Abstract

The paper reviews “To Sir With Love” which is a 1967 film directed and produced by James Clavell. The film involves Mark Thackeray (the teacher) that comes to teach a class that was totally undisciplined while still hopeful of attaining a good engineering job. The purpose of the paper is to explore three communicative concepts that are prevalent in the film. In this case, the communication concepts involved are communication climate, interpersonal relationships and the effects of culture on communication. The scope of the paper involves an introduction that sets out the issues to be discussed, the body section that involves the discussion of the afro-mentioned communicative concepts and a conclusion that showcases the impacts of the paper. It is made apparent that communication is an important concept in the society. The needs to communicate are usually instigated internally or externally. Through effective communication, it is possible to solve problems that have persisted for a long period.

Introduction

The paper focuses on the 1967 film “To Sir With Love.” This film revolves around Mark Thackeray who is a communication engineer out of work and has decided to take an employment opportunity at a rough London high school in order to survive the unemployment. In his early expeditions at the institution, Mark is faced with a very hard time. The students in his class do not show a shred of respect for his teachings, his degree or themselves during the initial encounters. Mark is forced to confront them with the objective of improving the status quo within the institution. He is unable to take it anymore when the students throw a water balloon at him as he gets to the school building. This incident paves the way for the turning point that follows.

The paper is focused on exploring varied communicative concepts that are prevalent in the film. Communication is an important aspect of people’s everyday lives. Communication is more of a process that helps in the creation of meaning by use of symbolic interaction (Adler et al., 2014). Aspects that push people to communicate can either be externally or internally instigated. This is because communication works in satisfying varied needs that people have (Zelizer, 2015). In this case, the communication concepts that will be analyzed in the film include communication climate, interpersonal relationship and the effects of culture on communication. Communication climate will assess the climate that is created by both the teachers and the students. Interpersonal relationships, on the other hand, will examine how the relationships formed within the film affect the way that the people communicate. The effect of culture on its part is more concerned with how the environment that the students have been subjected to affects their communication prospects. Simply put, “To Sir With Love” demonstrates varied communication concepts, but the paper has opted to explore communication climate, interpersonal relationships and effects of culture on communication in more detail.

Body

Communication Climate

When Mark first came to the school, the communication climate was very negative. This impression was first demonstrated when Mark entered the staff room on his first day. The teachers there seemed to feel pity for him since he did not know what was awaiting him. The teacher that gave him the orientation, and introduced him to the other teachers urged her colleagues to encourage him and desist from discouraging him. This did not stop them from doing it in a sarcastic manner. Mark was even introduced to Julienne. She was the newest member of staff, and it was assumed that she would help Mark adapt to the tough life ahead. Male colleagues were the ones sending most of the disconfirming messages compared to female colleagues.

Mark’s first day in the classroom proved to be exactly what the other teachers were talking about. The students were very rebellious and went out of their way to ensure that they were rebellious. The class had a classical portrayal of teen angst. The students seemed impoverished, battered, had turned out badly and they had the determination to brutalize other people around them. With the negative climate that had been created within the classroom, it was difficult to teach them anything substantial and ensure that the students grasp the relevant details.  Any serious attempt from the teacher was just met with comical responses, and all the students seemed to enjoy this. This was an indication of how a negative communication climate in a classroom setting can be detrimental to the learning process. The desire by the students to annoy their teachers culminates in their poor comprehension of classroom activities.

However, this environment changed with time. At some point, Mark got extremely angry based on how the students were treating him. He decided to use a different approach in light of the prevailing circumstances. Mark decided not to treat the students as kids anymore. He opted to treat them as adults. They were made to understand the concept of self-respect and respecting others. Mark now required them to address him as “sir”, and he also taught the girls that they should seek being treated with respect by the boys. The turning point was even hastened by the museum trip organized by Mark. The students now started to treat their teacher with respect. The communication climate had now transitioned to being positive. The messages emanating from all the parties were now more confirming. Students’ progress became commendable. Parents began to commend the teacher as many aspects involving the students became positive. This was an indication of the power of positive communication climate. It normally enhances the students’ learning prospects and overall positive behavior (Wynia et al., 2010). This is because they are open to listen and act upon the positive information that is presented to them.

Interpersonal Relationships

Interpersonal relationships are quite prevalent throughout the film. The students seemed to have a strong bond among them when Mark first came to the institution. They worked in unison while trying to frustrate the teacher. Everyone did it in a different way, but the objective was similar. They had the determination to make life difficult for the teacher. They would make noise in the teacher’s presence, indulge in non-classroom related activities and even talk arrogantly while addressing the teacher. The students gave each other moral support while doing this. They would cheer when one of them was involved in this kind of behavior. It was apparent that cheering on annoyed the teacher even more. The prevalence was an indication that interpersonal relationships are easily formed among people that are working in solidarity to achieve a similar objective. This is regardless of whether the objective is expected to bring positive or negative results (Chory & Banfield, 2011). The solidarity continues so long as the parties involved derive the desired satisfaction.

