Race to Nowhere Trailer
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Cant wait to see your film at the film fest next week
It very difficult to understand what kind of things you need to learn and which you do not. And you do understand that it is difficult to figure it out. But your own cutiosity and your own willpower and desire to learn new things will help you figure out the thesis of your life and get into college prepared on a required level.
As a junior in high school, I realize that these students are just like me. Balancing everything seems impossible, and the expectations that we have for ourselves, in addition to the expectations our parents and teachers have for us, are almost impossible to meet. I am active in Student Council, play the piano, and am currently taking 4 AP and 2 Pre-AP classes and never go to sleep before 1 AM, nor do I sleep more than 4 hours each night. (totaling about 8 hours of homework per day) It's ridiculous, but we must realize where the influences come from. Students have felt this pressure to succeed, to earn a 2400 on their SAT and to get accepted into Ivy-League colleges, for almost their entire lives. For me at least, the influences stem from my own desires to succeed and to get into a good college as well as to make my parents proud. We are spread too thin, but it is partly our choice. As a junior, my entire life is about to be chosen based on the college that I choose to attend or my SAT score. However, students need to learn to prioritize and not to have regrets in high school. It's all about balancing your extracurricular and fun activities with the scholarly ones. For example, my high school prom is this weekend and the majority of my friends aren't attending because they need to attend SAT class or study for AP exams.
My parents literally beg me to sleep and to skip school in order to rest, however, they also expect me to earn straight A's and maintain my class rank. Whiny teachers assign us 5-hour homework assignments and then a.) whine about grading them and b.) whine that we have other classes to focus on other than their own. The trailor mimics the attitudes of myself and all of my classmates perfectly, in that our 11th and 12th grades are being stolen from us. Already, I am being expected to do the same amount of homework that college students receive, only in much less time and with significantly more pressure. What parents, students, and teachers don't realize is that we are already expected to act and perform like college students. Ultimately, it sucks, but no school district or government will ever act to reduce the quality of education that they provide for their students. However, it's reassuring to know that more than parents and students will know what we go through every day. Thanks for exposing our troubles through this documentary!
We are undermining the self esteem of our youth. You must be good at everything or you are nothing is the message the high schools and colleges are sending our kids.
Parents, please don't stand still and point the finger outwards. Look inward. Where are you a part of the problem as it is? Get honest with yourself, be part of the solution. Are these children emulating what they see at home. Do you ever stop to breathe? Turn off the "marketing machines". Have you ever spent a weekend with no electronics. NONE. Disconnect. Information overload is useless. TALK WITH YOUR CHILDREN. About your own short comings. Nothing will open the door wider than that. Go take a walk together. Work on this together. Your children cannot fix this, they do not have the ability. Take the time from work, go to the schools, talk to the powers that be, start a letter writing campaign. No, not emails. Sit down, stop long enough to see what this is really doing. The empty holes in the souls of the children are getting bigger and bigger.
I'm currently a junior in college, and when I look at this trailer, I see myself and my classmates, just a few years ago, and it's pretty frightening. Our school placed a lot of emphasis on AP classes, plus we had the IB program on top of it. Add that to orchestra/band practice, plus debate tournaments on the weekends (and the extra work/late nights that went with that) and parents who expected good grades, and you had a group of kids stressed to the breaking point. I had chronic insomnia all through high school, combined with anxiety attacks. Some of my friends were happy when they had gotten four hours of sleep a night. Thank you for making this documentary--I really hope that people pay attention and work to remedy this problem because the load being placed on high school students today is just ridiculous.
FIRST OFF, THANK YOU....FOR BRINGING TO LIGHT WHAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING FOR SO LONG! THE AMOUNT OF STRESS THAT HAS BEEN PLACED ON CHILDREN TODAY, IS THE MAKING OF ADULTS WHO WILL BE.... UNHAPPY, OVERWORKED, SLEEP DEPRIVED, UNHEALTHY, AND ULTIMATELY DEPRESSED. IT IS TERRIBLE THAT WE ALLOW THIS. FOR WHAT? TO HAVE MORE. NOT MORE HAPPINESS, BUT MORE STUFF WE DON'T REALLY NEED. STUFF THAT BRINGS NO TRUE HAPPINESS, WHICH IS WHY WE WORK SO HARD FOR MORE STUFF.
