The 6 teachings of the Rita series (to apply to your life)

"Rita", a Danish series released in 2012, can be categorized as a dramatic comedy that shows the personal and professional experiences of its protagonist (Rita Madsen). This teacher who works in the Danish public school, already close to forty years old and without mincing words, has an innate tendency to go against the established norms.

During its four seasons broadcast to date (and without official confirmation on its renewal or completion final), the plot reflectively and critically explains the problems and vicissitudes that can intrinsically emerge in the performance of teaching work, as well as other types of crossroads, conflicts and personal and interpersonal experiences that the protagonist lives in her most familiar and sentimental environment.

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A fiction centered on the educational task

Taking into consideration that as it is a series in which the outcome of some of the situations exposed throughout its 32 chapters can present a resolution at some point simpler than what could occur in real life, the truth is that the explanation given by the scriptwriters on how to manage

issues such as parental overprotection of children, the questioning of the teaching figure by the families, the bullying, the acceptance of the different sexual orientations, etc., allows to carry out an act of reflection on what type of values ​​sustain the current society.

Indeed, Rita usually uses an unorthodox methodology, generating enmity or confrontation with respect to the other adults (such as their co-workers, the parents of the students, relatives and friends) although on the other hand part, she seems to be highly valued and loved by the group of minors who attend her classes.

What can contribute the series "Rita"?

Given the variety of questions raised by the series, let's see what kind of learning, values, teachings and reflections can generate following this peculiar and interesting television production, both within the individual personal and emotional development, as well as in a more global and general sense on the way of understanding the actual society.

1. Give greater weight to moral aspects over legal aspects

Rita has a tendency to act independently and is rarely influenced by the opinions of others. An example of this is shown when she decides to take over the "co-tutoring" (unofficially speaking) of a teenager whose mother has bipolar disorder and she decides not to report this situation so that the boy is not separated from her mother figure.

2. Actively address the cause of discomfort

Rita's character does not miss a single opportunity to solve a school situation identified as problem, getting involved and looking for alternatives on how to proceed if the option applied in the first place does not work effect. The teacher seems to defend a positive conception of "change" by not conforming to what is established just because it is the usual or the most comfortable.

An example of this can be seen in the assumption that she herself makes about her son's sexual orientation. minor Jeppe and how she confronts the situation with the parents of the couples that the boy is presenting in home.

3. Be consistent and accept the consequences of your own decisions

On many different occasions the protagonist tries to transmit both to the students and to her own children of hers that they must learn to decide for themselves and that every act is followed by a determined effect. She also defends how essential it is to base one's own choices taking these consequences into account, even if they imply the relinquishment of a benefit or imply a high personal cost.

In one of the problems exposed in the third season, Rita prefers opting for the economic salvation of the school before keeping her job as a teacher and director. However, it is also true that, in the role of her mother, she presents some emotional deficiencies that negatively interfere with the manifestation of a responsible, mature and more cautious attitude.

4. Express and share both cognitions and feelings

Is something important to promote proper emotional management. This apprenticeship is one of those that perhaps Rita values ​​as more complex to achieve, since in the first seasons observes in her a very significant emotional isolation with respect to her own family, especially her children and her mother. Little by little, the teacher learns to establish more intimate interpersonal ties, being able to show more her feelings towards the other, although she initially makes such approaches in a way erratic.

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5. Avoid falling into prejudice, stigmatization and unfounded criticism

In one of the chapters, Rita defends a student with attention deficit disorder against an accusation of vandalism by the educational community. This entails acting against the majority opinion and standing firm in her personal convictions. She later she will defend until exhausting all possibilities maintaining a space of inclusion intended for a part of students with learning difficulties and other adverse psychological characteristics.

Learn to forgive yourself, accept and learn from your own mistakes. This is without a doubt one of the last lessons that Rita manages to internalize after reuniting with some traumatic events of the past that have taken a toll on his character and his way of functioning in the field interpersonal. This is shown very clearly in the fourth season, where continuous moments of flashbacks present a rebellious adolescent Rita with a great family problem on her back.

In conclusion

After this brief analysis of the contents included in the footage, it seems that the series offers an alternative perspective on how to deal with everyday situations that, both personally and professionally, can occur in the different interaction environments of the same individual. Although it is true that the character tends to trip over the same stone several times and that he is usually in the crosshairs of the rest of the adults with whom he interacts, the teacher manages to teach her students (and the viewer) a series of values ​​that go far beyond the academic content that other teachers in the series are willing to accept. transmit.

Thus, every vital situation is plagued with nuances that must be contextualized and taken into account in order, ultimately, to escape the dichotomies and rigidity that they are normally associated with the belief in certain conventions that lack practical sense regarding the task within society current.