Another aspect of an interpersonal relationship is observed between the teacher and his students. Mark shows that he cares for his students since he wishes them well despite the behaviors that they display. The students act in all sorts of mischievous ways, but the teacher remains patient with them. Despite the other teachers losing hope with the students, Mark does not follow a similar path. This is what prompted him to devise strategies that would work in helping the students behave in the desired manner. Mark even tries to intervene in students’ personal lives when he deemed it important. Personal life has the ability to affect other aspects of the students’ lives so trying to influence it positively is a favorable way to go. The efforts made by Mark were not in vain since the students came to realize that he had good intentions with his approach. With time, the relationship became mutual. The students were concerned that their teacher would depart after receiving an acceptance letter for an engineering job. The mood had changed, and all of them were working to try and entice him to stay. The love that the teacher had for the students made him opt to remain in that profession despite receiving an employment opportunity for an engineering job. This was a good example of how interpersonal relationships have an influence on people’s lives. They can influence the decisions that people make in day to day activities. The decisions are made while considering other people apart from oneself only (Chory & Banfield, 2011). It is an indication of how people involved with interpersonal relationships care for each other.

Effects of Culture on Communication

The students involved in the film come from the slums of London. Slums are usually associated with many vices such as drugs abuse, violence and domestic abuse among other things. As a result, children that are brought up in these environments tend to grow up with many social issues. Most of the times parents are not there to give them the relevant guidance regarding how they are supposed to carry themselves. The children tend to define their own path and define their own lives in the process (Koester & Lustig, 2015). This is something that seems to have affected the students in Mark’s class. The environment in which they had been brought up affected the way that they communicated. They used uncouth methods while trying to bring a point to the teachers. This technique seemed to bring them more satisfaction. Communicating like a normal student would be expected did not seem to materialize.

Mark had this realization and saw the need to change his techniques while dealing with the students. He started to treat them based on their titles, acquired positions and kids from the slums. This changed the whole thing because they began to act accordingly. The teacher was able to look past his position as an educated adult/teacher and started to treat the students as equals. This helped in communicating and working with them. This aspect provided a valuable lesson that people should treat others in a way that these people expect and not necessarily what is assumed to be appropriate. Communicators ought to realize the cultural differences that exist while trying to communicate with each other. There is a need to develop intercultural communication competence to ensure that it is possible to interact with people from diverse cultures in a beneficial way (Koester & Lustig, 2015). There is also need to exercise open-mindedness and tolerance for ambiguity more so for educators given that they have to interact with students from diverse backgrounds. This ensures that communication competence is achieved at all times.

Conclusion

The film “To Sir With Love” demonstrates varied communication concepts, but the paper has opted to explore communication climate, interpersonal relationships and effects of culture on communication in more detail. Communication has come out as a very integral part of people’s day to day lives. How people communicate with one another determines the direction that their relationship will take. From the film, it has become apparent that disconfirming messages are likely to trigger a negative communication climate. Interpersonal relationships, on the other hand, bring people together and influence the success of a group given the task at hand due to the solidarity that is enhanced. Failure to put culture into consideration while trying to solve an existing conflict is likely to cause a barrier in attaining any positive results. The paper has several impacts on the people that might come across it. Among them is that it teaches on the need of developing positive interpersonal relationships by use of mechanisms that suit the situation at hand. Fixating on one strategy only leads to increased rebellion since the people involved question the process. When Mark changed his approach, he reaped more success compared to how he was treating the students initially. The paper also gives an insight of how important it is to look at things from a different perspective while trying to solve issues more so when the parties involved come from a different cultural background.

References

Adler, R., Rodman, G., & DuPré, A. (2014). Understanding human communication (12th ed.). Oxford University Press.c

Chory, R. & Banfield, S. (2011). Media Dependence and Relational Maintenance in Interpersonal Relationships. Communication Reports, 22(1), 41-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08934210902798502

Koester, J. & Lustig, M. (2015). Intercultural communication competence: Theory, measurement, and application. International Journal Of Intercultural Relations, 48, 20-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.03.006

Wynia, M., Johnson, M., McCoy, T., Griffin, L., & Osborn, C. (2010). Validation of an Organizational Communication Climate Assessment Toolkit. American Journal Of Medical Quality, 25(6), 436-443. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1062860610368428

Zelizer, B. (2015). Making Communication Theory Matter. Communication Theory, 25(4), 410-415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/comt.12075

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