Andragogy History 1

MONA LISA SMILE SUMMARY

Abigail Escobar Moreno

Introduction to Pedagogy and Andragogy
Professor Mara Elena Alvarez
June 4th. 2015

INTRODUCTION

This movie is about a teacher named Katherine who tries to

open her students' minds to their freedom to do whatever
they want with their lives. She encourages her students to
believe in themselves, to study to become career
professionals, and to improve their economic futures. She
utilizes her art teachings as a vehicle to put across her opinion
to the young women; that her students needn't conform to
stereotypes of women made by society, or the roles made for
them by society, as women born to become housewives and
mothers.
She is always trying to speak about feminism and the future of
women. She is a firm believer that the outlook of women in
society needs to be changed if women are to achieve better
futures, and that she needs to instill a spirit of change among
her students.

Mona Lisa Smile

It is a story about a teacher called Katherine Watson who is
hired as an Art History instructor at Wellesley College for the
1953/54 school year, where she learns that the students are
book smart, but do not know how to think for themselves. The
students parents and the school administration foster a
predetermined path in life for the girls, namely to stick to
traditional mores and thoughts, with the primary goal of
marrying into a good family and after that they dont have the
opportunity to continue studying or also decide by
themselves.
She is a pioneer of this transition representing one stage in
the emergence of modern woman from a socially dependent
member of the collective to mentally awakened and
psychologically developed individuality. Her story depicts the
inner struggle and the outer conflicts associated with this
emergence. She is not an idealized soul but a real human
being, eager for social acceptance and approval as all of us
are, but refusing to surrender her idealism in order to buy
social approval. She was attracted to the old world of
conformity by something within her that still seeks for the
security of being like everyone else. Though she counsels her
students to think for themselves, she tries to mold them in her
own image as an endorsement and validation of the path she
has chosen.
When she finally realizes this and recognizes their right to
proceed at their own pace on their chosen paths, she decides
to move on. She has planted a seed and lit a fire in her
students, which will smolder or burn according to the
readiness of the tinder. Her own aspiration calls her to the
fresher air of new pastures abroad.

CONCLUSION
Katherine learned that difficulties are opportunities and all the
challenges that life presents us contain seeds for our spiritual
growth.
We tend to seek out other people who think like we do and
share the values we have accepted. But the soul within us is
not satisfied with any limited formulation of truth or any
limited development of our inner divine potentials, so it seeks
out and invites life circumstances which present us with those
truths that we deny or fail to perceive.