“Educating Peter” by Thomas G. Goodwin, Movie Review Example

This movie review is based on a Goodwin film of a Down’s syndrome child that faces many obstacles whilst attending a regular elementary school. Some of the obstacles the child faces are the inability to cope with regular standards of teaching levels initially, engaging with other children socially and the inability to control his anti-social behaviour patterns. As the movie progresses so does the child’s ability to progress in school at a level closer to a ‘normal’ level which eventually brings him acceptance from his teachers and peers.

Peter has strong abilities including the ability to sing the most of the Pledge of Allegiance, the ability to be interactive whilst learning his lessons, the ability to take criticism from peers and teachers, the ability to read and write with minimal assistance, the ability to work on school projects and the ability to run and catch balls. His social skills develop to a strong level towards the end of the movie. These are exemptions of his cognitive and social skills.

Peter has brought a new meaning of abnormal to the view of the community. The community has viewed Down’s syndrome children as being ‘less than and dumb’. Peter has changed their view by being able to learn and progress throughout the movie whilst being able to contribute to the classroom interaction. The social environment in which he has accomplished this is conducive to his disability.  The expectations for his disability were very low but he has shown everyone that he can do a lot in terms of learning and interacting with other children. He has lots to offer in terms of intelligence and caring and compassion. The teacher has actually changed her first opinion of him which was that he was slow to that of he can learn and mingle with the other children in a positive manner.

Peter has demonstrated self-advocacy skills by wanting to show off his school work to the class, understanding that he should take control of his behavior and not bother the other children and by putting away his own materials with no assistance from others. Further these were experiences of his innate ability to profess linguistic skills despite his disability. The other children in the classroom, especially one young girl has aided Peter with his work often. She learned to use her language skills to tap into his form of communicating though not always traditional. Some kids called him a bully at the beginning of the movie because of his rough attitude and his mannerisms of kicking and pushing, but towards the end of the movie his change of behavior has gained him respect and loyalty from other children. His behaviors were constant of what physical symptoms are shown with this type of diagnosis. Peter’s compassion from other children has gained him best friends by the end of the year. The children no long feel that they are scared of him, rather they are happy to have Peter in their classroom as a friend. Peter showed the children as well as the teacher he had the ability to use his social and cognitive skills in a positive manner conducive to a normal learning environment.

References

Goodwin, Thomas G. [Review of the movie Educating Peter].