Schools to present ‘Race to Nowhere’

Is America’s “high-stakes and high-pressure” culture hurting its children? Are students today really overworked, overstressed, and underprepared for the working world?

That is the argument put forth by filmmaker and mother of three Vicki Abeles, whose first feature-length documentary, Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture, will be presented to the Canton community next Tuesday, October 25, at 7 p.m. in the CHS Morse Auditorium.

Sponsored by the Canton Public Schools, the screening is open to students, teachers and parents, as well as community leaders and anyone else with an interest or stake in today’s education system. The film will run for approximately 85 minutes and will be followed by a brief period of reflection and discussion.

The event is free; however, school leaders have asked that participants register in advance at rtncantonhsma.eventbrite.com.

The purpose of the screening, according to Superintendent of Schools Jeff Granatino, is “simply to bring awareness to the stress and pressures that many students across the nation are facing in today’s classrooms.”

“This film has been shown nationally in an effort to examine the pressures faced by students, teachers and parents in a world that focuses on high demands and successes,” Granatino wrote in an email. “This documentary features stories of students across the country who have felt the pressure to be successful while trying to balance school, homework, extracurricular activities, friends, family and work. The development and national screenings of Race to Nowhere provide an effort to raise awareness, create a dialogue and empower everyone to take action in homes, school, and communities.”

The film itself does not prescribe a set of solutions; instead it offers a “close-up look at the unintended consequences of the pressures that permeate American education and culture.”

Through interviews with students, teachers and parents, Race to Nowhere exposes what the filmmaker calls the “silent epidemic running rampant in our schools” — an environment where “cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout abound, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.”

A major part of the problem, according to Abeles, is an “education system focused on competition, performance and rankings,” and throughout the film she calls into question everything from homework to Advanced Placement courses.

As she notes in an essay accompanying the Race to Nowhere facilitation guide, “For too many, childhood has become co-opted by a period of productivity and performance. Children no longer have time to play, to discover passions, to rest, to make mistakes, to reflect, or to build the resilience needed for a balanced and healthy adulthood.”

While the film has garnered its share of detractors, it has also, in the words of the filmmaker, “hit a nerve” and become a “grassroots phenomenon.” Last year, hundreds of screenings were held at theaters and schools throughout the country, and hundreds more are planned over the next several months.

The idea for a Canton screening came about after Curriculum Director Jennifer Henderson attended a showing of the film last spring.

“We felt it might be a good way to kick off this school year and bring the community together for some worthwhile reflection and discussion,” Henderson said. “Additionally, it meets one of the tenets of our strategic plan, which states: to communicate and collaborate with the Canton community in supporting our vision and achieving our goals.”

Henderson said the schools would like to hold at least two community gatherings each year, beginning with the film screening next week. A second event will be announced later in the year.

Henderson, who purchased the DVD and accompanying materials through the school district’s community/professional development budget, also plans to make the film available to individual schools for future faculty meetings.

In the meantime, school leaders hope that the upcoming community screening will at least serve as a springboard for meaningful dialogue about the state of education in Canton and beyond.

“We are not looking to push any agenda, and we realize that many may agree with the message brought forth in the movie and others may not,” Granatino said. “We hope to increase community engagement related to our schools and to bring together educational stakeholders to talk about this very important topic and take a critical look at how education in this country is evolving.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Oct 19 2011. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.