Ah, now this is one I have to see. Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture is the title of a new documentary. Here’s the link to the website.
Race To Nowhere is a groundbreaking documentary film that examines education, childhood and the unintended consequences of the achievement-obsessed way of life that permeates American education and culture. Unrelenting pressure, whether from well-intentioned parents, teachers, national leaders or from children themselves, is creating a generation suffering from unprecedented levels of stress, depression and burnout.
Last night C. was still up when I went to bed at midnight. (Yeah, I’m not such a great role model myself.) And I woke her up at 5:50 so she could get ready and out the door by 6:20. She was working on homework (semester finals starting soon), doing research for an outside project, reading for pleasure (book on the Chicago Daley machine anyone?), but also realized that the deadline for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is nigh upon her and she needed to print out and various things she wants to submit. Thing is SHE is the one driving this.
If only every MCPS administrator had to watch this documentary, maybe I wouldn’t be paying a lawyer to go to due process next week. Who knew 4 months into the school year, I’d still be fighting to let my son repeat 8th grade? What is wrong with our school system?
Thanks for highlighting Race to Nowhere. We intend to ignite a national dialogue on the issues raised by the film in the hopes of creating real change. We need passionate parents like you to help us get word out. We should be screening in the DC area and in about 15 cities across the country by early March. DVDs and our facilitation guide will also be available.
Glad to hear it, Vicki. I know parents have asked if the film is coming to the DC area. We’re ground-zero for the message
If you are poorly prepared, it takes longer. That is particularly obvious with math. If your child is doing multiplication by counting, problems will take a lot longer. If you need to look up every third word while reading or writing, it’s going to take a lot longer.
If you haven’t learned to organize your desk or your papers, you’ll be spending time looking for the stuff before you can start.
So if it takes x hours for C., how much longer does it take the least-prepared student in the class?
Here is a NY Times video op ed from Race to Nowhere:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/01/24/opinion/1247466680941/advanced-pressure.html?hp
“”How can we get things changed so they can be more reasonable again?”asked a mother from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, calling her Montgomery County area “a ground zero of the achievement-oriented culture.” This sounds like you Switched ON! That ground zero reference.
I’ve been promoting this film since its inception. And I just happened to be in New York when it debuted at the DC Jewish Community Center. I have an uncanny knack of being here when it plays in New York and in New York when it plays here
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washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR20101007027.13.html
[...] week I finally had the opportunity to see the documentary Race to Nowhere. I first wrote about it back in January, when was it a mere twinkle in the eye of a few education bloggers. Fast forward ten months, and [...]