1) At first glance none of the phrases make sense as they seem to contradict. But a quick study of the phrases show great truths. During our youth we are naive and immature but as we grow and get older we become wise and mature allowing us to make educated decisions. As we start out in our schooling at an early age we are ignorant of the things around us but as we grow and continue our education we learn and become educated. If, in our early adult years become a drunkard, we can overcome our addiction through help and sobriety but if at any time in our lives we do something that is really really stupid, it will not be forgotten by those who witnessed the stupidity. It will always follow us around.
2) He is so shaken because he has never had to face a student being defiant before. I believe he also saw a little bit of himself and his upbringing in Sedgewick because they both had fathers that were very influencial in the community but paid little attention to them as kids. Mr Hundert was altered from this experience by the fact that he starts to bend the rules slightly to benefit Sedgewick. By bending these rules he ends up hurting one of his students, Blyth.
3) Many of the boys are influenced by Sedgewick because they have never come in contact with such defiant behavior and thus become curious in his actions. As they see Sedwick getting the girls and becoming popular everyone seems to want to be like him and they themselves start to become somewhat defiant. Mr Hundert describes Sedgewich as "hypnotic" because he is very charming and knows what to say to get what he wants from people. He draws them in by enticing them with charming words or by manipulating the situation.
4) Mr Hundert reviews and grades each boys essay and gave them what he felt they deserved. After he tallies the grades of each of his students he sees that Blyth has earned the third spot in the Julius Caesar Contest and Sedgewick just missed the contest by getting the fourth best grade. The dilemma Mr Hundert faces is whether or not he should increase Sedgewick's grade to allow him to move to the third spot. Mr Hundert chose to change Sedgewick's grade to an A+ which put Sedgewick in the Julius Caesar Contest, but removed Blyth from the contest. It was very evident throughout the movie that Blyth's main goal for the school year was to make it to the Julius Caesar Contest so he had the opportunity to live up to his fathers legacy. His father was a previous Julius Caesar Contest winner.
5) Mr Hundert was faced with another dilemma during the contest when he realizes Sedgewick was cheating. He told the Dean but he told Mr Hundert to ignore the cheating. Mr Hundert ends up not exposing Sedgewick but gives him a question that was not on his cue cards so Sedgewich ended up loosing the contest. When Mr Hundert confronts Sedgewick after the contest, Sedgewick became defiant and he started to belittle Mr Hundert and put him down. Sedgewick also acted as though he did not care and kept grinning.
6) I believe that Mr Hundert's conscience bothered him over the previous 25 years knowing he had taken the opportunity of the Julius Caesar Contest from Blyth when he changed the grades. He may have felt by hosting the contest again, Sedgewich had the opportunity to win the contest which would prove to Mr Hundert that the grade change some how transformed Sedgewick to be a better person which would help with his own conscience. Mr Hundert's hopes are squashed when he realizes that Sedgewick was once again cheating and he tells Sedgewick that he failed him as a teacher. Mr Hundert later gets renewed when his other students give him a plaque and tell him how great of a teacher he was and how he helped them all to grow. He realized that even though he failed with one student, he succeeded with countless others.
7) There was a huge tension at the end of the film between Mr Hundert and Sedgewick. Mr Hundert felt everyone needs to live a life filled with virtue and principles but Sedgewick exclaimed that he would lie and cheat to accomplish his goals. He would do whatever it took to be successful. After saying this Sedgewick's son walked out of the bathroom stall and staired at his father as he walked out the door. His son realized what type of man his father was and was very disappointed.
8) Mr Hundert returns to teaching because he realizes that his greatest contribution was his teaching ability. His students loved and respected him greatly. As he was teaching his new class on the first day, a student walked in late to class, the new student was the son of Blyth. This showed to Mr Hundert that Blyth had forgiven him for the grade change that kept him out of the contest. It also showed that Blyth trusted him to make the right decisions with his son.
9) Mr Hundert practiced problem posing education by allowing kids to think for themselves. He often times had them write essays revealing there own thoughts. He would also turn many of the negative actions inside and outside the classroom into possitive learning experiences for the students.
10) Mr Hundert showed his students how to live with integrity and morals by countless men of history. The men he taught about were individuals who, even after their death, are still being studied and thought of with great respect. Other men he taught were men who may have done well during there lifetime, but history has forgotten about, because they were barbarians and only cared about themselves and did not contribute to the well being of others. By showing these two different types of men they were able to choose if they wanted to live a life that would benefit and help others or a life that would only benefit themselves. At the end of the movie it appears all the students chose the wise men of this world while Sedgewick chose to live like the barbarian which only helped himself.
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