We're now into the 3rd series of Channel 4's Educating.... series starting originally with Educating Essex followed by Educating Yorkshire and now we are on to Educating the East End.
Educating Essex was widely well received and became well known for one particular classic question "What is Pi? Where does it come from?". There was bullying, friendships breaking down and making up, and teen pregnancy which made for dramatic viewing. Which led to a twice as popular spin off Educating Yorkshire.
Educating Yorkshire was very popular for good reason. The teachers had a great personality, as did the students and more importantly there was one defining moment. When Musharaf found his voice. He had a stutter and overcame it enough with the help of his English teacher to achieve a grade C in English and make a speech at the end of the year.
I thought Educating... was excellent. Due to the fact that it supported the country's education system and showed how hard working teachers can be and how difficult and stressful school life can be. (Which if you're a teenager you're pretty much already aware of.)
The problem is that I think Educating the East End is pushing it slightly in terms of how long a series should be on for. This series has taught confirmed something I believed. That every school and every place is made up of pretty much the same people. Which in one way is fine, it teaches you how to deal with those people and know what to expect. However it doesn't make particularly good viewing. The third time around. Although everybody is different. Of course they are. There are a lot of similarities in a lot of cases even if they took a different route to get there.
So yes I think that the Educating... series has run it's course.
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