This may be one of those Rorschach movies where people see what they want to see. It would be interesting to know the political leanings of whoever wrote it.
It’s been a dozen or more years since one of my kids had it as assigned reading in middle school. I don’t remember it clearly, but it struck me as a bit creepy with some controlling overtones in the teacher/child relationship. But, then again, movies and books are often quite different.