Detention

Film scores with a genre mix

From Director Joseph “Torque” Kahn comes “Detention,” a hilarious, fast-talking and witty high school film with a stellar sound track and a serial killer named Cinderhella who terrorizes the students. (...) Like “The Breakfast Club,” “Detention” defines the younger generation by focusing on high school life. However, “Detention” is shown in such a way as to mimic the multi-tasking, texting youth of today with a complex story line that compels viewers to watch and never look away.

thedailycougar.com

The Charisma of the iPad: On Technology in the Classroom

Alan Jacobs:

Over the years a good many people have commented to me that John Keating -- the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society, that charismatic lover of and advocate for poetry -- surely had to be the pedagogical ideal, the teacher that every teacher, especially every teacher of literature, would want to be. No, I always reply. That would be Mr. Miyagi, from The Karate Kid. It's not easy being Mr. Keating. Many of his students aren't interested in his subject; others are interested but their parents don't want them to be. He has a lot to overcome, and though he does it by pure charisma, the achievement is costly: it's all-consuming for him and dangerous for some of his students. Too much drama is involved. I don't need that. By contrast, look at the sweet deal Mr. Miyagi has: his pupil comes to him, and is so eager for the sensei's wisdom and insight that he's willing to undertake all sorts of menial tasks in order to apprentice himself. Mr. Miyagi can just go about his business -- or rather, his leisure -- in the serene assurance that Daniel is learning the skills he wants to learn while the sensei gets his house painted and his car waxed. Everybody wins.

The Atlantic

21 Jump Street

It's also got the cliche of almost every high school film of the 1980s and 1990s - right from the nerdy but studious gang to the big deal and limo at prom night. It twists those cliches and plays with them enough for it to make both a tribute and satire of it. NY Daily News

Bully

Bully tackles the issue of adolescent peer bullying, particularly as it occurs in schools. Memphis Flyer.

Appeal to Campus Life

'The Art of Fielding' certainly isn't the first novel to explore campus life. Author Nicholas Delbanco examines the literary appeal of campus grounds. chicagotribune.com