My white, small-town mother planted her white, small-town children in front of the TV when shows like Room 222 were on. It was funny enough to keep our attention and serious enough to be worth it. In a time when the idea of civil rights was still considered something strange that many still had to ponder, Mom saw to it that her children saw a black man being respected, week after week, and we grew up believing there was nothing unusual about the notion. Good for Mom.
Good for the people who made Room 222, as well. Lloyd Hanes had the gravitas and empathy to make Pete Dixon's students flock to him, and to make the kids watching listen to what he had to say. He did this without preaching at us (or seeming to), and he kept learning from the students, as well.
One episode that still stands in my mind was when Mr. Dixon kept trying to get one particularly irresponsible student to grow up. After enough of this, the boy yelled that Mr. Dixon kept, "telling me how to live, how to live, how to live. How about telling me how to die?" Turned out that he was cutting classes to go walk through the park and think during the last days of his life. Mr. Dixon immediately set out to get to know the boy in a new light. In the last scene, the school reacted to the boy's death.
Good for the people who made Room 222, as well. Lloyd Hanes had the gravitas and empathy to make Pete Dixon's students flock to him, and to make the kids watching listen to what he had to say. He did this without preaching at us (or seeming to), and he kept learning from the students, as well.
One episode that still stands in my mind was when Mr. Dixon kept trying to get one particularly irresponsible student to grow up. After enough of this, the boy yelled that Mr. Dixon kept, "telling me how to live, how to live, how to live. How about telling me how to die?" Turned out that he was cutting classes to go walk through the park and think during the last days of his life. Mr. Dixon immediately set out to get to know the boy in a new light. In the last scene, the school reacted to the boy's death.