Educating Rita - An appalling teacher or an inspiration?

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An appalling teacher or an inspiration?

It is debateable as to whether Frank is an appalling teacher or the extreme opposite.

Looking over the scenes, various points are brought to our attention that place Frank in a bad light.

Frank is a very unconventional teacher. Although this can be argued as a good trait, Frank is not sufficiently detached from his students. This could lead him to look at her work from a bias point of view.

To pass examinations, you're going to have to suppress, perhaps even abandon your uniqueness. In Act One, Scene 8, Rita has written an essay that Frank has describes as valuable, yet not what an examiner is looking for. He does not seem to know how to tell this to Rita for fear of hurting her feelings. As a teacher, he should have the ability to constructively criticise her essay writing skills, for her overall benefit.
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Frank integrates his social and pupil-student relations too closely. Act One,

Scene Six is an example of this; Frank invites Rita to his house for dinner. Frank contradicts himself when it comes to the matter of independent learning.

He encourages Rita to go to the theatre. Yet, on the other hand, when Rita comes back form Summer School, Frank comes across as jealous and discouraging when she endeavours to tell him about what she has learnt.

Having mentioned all this, Frank can also be seen as a great inspiration to

Rita. Many references of ...

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