NIGHT SCHOOL; the inspiring life of Teddy Walker

It chronicles Teddy Walker’s (Kevin Hart) comic navigation to success thereby inspiring us with a fantastic success story that leaves us gasping for more by the time the credits are scrolling up the screen. It’s certainly a hard task situating such inspirational storyline at the kernel of a comedy.

Most comedies often end up with loose central story and plots because they are expected to rely insanely on the comic parts which at times may not live up to expectation.

Inspirational story

Hart offers a solid story that is as inspirational as inspirational can get. Teddy fails out of high school. He takes a job in a restaurant. But he is not happy with this status; he wants to reach out for more. He cannot rise beyond his present low income life unless he takes the GED. To write the exam, he’d enroll in a night school –in preparation for the exam – for he is always busy at work during the day.

Night School (2018), Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Taran Killam ece-auto-gen

Learning disorder

Teddy begins the night classes but it is soon discovered that he is dyslexic; he has a processing disorder; he is suffering from dyscalculia. Carey (Tiffany Haddish), Teddy’s night school teacher finds this out and takes a special interest in him. Teddy gives up on himself. He returns to being an attendant/food seller in an eatery.

But Carey won’t take such defeatist action from her dullest student. She visits him and whips him with a belt asking him to return to school and take the GED. Under his teacher’s pressure, Teddy returns to school and fails his way to success, finally scoring 178 in GED after several attempts.

Searchlight on us

From this seemingly simple story comes a deep searchlight on our sense of self-worth, concept of schooling, desire for a better life, role of teachers, and the place of discipline in the search for knowledge and success. Teddy’s sense of self-worth is poor because he knows he has learning disabilities. That is responsible for his giving up on himself.

The idea of school

Night School makes us ponder on the idea of school. Why do people go to school? The students in Teddy’s class voice the reason they are attending the night classes. It is obvious that they all want a better life for themselves. But the school concept is not complete without a critical hurdle – examination.

This part is what many students hate. Examination grows some level of anxiety and fear in students, no wonder Teddy and his classmates intend bugling the principal’s office with the intent of stealing the question papers.

Role of teachers

Teachers play an important role in the life of a student. Sometimes it’s unbelievable the extent some teachers go just to see their students through a subject, or a difficult phase in life. The words and attitude of a teacher go a long way to determine the self-worth, confidence and success of their students in and out of school.

Carey changes Teddy’s life for the better when with a belt and words, she flogs some sense into him.

A minor setback for a major comeback

You cannot be successful without some discipline and focus. This shines forth from the way Carey treats Teddy. She punches him, belts him, talks to and at him, all in the name of making him focus in school. Life beats us that hard in order to make us develop.

Teddy soon begins to yield to his teacher’s barrage of punches, verbal prods, and psychological resetting. He develops enough nerves to dare the equations, battle the words on pages and face his fears of exams. He does not mind taking the same exam several times as he now understands that failing at a time is just “a minor setback for a major comeback.”

Written by Omidire Idowu.