The movie “Lean on Me” is a dramatic American film produced by Norman Twain. The film’s settings are at Eastside High School, a school with crowded classrooms, outdated resources and poor students. Lean on ME is based on Joe Louis Clark’s story, a real-life principal in Paterson, whose school is facing a risk of government takeover. Additionally, Eastside high School endures problems of students’ dropouts, drug traffickers and abusers, teen prostitution and violence among students and teachers. The school aims at establishing a school leadership to advance the students’ Minimum Basic Skills Test scores among students and eliminate other problems facing the school. The movies use Lois Clark and Mayor Don Bottman to portray challenges faced by leaders and their participation as school leaders in eradicating school issues.
The board of directors in Eastside high School nominates Joe Clark when the school faces poor leadership and students are impossible to deal with. Mayor Don convinced the jury that Clark was the right man for the job and ensured them that Clark would ultimately turn the school in the right direction. The event comes after the mayor is threatened by the state administration of losing his control over Eastside High School if it continues to perform poorly in the Minimum Basic Skills Test. The state administration gives Mayor Don a last chance to change the school, which in turn leads the mayor into finding a suitable principle. For a long time, his struggle to find an appropriate principle has been in vain, and as a result, he faces antagonism from his followers, who think he is neglecting his duties.
When the board agrees to hire Clark as the principle of East High school, he is faced with multiple challenges. To start with, his fellow staff members rebel against him since they believe his a dictatorial. Rather than supporting his actions, they are unsupportive and as a result, forcing him to act alone. Furthermore, he endures problems arising from the students who are still engaging in drug use, violence and prostitution. The students are performing poorly because of their bad behaviours, while a large number are dropping out of the school to engage in drugs trafficking.
Both characters, Mayor Don and Lois Clark are standing firm in the fight against drug use in school, poor performance and other immoral behaviours. Their leadership style can be described as tough love oriented, scary, brave and caring. According to Haunt et al., leadership is the ability to impact the activities of others in an aim to achieve a common goal (Haunt 7). Clack portrays this capability by his ability to influence the students by affecting their performance and behaviours. He suspends some of the students because engaging in drugs and gangs. He is also strict in student punishment to students who participate in immoral actions. Furthermore, he dismisses some instructors for differing with his views to infuse fear.
In conclusion, the two main characters, Mayor Don and Clark enhance the theme of the movie by showing leadership roles and challenges. They plays their part as competent leaders by fighting the issues of drug abuse and poor performance in East High school. From the experience of these characters, leaders can learn a lesson on how to lead with authority and to solve the issues around them. The author makes use of the characters to entertain and educate the audience. Their contribution to the movie shows leadership participation in the society.
Works Cited
Hunt, J. G., Hosking, D. M., Schriesheim, C.A., " Stewart, R. (Eds.). Leaders and managers, international perspectives on managerial behaviour and leadership. New York: Pergamon, 1984. Press.
Lean On Me(1989). New Jersey: John G. Avildsen, 1989. film.
