American Teacher (2011)

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• Project Phase: Completed
• Release Date: 2011-09-30 - NY and/or LA
• Distributor(s): First Run Features
• Film Genre(s): Documentary
• Country: United States
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SYNOPSIS

Based on the New York Times best-selling book, Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers, narrated by Matt Damon, this chronicles the stories of four teachers - Erik Benner, Jonathan Dearman, Jamie Fidler, and Rhena Jasey - who live and work in disparate urban and rural areas of the country. By following these teachers as they reach different milestones in their careers, the film tells the deeper story of the teaching profession in America today. The film shows us the experience of these four young teachers as they recognize the importance of what they do, and how much they love what they do, but ask: can I afford to continue to teach? Undeniable research shows that a child's school success depends on quality teaching. In the next ten years, more than half of the current 3.2 million teachers will be eligible to retire. We will then have a choice: continue with the current, broken system of trying to attract talented college graduates to the teaching profession by offering low pay, long hours, little support, and no prestige - a system that results in high turnover and low morale and translates into 85 percent of graduates refusing to even consider the profession. Or we change: increase compensation and improve conditions to attract the best college graduates who might otherwise go into law, finance, or other lucrative fields. With the best and the brightest in the profession, schools will get better.

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