Erin Gruwell

Many students in ghetto environments fear they might get raped, robbed, or stabbed; freshmen who attended Woodrow Wilson High School experienced this type of environment. They lived fearing of rival gangs that were separated by ethnicity. Nothing was on their mind except living to see the next day. These teenagers' lives changed drastically as soon as they walked into Ms. Gruwell's freshman English class. Ms. Gruwell started teaching at a high school at Long Beach, California, in 1994. As this was her first year, she was worried and didn't know what to expect. Throughout her years of teaching, Gruwell helped many "academically low-performing" students get out of gang violence. Erin Gruwell deserves the title hero because of her qualities of being persistent, tolerable, and inspiring.

Erin Gruwell demonstrated a high level of persistence when educating these kids. An example of this is when a student says, "Miss G. WILL NOT accept failure because she says, that means that she has failed [in teaching them]...she doesn't take excuses from us" (Haglund). Ms. Gruwell was really persistent and didn't want any lame excuses from her students. She knew that if students kept making excuses, they would never get anywhere in life. Erin Gruwell wanted to do everything she could to change their lives for the better; even they didn't like it. Her persistency not only made these students leave gang violence, but made them bond together and thus end up being like a family. "My students entered my classroom afraid to sit next to another or even talk to a person of a different race. They left my classroom as a family. We worked hard on breaking down stereotypes and dismantling comfort zones to see past color and creed" (Gruwell). When the freshman first walked into her class, Gruwell could see that the students were"afraid to sit next to one another or even talk to a person of a different race." Ms. Gruwell didn't like this and was persistent in keeping these "gang boundaries" out of her class. Gruwell was persistent in making students see past each other people's ethnicity, but to see what they truly are as a person. Erin Gruwell's persistency has made a difference within her students' live.

Besides being persistent, Ms. Gruwell made sure to demonstrate the value of tolerance though her knowledge. As a student teacher, she didn't have any useful resources to do this. To help teach the aspect of tolerance, Gruwell used her own money to buy books, see informational movies, and invite inspirational guest speakers. "...a few months into the school year one of her students passed a note depicting Sharaud [an African American] with extremely large lips. Gruwell told the class that that was the type of caricature that the Nazis had used during the Holocaust. When only one of the students knew what the Holocaust was, Gruwell changed the theme of her curriculum to tolerance. Gruwell took the children to see Schindler's List, [and] bought new books out of her own [money] and invited guest speakers." (Wikipedia). Ms. Gruwell knew it would cost a lot to change the students' perspectives, but she would do all it takes to teach them the meaning of tolerance. Spending all this money didn't just benefit these lost teenagers; it caused complications in her own life to arise. "It was not easy to transform the lives of these students, and in terms of hardships it would have been easy for Erin to give up, to quit and find an easier job" (Gray). Ms. Gruwell didn't quit. She knew that if she did, these students would never learn the aspect of tolerance; the students would never have learned anything of importance. Her determination, and use of knowledge helped her shape these students' lives forever.

Ms. Gruwell's most important factor of being a hero is being inspirational. Her inspiration gave students hope that there is more in the world than gang-violence: "She showed them that no matter how troubling one's situation, it is possible to rise above the ashes--if we choose. Erin Gruwell inspired her students to choose a different way from gang-violence and mediocrity--she inspired them to choose to aspire to greatness" (Gray). Ms. Gruwell just didn't want to teach her students the set curriculum for a freshman English class. She wanted to inspire them to be more than they are at the moment. Ms. Gruwell saw past all the gang violence; she saw each and everyone of them for who they are as a human being. This urge to inspire her students let her see past these gang violences: "Erin completely disregarded the fact that her students, before entering the school had been labeled the Bad-News 'Bears'. To quote her, 'Learners arrive in my classroom with a clean slate top; it's up to them to bring down their grades.'" (Haglund). After hearing all these sayings that her students are the "bad-ones", she didn't care; from her point of view, they were just normal, regular freshman. Gruwell knew that if she gave them inspiration to remove their imprint of "Bad News 'Bears'", they would succumb and leave their dangerous, gang ways. This inspiration played a big role in changing her "gang violent" students into educated students.

Erin Gruwell has made a tremendous difference in her students' lives. She helped them leave their dangerous gang violent lives and supported them to live a life of a regular educated student. These students learned to become tolerant for other ethnicities; they learned to value people for who they are, and not by the people they hang out with. Through the qualities of being persistent, knowledgeable, and inspiring, she was able to alter their paths. Erin Gruwell is now the founder and owner of The Freedom Writers Foundation; a program that lower student drop rates, increase educator job retention and satisfaction, create a classroom culture of acceptance and inclusion, and promote success for all students (Freedom Writers Foundation). There are many teenagers living this dangerous "ghetto lifestyle", but through the voices of others, they can become leaders of this new world.