ABSTRACT
The great strength of To Sir, With Love is that it convinces audiences and censors alike that the erotic aims of the pedagogical relationships it portrays have not been realized. Despite Mr. Thackeray's sustained campaign of breaking with standard curriculum and school tradition, his brand of transgression stops short of fulfilling the romantic expectations that he incites in Pamela Dare, his top student, and in his audience. The popularity of To Sir, With Love, as well as the regular repetition of its character types and themes in dozens of school films, draws attention to the paradoxical place of teachers in the popular imaginary. The scene is immediately grasped as a forfeiture of the academic lessons that would normally occasion the pedagogical relationship but here have no real mediating value. The goals of succeeding in Kingsfield's class and winning the heart of his daughter are deeply intertwined.
