Jonathan Storm: Teach: Tony Danza' on A&E: A sensitive teacher and a fine, rare look at high school reality

Will wonders never cease?

A reality show premieres Friday that's serious and uplifting and illuminates a crucial area of American society, public education, one of many that people know so little about but are so quick to discuss.

And it's set at Philadelphia's sprawling Northeast High School. Teach: Tony Danza, debuting at 10 p.m. on A&E, follows the path of former sitcom star Tony Danza, who worked last school year as a 10th-grade English teacher and coach.

The noble profession is getting kicked around a lot these days, as politicians try to balance budgets by cutting teachers' salaries and pensions.

Students seem to get our attention most often when their activities get them on the police blotter, and the legions of anonymous instructors and administrators who pour themselves into their work are generally ignored.

Teach changes that, more than 40 years after Frederick Wiseman spent months at Northeast shooting his provocative 1968 documentary film, High School.

Danza's charges come alive in all their teenage complexity, and an actor best known as a doofus with a Brooklyn accent displays deep sensitivity while trying to navigate the intricacies of one really challenging job.

"If I could have 10 Tonys in my school, I'd take 'em all," said Northeast principal Linda Carroll in an interview.

"You want people who like children, who have excitement about teaching. You want people who have stories to make the connections," she said, describing how Danza played Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to help 21st-century youngsters get an idea of the virulence of racial hatred in the world of To Kill a Mockingbird, which they were preparing to study.

"And then you want people who are serious enough to go back and learn and prepare," Carroll said. "You can have the intellectuals. It doesn't mean anything if the kids aren't learning from them."

No one would mistake Danza for an intellectual. But when one of his students proves to know more about omniscient narrators than he does, there is a lesson in humility and human relations that's just as valuable as an academic one.

"I'm actually, like, very concerned about my education," says the diminutive, smart, and serious Monte, "because he is not qualified to be an English teacher."

"Monte [all the students are identified only by first names] should get his own show," Danza said in an interview.

The "show" part of Teach stirred some controversy, and it's not hard to see why, given the mind-numbing degradation of most reality shows. One newspaper columnist last year cautioned Philadelphia officials not "to pimp our kids' education to an unemployed sitcom actor who wants to kick-start his stalled career on the backs of students who'll be distracted by cameras and microphones."

That comment was not wasted on the actor, who mentions it on the TV screen and in the interview, but it's always dangerous to get too specific about television shows before you see them. "My aim," Danza said, "was to be a good teacher. The show was secondary. . . . The kids have to come first. You can't be fooling around here."

He proved that by finishing the school year, months after the production had packed and left. "I owed that to the students," he said, "even though there were so many times when I said, 'Jeez, I wish I could escape.' "

His fanatical desire to help his students comes through again and again. On the first day of classes, the kids chide him for flop sweat that literally drips through his shirt. A week later, he breaks down completely after class.

"You've already let them see you sweat," a colleague says. "Don't let them see you cry."

The producers considered schools in several cities in different states but settled on Philadelphia, they said, primarily because Mayor Nutter seemed more interested than other officials in the project.

"A lot of people really put themselves on the line for me," Danza said. "The mayor, Dr. Archie [School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr.], Dr. Ackerman [Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman], Linda Carroll."

Even if the principal does tell him in the first episode, "If this doesn't work, you're out of here."

Danza said the producers (he's one, too) also considered George Washington, Furness, and Central, but chose Northeast for its size (more than 3,400 students and 200 teachers) and diversity.

The party line is that the students there speak 57 languages. Whatever the number, it's large. Danza's charges come from a variety of backgrounds and possess a variety of skills. It can be a problem in a classroom of 26 where some are gifted and some are in special ed. "How do you keep Monte interested and go slow enough for some of the other kids?" Danza asks a colleague.

Raised on video, the pupils seem generally unafraid to speak up for themselves or to have their problems aired on television. Several students seem ready to quit school. Several break down in tears. There's a cheating incident, and a fistfight.

"We're not retarded," says Stephanie, a special-ed student. "We just learn differently."

In cafeteria klatches in each episode, they discuss their responses to their not-so-renowned teacher.

"I saw that he was a famous taxi - driver," says Nakiya, hesitating because she'd never heard of one of Danza's best-known series, which folded 15 years before she was born.

"I just wish he'd teach us more interesting stuff," says Eric.

"He likes to hear himself speak," says Chloe, identifying what seems to be their new teacher's biggest flaw.

A&E sent out a composition book that included students' grades for their teacher. They ranged from C+ ("great for a first-year teacher") to A++. Monte issued an A-.

The show gets a B for its entertainment value, but an A for lifting a curtain on a critical institution that's widely misunderstood, even if it's often just around the corner.

And before nonviewers get all stirred up that TV exploited children yet again, they might want to hear (and in a complete sentence, no less) what shaggy-haired, self-described metalhead Ben had to say in answer to a question from the producers:

"The one thing I learned from Mr. Danza is to treat school not like a job, but like the source of my enrichment."

Television

Teach:

Tony Danza

10 p.m. Friday on A&E