Freedom Writers

1. Why are the students so unwilling to associate with anyone outside their ethnic/racial groups? Where does this intolerance come from?
 I think the students are unwilling to associate with anyone outside their group because they are afraid that the person they are associated with can kill them. Maybe because of the fact that they can be killed everyday when they go outside the house has grown to some sort of paranoia inside them.

2. Why does Ms. Gruwell's students hate and resent her at first?
  I think it's because the students saw that Ms. Gruwell was white and maybe they thought that she will also disrespect them as all the other teachers do.

3. Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank, is a hero to Ms. Gruwell's students. What does Miep Giep mean when she tells Ms. Gruwell's students, ''You are heroes everyday.''?
  Each one of them can get killed every time they step out of the house. And still they go out every day to go school, maybe meet with some friends, etc. The fact that they can be killed doesn't bother them anymore and they go on with their lives like nothing will happen. The fact that they are not afraid anymore makes them heroes. That's what I think Miep Gies means.

4. Why is Eva so affected by the ending of Anne Frank's diary?
  I think she is so affected because she thinks that somehow she and Anne Frank have the same kind of life. And the ending got Eva thinking that maybe she will die like Anne Frank did in the end.

5. Do you think it's more important to ''protect your own'' or to do what's right?
  I think it's more important to do what's right, because it doesn't matter what the problem is, you can save a lot of lives if you do what's right. For example in the movie, if Eva hadn't told the truth Paco would have killed the black boy and maybe more.

6. Ms. Gruwell gives her students the opportunity to find success and graduate. Do you think the students continued along the path of success without the help of Ms. Gruwell by their side? Why or why not?
 I think the students continued along the path of success even without Ms. Gruwell, because they learned a lot from Ms. Gruwell and the things that they learned will help them later in their lives. The students had all the chances to succeed because of they learned.