There have been teachers since the start of civilization. As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that there have been numerous heroic teachers over the course of human existence, including a fair number whose life stories would make excellent source material for the movies.
Here are five heroic teachers that need movies about them:
Mozi
Mozi was one of the ancient Chinese philosophers who lived in the Warring States period. He believed in a principle called universal love, so much so that he would travel from state to state in a sometimes futile, sometimes fruitful effort to prevent the outbreak of war. Due to a passion for mathematics as well as the physical sciences, Mozi and his students became some of the best siege engineers of their times, who were embraced by some states and hated by others because of their consistent effort to help smaller, weaker states protect themselves from their bigger, stronger counterparts.
Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington was an enslaved African-American woman named Jane, whereas his biological father was a white man from one of the local plantations who played no role in his life whatsoever. From these beginnings, he rose to become the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute, which in turn, provided him with the foundations to become one of the leading African-American political figures of his time. As such, he sought to promote black education and entrepreneurship instead of challenging the disenfranchisement and other forms of formal discrimination faced by African-Americans throughout the South. However, it is interesting to note that he shared the desire for political change, as shown by his secret financial support of the NAACP.
Emma Willard
Emma Willard was born in a time when women were permitted no more than basic learning. Fortunately, her father supported her interest in education, with the result that she became a teacher at the age of 17. In time, she went on to found the first school that offered higher education to women in the whole of the United States, which can still be found in Troy, NY under her name. Later, when she had entrusted her school to both her son and her daughter-in-law, she went on to promote education for women not just in the United States but also throughout Europe.
John Masterson
In 2014, a social studies teacher by the name of John Masterson in the state of New Mexico managed to convince a 12-year-old student to put down a shotgun instead of continuing to shoot. Although two students were hurt by fired shots, it cannot be denied that Masterson’s ability to remain calm with a gun pointed at him saved not just his own life but also those of the students in the same room at the same time.
Ray Coe
A teacher at a school in East London, Ray Coe was concerned about his pupil Alya Ali, who was forced to miss some of her schooling because of the treatments needed to keep her alive in spite of a serious problem with her kidneys. When he heard the news, Coe volunteered to be tested to see if he was a potential donor. It turned out that he was, which was all the more amazing because Ali’s relatives had turned out to be incompatible, meaning that Coe’s selfless choice saved her life. As a result, he has now become an unofficial part of the family.
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