Name: Ejike Ejindu
Title: Lean on me
Course: SOCI 1010- 572
Date: Feb. 7, 2013
INTRODUCTION
The event of eastside high school took place in Paterson, New Jersey. It is a story of what used to be one the best schools in the United States of America. Once considered one of the finest schools in America, eastside high school of Paterson, New Jersey declined over the years until an official report called it a cauldron of violence
A. The GROUP THAT EMERGE OR CHANGED: The group that emerged in the movie were the students of eastside high. They were changed by the new head of the school, Mr. Joe Clark. Mr. Clark was sent to the school to sanitize the rot in the school once considered to be one of the best in the United States of America. The change he effected was done by eradicating the bad eggs amongst the students. This was shown in the movie when he first addressed the students in the student arena. He had earlier asked his staff to get the names of all hoodlums in the school. On getting to the arena, Mr. Clark met the bad students on the stage, smoking, making noise and making mockery of the staff and the seated students, waiting to be addressed by him. When he saw the extent of disturbance coming from them, he was convinced that they were no good. He said to them “you are all expurgated” and wished them well. He turned to the seated students and said, “Next time it may be you. If you think you know better than they did, next time it will be you”. He went further to tell them the reason why they are in school and his mission at eastside high.
B. THE SOCIAL INSTITUTION THE GROUP BELONG TO:
The social institution the group belongs to, is the education sub sector of the economy. The education subsector is an integral part of the economy, which is responsible for the molding students for future employments or entrepreneurs. The movie was about students of eastside high school and how they were emancipated from the jaws of failure.
The formal organization the group interacted with is the school. The eastside high school was at the center of discuss in this movie. The school once considered as an icon and a model for other school to follow or measure up, was a shadow of itself until the arrival of Mr. Joe Clark. He was sent on a mission to save the school from going back to the state due to low test score and the nefarious activities going on there.
The status of the group is basically students. They were all students of east side high school. The statuses that were expected to lead the group are the principal and the administrative staff comprising of the teachers, adviser and board members.
The values important to the group and leader are all students should be treated equally, individual achievement, Academic integrity, and hard work. This was repeatedly told to the students by Mr. Clark. He mentioned this in his speech to the students when he said “My motto in life is simple, if you don’t succeed in life, I don’t want you to blame your parents, I don’t want you to blame the white man, I want you to blame yourselves. The responsibility is yours”. The norms were to show school spirit, help student do their homework, show respect to the authority. These were also captured in the principal address to the students when he told them to brace up for the academic challenges ahead of them. He said, “But we call our east high teams ghost, don’t we? And what are ghost, ghost are spirit that rise from the dead. I want you to be my ghost. You are going to lead our resurrection, by defiling the expectation that all of us are doomed to fail”. The sanction that would be meted at those who fail to comply with the academic progress is suspension and detention. He made this point when he said to the students “Is not about those test scores, if you do not have these basic skills, you will find yourself locked out. Locked out from the American dreams that you see on TV, that they tell you that it was easy to get”. He also detained some