaped their experience?

The final part of the curriculum focuses on perseverance and helps students identify attributes of their character they should persevere to develop.

People with histories of criminality and addict

ion are particularly prone to shaping their behavior on the basis of what they are resentful about, and blaming others for their actions rather than developing the ability to respond appropriately. Behaviors are frequently justified and rationalized to promote anti-social rather than pro-social behavior. The intent of the curriculum is to help students untangle some of these emotional knots and give them skills to identify emotions and navigate in their relationships more successfully. The curriculum explores both personal and global rationalizations (i.e. destruction of the rainforests). In small group settings, students examine rationalizations from both the individual perspective and the perspective of social contracts. How students have chosen to react is examined and they are challenged to write scripts with alternate reactions to events that would have changed the outcomes.

Resentment, Rationalization, Resistance, Reaction & Perseverance Documentary Movies (DVD’s)

Four Little Girls - This documentary features interviews with Walter Cronkite, Bill Cosby, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young and Coretta Scott King regarding the September 15, 1963 bombing of a Baptist church. It includes archival film footage, home photographs and comments by family members that survived. Students in the class are given the exercise of watching the movie from the perspectives of resentment, rationalization, resistance, reaction and perseverance. They report back to the class on how these themes were present during the time of the bombing and the aftermath of it.

Gandhi - This docu-drama depicts the life and politics of Mohandas Gandhi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and world champion of non-violent resistance. It begins with Ghandi’s assassination and then moves through his life and journey of embracing the non-violent method of resistance and social change. From his personal experience with apartheid in South Africa to ultimately freeing India from British rule, the film depicts Gandhi’s ever-widening commitment to love, to truth, and to the importance of integrated and peaceful societies. Historically correct and superbly acted by Ben Kingsley, this film is regularly used in classrooms to portray the journey of this world leader. Gandhi’s demonstration was in later years a cornerstone of both Dr. Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez.

Malcolm X - This award-winning docu-drama depicts the life journey and learning process of Malcolm X. From a disrupted childhood, youth as a gangster, to a radical separatist Black Muslim and finally his journey to Mecca and conversion to a more humanitarian approach. The film portrays the emotional quest of a black man in the United States who continued his journey of knowledge and had, as Maya Angelou so elegantly states, “the courage to re-create himself.” Particularly valuable in the Teaching and Therapeutic Community is his journey from exclusion, emotional and academic illiteracy to inclusion, literacy and awareness. Examples of resentment, resistance (both positive and negative), and ultimately perseverance for a higher ideal abound in this depiction of one man’s journey to authenticity.

The Burning Season - The Chico Mendes Story John Frankenheimer’s first television venture since he established his reputation in the medium during the 1950s is a fact-based docu-drama on the life of Brazilian rainforest activist Chico Mendez,who is played by Raul Julia. After observing the exploitation of his father and uncle, rubber tappers who worked in the rainforest, Chico becomes the right-hand man of labor leader Wilson Pinheiro (Edward James Olmos). Orlao Galvao (Tony Plana), a crooked politician, forms a consortium with cattleman Dari Alves (Tomas Milian) to clear the forest in order to secure a sizable road-building contract. When Pinheiro speaks out about the plans devastating consequences for the rubber tappers, he is assassinated. Chico takes over his role, advocating a non-violent response to provocation from the consortium. He files a number of motions, contesting the ownership of the rainforest, and organizes sit-ins to block bulldozers from clearing land. His actions infuriate his opponents, who have him kidnapped and tortured, to no effect. As documentarian Steve Kaye arrives to film his activities, Chico begins his campaign for government office, hoping to bring political weight to bear on the workers’ problems. Julia’s powerfully incendiary performance, one of the last before his death, is the heart and soul of this compelling docu-drama in which Frankenheimer never loses the edge.

Rabbit Proof Fence - Nominated for more than nineteen international awards, this Australian docu-drama portrays the true story of two aboriginal girls who were victims of the Aborigines Act in the 1930’s, which decreed the all “half-caste” girls (half Caucasian and half Aboriginal) could essentially be kidnapped by the government and removed from their family and “integrated” into the modern world. The film raises questions regarding resentment between races, policy decisions made without accurate information and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. The film accurately depicts the incredible perseverance of Molly Craig, a 14 year old who was kidnapped in 1931 and walked back 1,500 miles to her mother on three separate occasions. The film ends with Molly Craig, now 86, living in her homeland.

When using videos the teacher/demonstrator must watch the DVD before the presentation in order to be prepared to discuss it and to deal with the ideas and emotions that may be generated. Stopping points and discussion prompts are included in the Demonstrator Guide Tasks. These DVDs are an integral part of the curriculum. Always watch the movie before you show it and be cognizant of your group: who in the group might have some experience that relates to the material? Who might be able to contribute something to the session about the DVD? If you are going to utilize the interchange format after watching a DVD it is recommended that the polarizer watch the movie prior to the session also.