I HAVE A TEENAGE DAUGHTER, WHO I SEE STRESSED. THE AMOUNT OF PRESSURE SHE FEELS FROM SCHOOL IS SO OVERWHELMING, THERE ARE DAYS SHE LITERALLY BREAKS DOWN AND CRIES. AS A PARENT, I SIT AND ASK HER ALL THE TIME, WHY ARE YOU FEELING THIS WAY...AS I DO NOT PUT THIS PRESSURE ON HER. I THEN GET AN EARFUL OF... BUT THE SCHOOL SAID... AND MY TEACHER SAID, AND IF I WANT TO HAVE THINGS... AND TO GO TO COLLEGE I MUST BE....I TELL HER ALL THE TIME, THAT ALL I EXPECT, IS HER TO DO HER BEST. IF HER BEST IS NOT AN A IN EVERY SUBJECT, I AM OK WITH THAT. I WANT HER TO STRIVE FOR SUCCESS, BUT NOT TO THE POINT OF INSANITY! I WANT HER TO ENJOY LIFE AND TAKE HOLD OF ALL THAT IT OFFERS!
FOR ANYONE THAT WATCHES THIS....THINK FOR JUST A MOMENT....IS IT IMPORTANT TO PUSH SO HARD AT THE EXPENSE OF LOSING THAT CHILD THAT YOU SO DEARLY TREASURE? SUICIDE AMONGST TEENS IS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH. DO NOT THINK FOR A SECOND THAT YOUR CHILD WOULD NOT OR COULD NOT. SIT DOWN AND ACTUALLY TALK TO THEM. THEY MAY SURPRISE YOU. I WOULD MUCH RATHER, HAVE A CHILD WHO IS HERE AND HEALTHY, THAN A GRAVE STONE TO VISIT AND REGRETS TO LIVE WITH. LET THESE CHILDREN JUST BE CHILDREN.
This is so true! A girl just killed herself at my daughter's high school last month and it took everyone by surprise! She was a star pitcher on the school softball team and an honor roll student.
The problem is not the parents who are watching this film. At least we know enough to worry. The problem is the parents who are not. One girl at my kids' high school was in despair just before letters came a couple of weeks ago because her folks will only pay for her college education if she goes to Harvard, their alma mater. Talk about stress!
Another issue is cultural. Particularly in our affluent community, immigrant parents insist on more homework, maximum APs and Ivy League admissions. These parents from a particular region of the world now make up 40% of our town's population. They are frantic to have their kids succeed, and they put all their emphasis on educational achievement. They are perverting the basic nature of our schools.
Colleges also, with their cutsey answer to "Is it better to take a higher track course and get a B, or a lower track and get an A?" "It's better to take a higher track and get an A" make the problem worse. Occidental, with an average SAT of 1930 (according to their admissions tour guide) gave us that BS response, which clearly, given that level of SAT, was not true. But it increases the pressure so much.
Especially for girls, getting into college is a huge challenge (because girls are applying disproportionately over boys, and some campuses are still trying to enroll 50/50). I don't know what the answer is at the college level, but I know I hate what the admissions game turns us all into: Desperate students and insane parents. Yuck.
This is so sad. We are throwing away our children's and our humanity and putting them on auto pilot without a dream or a safe place to rest. Ask almost any person that is 50 and beyond what their favorite childhood memory is, I believe that the majority will have a come back of some time spent doing nothing. It is where the home of creativity is...the day dreaming. Moms and Dads are crazy because they have lost the art of breathing...coming home to themselves. I am hoping that this movie creates some awakenings. Get out of your egos parents and let your children be themselves. LET them dig in the dirt...let them follow their hearts. NOT yours. A concerned grand parent.
Deborah Gist is ruining education in Rhode Island. Someone stop her!
Even toddlers are picking up on the stress and nonstop nature of our society. Pressures of over-scheduling, performance demands, parental economic stress and the influence of today's media put our children's brains in a constant state of fight or flight.
