io Cultur

Emily Striker
Guest Contributor

hiplash,” a 2014 Academy Award Winning film, is based

around a tenacious drumming student named Andrew
Neiman. At the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory, Neiman
strives to be “the best of the best” by working to get in to
Terence Fletcher’s band. Being chosen out of his entire first
year class was easy in comparison to what he must face in
the band. Fletcher’s yelling, throwing of chairs and slapping
drives him to the breaking point—literally. Still, he perseveres
and never truly gives up hope. Whether he is able to reach
Fletcher’s standards is debatable, as he only receives a small
hint of approval by the end of the film.

There were many things that disturbed me about this film.

Whiplash
The Worst Thing Yous

mm oO0d job

Can Say To A Student?

It mortified me to see Fletcher kick a student out because

his obesity disgusted him. I despised his foul language and
violence towards students. Most of all, I hated how Fletcher
expelled Neiman for being late even though he was covered in
bruises and scratches from a car crash. I couldn’t fathom how
he could be so cruel and believe he was doing a good thing.

According to Fletcher, saying “good job” is the worst thing
you can say to a student. To him, these words are the death
of genius. This would haunt me for days before I was finally
able to come to understand why I disagreed with Fletcher’s
beliefs. To an extent, he is correct. You shouldn’t tell someone
they’ve done well when it is evident they put no effort into
their work. It is important to push a student into doing better
if they are capable of doing more. However, instilling fear

to get them to work harder isn’t the best way of doing it.

fangango.com

Doing that is just going to make the student crash and burn.

As Terry Tisdale once said in her Education 101 class, “A
student won’t learn from you if they don’t like or respect
you.” I know from personal experience that I learned more
from a teacher I respected than a teacher who upset me
or made me feel like I wasn’t good enough. The absence
of “good job” made me feel neglected. When I felt like

a teacher believed in me, I would work to reach those
beliefs. They would tell me that I was doing well, but they
never ceased in criticisms or advice on how to improve
on my work. Is “good job” the worst thing you can say to
a student? It is if you leave it at that. It is better to expand
on it by saying: “Good job—let’s see if you can do better.”