Why are teachers depicted in movies/tv Engilsh teachers?

[history nerd]

Scripts are written by writers... Writers study and understand literature.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by citylove101

Stand and Deliver was not about math! I would think that is painfully obvious. Anyone who thinks this was a movie about math entirely misses the point of the whole thing.

If you think that this film had nothing to do with math, then you need to watch it again. And most people who have seen it are fully aware of the part Hollywood played in the story; as Escalante mentioned, the movie was "90 percent truth and 10 percent drama." BTW, Garfield High is not that far from many of us who live in greater L.A....so we know the demographics of the students who attended. (Which is why this thread started out in the Education forum.)

https://reason.com/2002/07/01/stand-...r-revisited-2/

[Therblig]

So all film/TV teachers are English or maybe History... except for the ones that are math or science teachers because that is central to the storyline or plot.

I suggest that generic teachers - when a classroom setting is needed but there is no particular underlying reason to make it a specific field - are English teachers because almost any topic or event can be written into that setting. A calculus class wouldn't be concerned with any world, regional, school or student events. But an English class (and into things like History) can plausibly go almost anywhere in storytelling terms.

[OzzyRules]

Originally Posted by Avondalist

Because English classes were probably the favorites of authors and screenwriters. Assuming the OP is correct.

Exactly. Writers write about what they know.

It's the same reason that the major character in Stephen King novels is often a horror novelist.

[2 Scoops]

I like movies that teach life skills - Conrack with Jon Voight. Too Sir With Love with Sidney Poitier.

[2x3x29x41]

English in the quintessential high school course. Everyone takes it, and for the most part everyone takes an English course every term - or at least averages one or more English courses per term due to state minimum credit requirements. It thus has universal relatability for audiences.

English literature is about the human condition. As such, a discussion in an English course is the perfect vehicle for exploring virtually any conflict that is an element of a plot.

Those who go on to write for television and the movies were probably more inspired by, and interested in, their English teachers, as opposed to their geometry and French and biology teachers. Thus, they're more likely to portray such a character in a script they write.

[Stagemomma]

Mr. Shuester, on Glee, was a Spanish teacher when he took on the Glee Club because the music teacher got fired for sexual assault.

[dmlandissf]

As I started this thread months back, one of best series ab out teachers that I have seen is "Rita" a Danish series about an excellent teacher in a comprehensive school in Denmark with plenty of home problems. The acting is spot on and the series could take place here with just the same issues.

[Cida]

Maybe because English is a class everyone takes, as opposed to physics.

[LauraC]

They need to do one about a bad teacher as the lead character instead of making them all saints and social workers outside of the classroom. You know what I'm talking about, right? The bad teachers who can't spell, the ones who don't know their subject matter, the ones who ask for your opinion and then criticize you for having a different one than they have, the ones who still don't know your name on the last day of school, the ones who give everyone high grades no matter how poorly some students perform, the ones that know very little about things outside of their specialty, etc.. I'm not talking about a comedy, either.