School Ties .com



School Ties

Directed by Robert Mandel

This intense drama focuses on David Greene (Brendan Fraser), a football star from a working-class high school in Scranton, Pennsylvania, who wins a scholarship to a posh boarding school in Massachusetts.

He jump starts their ailing football team. However, when his peers find out that he is a Jew, their anti-Semitism makes his life into a nightmare.

SCHOOL TIES

1. The film takes place during the 1950’s at St. Mathews Academy, a boys’ preparatory school. What image do you have of prep schools? Consider such features as the academic, social, and interpersonal behaviors of the boys and the teachers.

2. The headmaster knows David is Jewish. He finds David in the Chapel at the beginning of the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashannah. He says to David, “Was it worth breaking a tradition just to win a football game?” David replies, “Your tradition or mine?” How does this quote illustrate the conflict each man faces regarding “tradition”?

3. After Mac is humiliated by the French teacher, Dillon tells David about the “keys to the kingdom.” What is the “kingdom”? What are the keys Dillon mentions? What other keys do you think would / could give you access to the “kingdom”?

4. A professor realizes someone has cheated on the final exam but he doesn’t know who. He will fail the entire class if the cheater is not revealed. How would you deal with the following cheating scenarios, assuming a student is guilty of the cheating?

1. a student uses a crib sheet (like Dillon)

2. a student plagiarizes another student’s work

3. a student gives answers to an assignment to another student

5. Religious prejudice and discrimination are themes of the movie School Ties. In what different ways are prejudice and discrimination shown in the movie? How will you deal with issues of discrimination in your classroom?

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