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LouAnne Johnson

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Educator

The Resume

    (July 31, 1953- )
    Born in Youngville, Pennsylvania
    Taught at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California
    Wrote the memoir ‘My Posse Don’t Do Homework’ (1992)
    Book was adapted into the 1995 movie ‘Dangerous Minds’
    Other books included 'The Girls in the Back of the Class' (1996), 'School is Not a Four-Letter Word' (1997), 'Two Parts Textbook, One Part Love' (1998), and 'Queen of Education' (2004)

Why she might be annoying:

    Along with ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ and ‘The Help,’ when people talk about ‘White Savior’ movies, ‘Dangerous Minds’ is usually the one people think of.
    It would have been even more so had the film kept her book’s original - cringey and patronizing - ‘My Posse’ title.
    The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is that the book’s movie was ‘rife with stereotypes.’
    She has since tried to distance herself from it, and once claimed that the producers tried to get her to consent to a subplot where Michelle Pfeiffer (as her) gets suspended for having a romantic relationship with one of her students.
    She refused on the grounds that it was not only illegal, but could ruin her career if people really believed that it had happened (killjoy!).
    Less known is that her book also inspired an even more gimmicky television series with Annie Potts as her (that miraculously lasted an entire season).

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was the first woman inducted into the DINFOS Hall of Fame.
    She spent seven years as a radio-TV broadcaster and one year as a Marine Corps Officer.
    She graduated as Honor Woman in her Marine Corps OCS class.
    She failed to find a publisher for a book she wrote detailing experiences with sexual harassment in the military.
    She had to temporarily quit due to the publicity surrounding her book’s movie.
    She later had a career presenting staff development workshops around the US and overseas.
    She has taught adult education classes, GED classes, and English as a Second Language classes at various colleges.
    She took issue with how ‘Dangerous Minds’ portrayed black students and their families as resenting her because she was white, and has openly said that this wasn’t her experience at all.

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying