I am almost always a sucker for movies about inspiring teachers because I appreciated the good ones when I was a student and I've always believed that good teaching determines the future of any society.

Critics often reject movies in the "Up the Down Staircase" and "Dangerous Minds" vein as being too sentimental, but the new "Freedom Writers" has been receiving the strong reviews it deserves. The picture produced by MTV Films shows how one Los Angeles teacher named Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) made a difference in the years just after the 1992 riots.

Like that nave teacher in "Up the Down Staircase," Gruwell arrived to her first school job expecting her optimism and dedication to be immediately recognized. Of course, she found the administration to be resistant to change and many of her ghetto students to be distrustful of all teachers.

As bad as some inner city schools were back in the 1960s — when "Staircase" was a hit book and film — they weren't the grim security-driven facilities we now have. And, culturally, you didn't hear people writing off the possibility of a good public education the way they do now.

So, a determined and smart teacher like Erin is more important than ever.

"Freedom Writers" shows how Gruwell got her minority students back in touch with their own culture by teaching about the civil rights era of the 1960s. She was also able to explore the roots of race hatred and religious intolerance by getting her kids interested in

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Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

The teacher sparked a writing fever in her own students by giving them all journals; the results were published and served as the foundation for writer-director Richard LaGravenese's script.

LaGravenese manages to suggest the reality of ghetto life without moving into R-rated territory, so this PG-13 picture is a perfect family movie this weekend.

"Freedom Writers" is now playing at Showcase, Bridgeport; AMC Loews Danbury; Connecticut Post 14, Milford; Bow Tie Sono, Norwalk; Seymour Cinemas; Bow Tie Majestic, Stamford; Regal, Stratford; and Bow Tie Marquis, Trumbull.