In the movie The Freedom Writers, what three obstacles does Erin Gruwell face in the beginning?

There are many challenges that Erin Gruwell faces when beginning to teach at an inner-city high school. She is young and optimistic, but she is about to enter one of most difficult teaching assignments she could have possibly received.
The first obstacle she faces is internal: she has to overcome her own naïveté and inexperience to deal with the rampant racism and violence she sees in the school. She goes into the situation completely unaware of how rough the school is.
The second obstacle is her students, who are apathetic and jaded toward the system. They have grown up in a violent, racist school system, and at this point, they don't have any motivation to improve. Gruwell is faced with the tall task of encouraging them to change and improve their lives.
The final obstacle she experiences is the staff. All of the other members of the staff are older and more experienced; they are therefore familiar with the school system and feel callous toward it, no longer feeling upset by the violence and racism at the school. Gruwell must overcome their apathy and get them to engage with the students to improve the school as a whole.


The movie The Freedom Writer's Diary is based on the non-fiction book of the same name, written by Erin Gruwell and her students, about Gruwell's experiences teaching high school students.
Gruwell faces many challenges in both the book and the movie. Three obstacles that Gruwell encounters at the beginning of the story are her own experiences, the students she must teach, and the people she must work with.
At the start of her career as a high school English teacher, Gruwell is twenty-three years old and very inexperienced. She accepts a job teaching at-risk, inner-city students at a very violent school in Long Beach, California. As a young, white female, Gruwell walks into the school unprepared for the racial violence and hatred. Gruwell is able to overcome this obstacle by relating English materials to the lives of her students.
The students are another obstacle for Gruwell. Every other teacher describes these students as hopeless; the students see themselves as hopeless, too. Most of these kids are from very low income families and have little or no parental guidance. The amount of violence in these students' lives is incomprehensible to Gruwell. Many of them have lost friends or family members in shootings. They are also wary of Gruwell because she is white.
The faculty members at Woodrow Wilson High School do not help Gruwell at all. Most of these teachers have given up on the students and are negative in their viewpoints of education. Some teachers resent Gruwell for the good work she does for the kids. Most new educators need help from senior teachers, not people who make an already hard job more difficult.
Despite these obstacles, Gruwell made a huge impact on the lives of her students.


The Freedom Writers is one of my favorite "teacher" movies, and I encourage everyone to watch it. As Erin Gruwell begins to teach, she has at least three obstacles.
First, she has her own inexperience and naïveté. Nothing could have possibly prepared her properly for this particular teaching assignment. Erin has been assigned a class of students that the system has completely given up on. Even the most seasoned teacher would have a hard time with this, but Erin Gruwell has no experience at all.
Second, the students are an obstacle, for any number of reasons, but mostly because, since everyone has given up on them, they have given up on themselves. Due to their past experiences with the education system, they are extremely mistrustful of Gruwell. She must prove herself over and over again before they trust her.
Third, the staff at her school are an obstacle. Viewing them in the most favorable light, they are cynical and negligent educators. As I watched this movie, I was not inclined to view them kindly, and thought they really seemed to be downright racists. These educators thought any resources spent on Gruwell's students were a complete waste.  Imagine being a student in that school! Gruwell has other obstacles, of course, but her courage, willpower, optimism, and resilience are remarkable and allow for a mostly happy ending. 

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