You can add “The Ron Clark Story” to the list of based-on-a-true-story movies about teachers saving poor inner-city, minority kids from desperate life situations and failing grades. The made-for-TV movie that aired this past weekend tells the story of a young teacher from the rural south who takes a teaching job in Spanish Harlem. Ron Clark has since written a best-selling book of teaching techniques and will open his own academy in the fall of 2006. While the film received both good and bad reviews, this letter from one of Mr. Clark’s former students, published in Reader’s Digest, attests to his influence on at least one student.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Around the Web blog.