As we read these last scenes we come to know (or at least we are trying to do so) about both Rita's and Frank's learning experience. During the course of the play, Rita has learned many things but the most important one, for me, is the fact that she became aware of the fact that she was the only one that could do something to change her life. She learned that, although some decisions might make us feel prouder than others, our possibility of fighting for the life we want is in our hands. And, since in the last scene she realised that pretending to be someone she is not was not something that would really help her, we can see that Rita has succeeded in achieving what she said she was looking for at the very beginning of the play 'I want to get an education.' It is wonderful to have lived and walked with her all the steps she had gone throught and to finally see her thanking Frank for all he had done for her. Rita is an educated woman for now she knows that it is by her own will, hard work and commitment that she will attain any goal she might seek...Isn't it exactly what we, as teachers, want to transmit to our students? I definitely think so! And, if you agree with me, you will also believe as I do that Rita has learned a lot more than just what she needed for taking the exam...Now she is a completely different person from the one we saw entering Frank's room in the very first scene for now she is the new Rita who has built herself by means of both studying and reading and, at the same time, learning that the only thing she needed to construct the new Rita was not forgetting about her essence. Education improves us, makes us grow.Education won't ever dismiss our own self since we learn through who we are...
By now you must be asking yourself 'and what about Frank?' Yes, you are right, I also have to talk about Frank and his own learning. By the and of the play, we are shown how much Frank has learned and how important has been Rita in his learning. Rita taught Frank that, in the same way as she did with her life, the only person that could help him to change and improve his life was no one but himself. By some reason, not explicitly stated in the play, Frank seemed, throughout the story, to have lost his faith in his teaching. If a teacher comes to a classroom to deliver a lesson drunk, it is by far clear that his most important concern in life is by no means teaching that lesson...However, while teaching Rita (or learning with her), Frank learns that the teacher has sometimes to be the student and learn from the 'teaching' of his students, which was something that, for me, happened to him. He learns from Rita that living is something that goes beyond getting drunk, reading a book and having a cigarrette. As Frank sees Rita's fight against the difficulties that arose in her life in order to go on with her education, he slowly becomes aware of the fact that he can also do something with his own life and, although we are not told what he does (if he does something), I would personally like to infer that he will, at least, try to change his life.
Could "Educating Frank" have been an alternative title for this play? It could have but, however, I would use another one. I believe that 'Educating Us' could be an appropiete title since it would imply not only the education of both Frank and Rita (Us standing for both Rita and Frank since both of them have learned a lot throughout the play) but also our own education and learning as readers because, after having read it and analysed it so deeply, we cannot deny that we have learned a lot from both Frank and Rita.
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Finally, regarding the very end of scene 7, I think that Willy Russell chose to end the play with Rita cutting Frank's hair for different reasons: first, as a way of showing that she wanted to acknowledge somehow all he has done for her; secondly, because she wants to help Frank to built his new self (although it is just a visual change, it is one of the most common ways of starting a change in our lives) and finally, because this is a very good way of showing us that the new educated Rita still keeps her essence and doesn't forget about her past: she has changed immensely but, at the same time, her cutting Frank's hair shows that she is still the hairdresser who was eager to learn and who is still eager to learn. Both Rita and Frank are still ready and waiting for learning since the more we learn, the more we get to know; the more we want to go on learning...
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