“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary
life, he has no right to keep it to himself”― Jacques-Yves Cousteau
The above quotes comes out of Rushmore an amazingly uplifting movie, that I
had the opportunity to watch this weekend. This movie ties directly into finding
yourself in high school, while being extremely involved in things other than
academics.
The basic principle of Rushmore is that the main character, Max, is involved in a
whole lot of clubs but his grades are horrible. We can see from the very first scene
that Max, like many other students that struggle with their grades, dream about
being the perfect student. This is a common thought of students who see their
grades dropping but really do not how to fix the problem. Max does no have a
problem being a non-academic leader in anything, and he will start a club that is
not already established. Eventually Max’s ego gets a little to high and he is kicked
out of his high school and has to attend a public school. In some ways, I think this
opened is eyes on how every school does not have the budget to have several
clubs and makes him really check himself. In the end, the viewer assumes that
Max does pull up his grades and that he picks certain clubs that truly do interest
him.
One great thing from this movie is that Max does find something that he truly
enjoys. Max’s problem is that the things he loved doing, clubs, begin to take time
away from his schoolwork, and slowly destroy his life. Overall there are many
benefits that students can get from being involved in extra-curricular activities.
Many lessons are taught from these outside activities, but students must find a
balance between the two. This is something that many students, especially Max,
struggle with. He is so into joining a club or creating a new club, but he does not
work on finding an equal balance. His prerogative is defiantly not on his
schoolwork or having friends. This is shown because right after he starts a new
school, because he got thrown out of his first school, his first goal is to create a
new club and to have a successful play. This is a goal that he cares with him
through the entire movie, until he finds a Margaret, nice young lady, that shows
him that life is not just about clubs.
I think Max could be a great student, if that is where his heart truly was. Many
students’ hearts are in the sports they play and not in their classes. For this
reason Max’s grades suffer majorly, although he can achieve anything that he
puts his heart and mind into. When he wants to get the perfect play written and
put together, he puts all his energy into these plays. The outcomes of his plays are
huge hits. Today’s teachers need to see students, like Max, and make lessons
relate to his likes and try to engage him in class more. Students would learn so
much more if their teachers actually made classes that engaged the students the
way the student wants to be engaged and taught. This is an important view shown
in this movie, that all the classes seem to be extremely dry without any real
spunk.
Overall, this was, in my opinion, the best film that portrays the realistic story of
student’s and being overinvolved extremely well. With real life characters and
situations, the fast-paced nature of the film, and the added romantic aspects, this
movie was truly a great one. I would recommend this movie, to be shown, to all
students that are entering high school. I think it is important for students to see a
movie that depicts a problem many of them may have. Many students will not
admit that they have a problem, and I think if they visually see an example of it,
more students may realize they too have a problem.