ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the character of two charismatic teachers featured in films separated by about half a century and the Atlantic Ocean. Jean Brodie and Terence Fletcher are commanding figures, legendary in their respective schools: for girls in Scotland and elite music students in Manhattan. Although both are passionate about the arts and believe themselves to be superior educators, their arrogance keeps them from doing their best for their young charges. Where humility reflects an accurate view of one’s strengths and weaknesses, arrogant individuals think too highly of themselves and believe themselves entitled to more attention, privilege, and deference than they deserve. As a result, arrogance breeds disdain for the opinions and interests of other people. Brodie and Fletcher employ favorite narratives that allegedly legitimate their status and teaching methods. But their arrogance leads them to control their students rather than cultivate their pupils’ own interests and tastes. The authoritarianism that flows from the arrogance of Brodie and Fletcher is instrumental in each causing the tragic death of a former pupil: an extreme that puts the less dramatic damage they do to students in perspective.
