Analysis Of Michael Schiffer Film Lean On Me: A Path To Becoming A True Leader

The movie “Lean on Me” reflects on events that occurred at east side high located in Patterson New Jersey. The movie shows a principal named Joe Clark transitioning from being a principal at a preschool to being a principal at a high school that faced many academic struggles. These struggles created issues to the point where the school was going to be shut down and taken over by someone else unless the students passed the basic skills test.

The school faced not only academic difficulties, but problems among the students individually. Some of the students attending east side high were trouble makers, unteachable and many were even involved in gang activities. These students were labeled as delinquents. To fix these problem, the board of education appointed Joe Clark to be the new principal in hopes that he can turn the student’s behavior and grades around. The main goal then became increasing the school’s academic average from what it was. When Mr. Clark first stepped into east side high, he rallied up the students, staff and held a meeting addressing the issue at hand.

At first, none of the students listened to him or cared about what he had to say. Mr. Clark’s leadership skills began to take effect when he approached the situation put in front of him. His first step towards improving East Side High, was to call some of the students who were acting inappropriately and who were attending the school for up to five years on stage. The students continued to mock and disrespect Mr. Clark even after they were called up on stage. He addressed these students as “Drug dealers and drug users.” Due to this, Mr. Clark decided to expel the students that were on stage stating that they will never graduate anyways and after the students were escorted out of the school he was able to continue his mission at East Side High.

In the beginning, some of the students didn’t like Mr. Clark because they thought he was stuck up and controlling. As time progressed, they grew fond of him. Some of the students went to Mr. Clark for both school and personal advice. He never once turned his back on a student in their time of need. Mr. Clark did everything in his power to reassure the students that there is always a solution to their problems.

Mr. Clark was an effective leader because he never gave up on the students and was determined to increase the school’s average. Another step that Mr. Clark took was calling a meeting for only teachers and staff to discuss the situation at hand. He decided that for each class, the teachers would offer extra help and tutoring to the students in other to help them understand and learn what was being taught.

After the first attempt the students failed the practice exam, but Mr. Clark never gave up on them. He kept pushing the students and staff, he never gave up and was able to keep them motivated and confident. Mr. Clark went as far as putting chains on the doors to prevent drug dealers from entering the school. This led to the state deeming him unfit as a principal and arresting him after they caught him with the chains on the door. In my opinion this was an unfair decision because Mr. Clark’s intentions where not meant to harm the students or staff but it was to keep the drug dealers from disrupting the learning community and most importantly to ensure the safety of every student and staff at East Side High.

In conclusion, Mr. Clark’s leadership skills were tested throughout the movie and he never failed to show the characteristics of a true leader. A leader is someone who motivates a group of people to act towards completing a common goal and it’s also someone who never gives up on achieving that goal. A leader also leads others through any obstacle they may face while trying to reach that goal by using strong tactics even though there might be serious consequences.

No matter what challenges he faced he was able to overcome them and in doing so he achieved the main goal of making sure the students of East Side High pass the basic skills test. Mr. Clark showed a lot of determination and dedication. He always believed in the students and was proud of how hard they worked to pass the test. Although there were many people who doubted Mr. Clark and his journey to complete his mission of turning a negative situation into a positive one, he was able to prove them wrong.