Emperor's Club

1. Mr. Hundert quotes Aristophanes, “Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid last forever.”  When reflecting on this movie Mr. Hundert seems correct that stupid (Mr. Bell) never out grows stupidity that he had when he was at the boys school.  I interpret this quote by it saying some things can be corrected or changed but stupid or ignorance cannot be.  I am wondering if Mr. Bell would ever grow out of his stupidness now that he has boys of his own, and his son heard him in the bathroom. 

2.  Mr. Hundert has never experienced anyone who was not obedient to his authority, as Sedgewick Bell does.  Mr Hundert has probably never had students that were not striving to learn and succeed academically.  He also wants to “shape” Sedgewick only to find later that all the effort and hope he put into him did not amount to anything of value to Mr. Hundert.

3. Mr. Hundert describes Sedgewick as hypnotic because he gets the other boys to misbehave and do whatever he is doing.  The other boys are good students and would normally follow the rules, but with Sedgewick they do not even consider the consequences.   Sedgewick even gets the whole class to slam their books and startle Mr. Hundert.  He is the leader of most jokes, pranks, and mischief, and with little effort, gets the other students to accompany him.

4. When Mr. Hundert calculates the final marks for the Mr. Julius Caesar Contest he faces an ethical dilemma; to allow Sedgewick into the contest by increasing his final score to more than he earned, or do not let him in the contest.  Mr. Hundert had put hope into Sedgewick and for the first time Sedgewick was studying in school and doing well.  Mr Hundert wanted to see Sedgewick succeed but he also faced the ethical dilemma of changing the final scores of the quizzes to get him into the contest.  Sedgewick was doing good work, but did not earn enough points to beat out Martin in the contest but Mr. Hundert gave Sedgewick the spot anyways.

5. Mr. Hundert is also faced with another dilemma at the contest when he suspects Sedgewick is cheating.  He informs the Headmaster but he tells him to ignore it because Sedgewicks father, the State Senator, is a large beneficiary to the school.  Mr. Hundert does not understand why he did it because he knew Sedgewick new all the information.  When he confronts Sedgewick about his behavior at the contest Sedgewick does not seem to think it was wrong with cheating. 

6. Twenty five years later Mr. Hundert participates as host, in the rematch of the Mr. Julius Caesar contest.  Mr. Hundert is now retired but still decides to come because he still holds onto some hope for Sedgewick.  After he finds nothing has changed for Sedgewick he realized that he was wrong the whole time and tells Martin that he cheated him out of his spot 25 years prior.  His hope was squashed for Sedgewick but renewed when Mr. Hundert has Martins son as a student again. 

7.  I think this film resolves the tension that living a good and examined life is more important that being successful at any cost.  Sedgewick both times cheats when he was in school and in the rematch.  When the bathroom incident happens and he tells Mr. Hundert that living a life without virtue does not matter his son walks out of the bathroom stall hearing the whole thing.  He was probably trying to teach his son morals and ethics, but they really learn these things from actions.  His son is disappointed when his father’s real colors shine through.  The conclusion of the movie also shows that Martin was ok even though he did not get into the Mr. Julius Caesar Contest when Mr. Hundert cheats him. 

8. Mr. Hundert returns to teaching after he participates in the rematch of the Mr. Julius Caesar contest.   He finds that what he was preaching to Sedgewick is what he really should be doing.  He finds a refreshing hope in going back to teaching and finds that Martins son is now one of his students.  You can see that Mr. Hundert is very happy to have Martins son as one of his students so he may have the chance to right his own wrong.  Martins son reads the plaque that is above the door smoothly when Martin stuttered at the beginning of the film; a new hope for Mr. Hundert.

9. Mr. Hundert used the problem-posing aspect from the Banking Concept of Education by making seem relevant and important for them to learn.  The film also shows him taking them down to see the Mr. Julius Caesar wall during class and conversing with the students by asking questions and listening to their point of view.  He has the students wear togas when they were to the point of talking about Julius Caesar, not as just a fun game but the importance of the toga in that era that they were studying. 

10. They study of the classics with Mr. Hundert helped enable the young ment to become better versions of themselves as adolescents and then adults by showing the importance history has on the present time.  He was a challenging teacher, but one who also gave students a feeling of success when they did well in the class.  They had to learn many things but was such a good teacher that he gained respect from most the students but they also liked him.  They saw his dedication in teaching and saw how he changed their lives so maybe they would do the same in their lives as he did for theirs