Voting Station

Erin Gruwell

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Educator

The Resume

    (August 15, 1969- )
    Born in Glendora, California
    Taught at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach from 1994 to 1998
    Author of 'The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them' (1999)
    Portrayed by Hilary Swank

Why she might be annoying:

    She was called self-promoting and self-aggrandizing by other teachers.
    She unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2000.
    The film version of her book tends to turn up on lists of movies utilizing the 'White Savior Narrative' trope (noble non-racist white teacher comes into broken school system and magically makes life better for its students and makes all the other teachers non-racist!).
    It has been pointed out that - contrary to popular belief - in reality, many other teachers assisted in achieving her goals for the class.
    The film also gives the impression she only taught classes of black and Latino students when in reality she also taught middle class white students as well (and not just the single white student depicted in the film's class).
    Her story was one of the mini films parodied in a MADtv sketch: 'Nice White Lady.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was named California Teacher of the Year twice.
    She brought Holocaust survivors in to her class as guest speakers.
    She worked a second job on weekends so she could take her students to movies and on field trips.
    She reached her students by asking them to keep journals and make movies of their lives.
    All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college.
    She started the Freedom Writers Foundation, which aspires to spread the Freedom Writers method across the country.
    She's a Latina but the 2007 film made her into a generic white woman.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 23 Votes: 60.87% Annoying