Slumming for Education: The Value of Real Wold Knowledge in Slumdog Millionaire Draft 1

Alicia Rogers

Steven Wexler

Multi-Genre Literacy in a Global Context

6 May 2013

Slumming for Education:

The Value of Real World Knowledge in Slumdog Millionaire

         In America there is a tendency to discount knowledge that is gained outside of traditional education.  People trust it less and, therefore, count it less.  There’s a belief that going to school will lead to a good job and complete success.  It comforts people, especially in this country where we believe that success stems from one’s own efforts; if you just work hard enough, then you must succeed.  There are the few lucky people who manage to be successful outside of traditional models, but even they are distrusted and seen as the exceptions that prove the rule.  In many ways, the film Slumdog Millionaire can be seen as a clear critique on this very issue.  It is a social commentary on the global aspects of gleaning knowledge through myriad ways—even those outside of traditional models.  

            Not all information is best gained through visual and auditory methods.  There are a variety of ways to learn and no single model will fit each learner because “we all learn in different ways, process information differently, and have distinct preferences about where, when, and how we learn” (Gregory 19).  For Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire, learning took place as it applied to his life.  The whole structure of the movie emphasizes this fact.  It’s what the framing conflict relies upon for the cohesion of the film.  As each question is asked, Jamal relies on a concrete experience from his past to determine the answer.  From the opening scene of the film, there is tension because of the aforementioned belief that knowledge must be gained through traditional means in order to count.  Because Jamal did not complete a traditional education program, the police believe that he cannot have the knowledge that he has on the show; he must be cheating.  The Inspector puts it most clearly in the opening sequence of the film at (time sequence goes here) when he bursts in frustration that “professors, lawyers, doctors, General Knowledge Wallahs never get beyond sixteen thousand rupees.  And he's on ten million?  What the hell can a slum dog possibly know?”  This is an extension of the distrust that many people have over non-traditional education and poor people, in general.  Jamal’s education is life-based; everything that he knows was learned through a directly applicable moment in his life.  He is a concrete sequential thinker with learning “based in the physical world identified through [his] senses” (Gregory 22).  He notices the details around him and recalls them easily.  It’s the way his brain works to organize information.  Jamal doesn’t need the structure of traditional education; details are openly apparent for him.  Additionally, later in the film, the Inspector mocks Jamal for not knowing an answer that he viewed as easy.  Jamal fights this perception when he asks the police a question that “everyone in Juhu knows…even five-year-olds” (citation).  This moment emphasizes the accessibility of traditional education.  Jamal knows the things that apply to his life.  Because he did not have access to traditional education, the things that are typically taught don’t apply to him.  Again, the film highlights the need to make knowledge applicable to each individual student.  Jamal’s learning is just as valid as that of a more classic approach.  Not all learners need traditional structures of reading and writing and lecture.  In fact, for many students these methods do not work at all. 

            The global accessibility of information is emphasized through the film by the aspects of cultural globalization.  More support goes here.  The Coke bottle, the hundred dollar bill, etc.

            Throughout the course of the film, audiences are led on a journey through the life of Jamal Malik.  This journey directs viewers to broaden their minds in regards to what matters intellectually.  It questions the importance of traditional education and asks readers what answers they have in their own lives—what risks they are willing to take even.  The story of Jamal proves that knowledge only stays with a person insofar as it can be applied to his/her own life.  In fact, Jamal’s seemingly worthless mind held onto the knowledge that eventually earned his livelihood.  More telling than that, however, is the fact that his last answer had to come from his gut instinct—a pure and simple guess—to the tune of twenty million Indian rupees. 

Works Cited

Gregory, Gayle H. and Carolyn Chapman. Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size

Doesn’t Fit All. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Corwin Press, 2002. Print.

Slumdog Millionaire. Dir. Danny Boyle. Perf. Dev Patel, Saurabh Shukla, Anil Kapoor.

Celador Films, 2008. Digital Stream.