We only have so much control over the world we live in and we need to be more intentional about teaching our children how to relax and manage their emotions in a healthy and productive manner. We need to stop worrying about scores on standardized tests that emphasize low level thinking skills provide our children with tools to think critically, contribute meaningfully and most importantly live happily in today's world. I hope this documentary will open some eyes!
I couldn't agree with you more. It is crazy the pressure our kids are under.
I live in NCaL where at one high school 5 students committed suicide in 6 months. What is wrong with this picture? The fact that our kids today feel the only option is to take their live verses having a voice of what they can and can't handle. We need to give our kids space to create, dream, learn and be kids! We need to accept them for who they are - not for what we want them to be. Of course, as a parent we want whats best but best is not stress. Our education system is broken. How much more can we expect them to take??? The kids today are the future of our world and when do they even get to experience to world or life, for the matter.
The biggest problem is that our children are so totally distracted by the external, unimportant influences all around them. It is up to parents to help them differentiate between what's important and what is superfluous. Although sometimes superfluous unimportant things are a key to learning and relaxation. It's a bit stupefying isn't it? What we ultimately have to do is help the kids through all this, gain their trust (again), and pass on our experiences in a way that is neither pretentious or "parent-like." We all have to be part of the solution.
What do you mean by "unimportant influences?" Are these social activities, videogames, chatting online, music movies and all the things typically devalued in high school? If so, I see these areas being devalued as a principal problem with our school that can't find ways to make curriculum relevant to students. As a graduate student in one of the top Education Programs in our country and full time teacher, I find that oftentimes Standardized Tests emphasize unimportant and low-level thinking skills. We teach kids to regurgitate facts instead of teaching them how to think. Rather than promoting critical thinking and problem solving skills it seems much more beneficial to encourage our students to be obedient citizens that reproduce knowledge rather than create it. As we learned in the 60s, an intelligent and empowered youth culture can be quite threatening to older generations.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on education and its lack of relevancy to the next generation. Hoping the film and our facilitation guide inspires more of this kind of thinking. The world doesn't need robots. Please consider sharing your perspective on our facebook group as well.
My kids go to a University High, Irvine, CA, an academically top-ranked school. What I have observed is that with 4-6hrs of homework a night, they are too narrowly focussed on doing the busy-work assigned and don't engage in things that might be interesting, that might actually teach them something. "I don't have time for THAT", I don't have to learn THAT", "the teacher didn't assign THAT" (so I don't have to do it).
My wife (Cancer researcher) and I (bioinformatics geek), both PhDs, never had /anything/ like this amount of homework until we got to grad school. (and I never had that much IN grad school).
What we're 'teaching' is to NOT THINK, just DO. We don't reward curiosity because curiosity can lead to failure and god forbid we ever fail at anything. Our kids went to a spectacular local alt school until grade 6 which buffered them somewhat against the largely antagonistic-to-learning attitude preached at the high school.
NCLB? If we educate our kids like cattle, that's how they'll end up... oh....right..
I am a mother of three. I only had to watch a few seconds of the trailer to say that this is NOT an issue of the the schools - it's the parents!
1. "6 hours of homework a night" Really? Learn to balance and prioritize - something that is a learned skill. If one is doing 6 hours of homework then something is wrong at school and at home.
2. If the kid is overbooked/scheduled that is clearly the parents fault. A 7 year old isn't driving his/herself to soccer/piano/baseball etc.
3. Cancelling AP clasess in schools is a HUGE mistake. For the majority of students who take AP classes (me included) the advantage is to learn to read/think outside of the box. To PREPARE you for college - something most HS's do not do.
I am disturbed by this film b/c of the apparent bias it shows at the wrong issues. (and I am not a republican!)
Please remember that teachers are under pressure, too. Numbers and statistics have become much more important than actually getting students to think for themselves and put their knowledge into practice. This is a sad statement about what American "education" has become. There is so much pressure to achieve top scores that teachers sometimes have been driven to teach to the test, rather than to the student. I don't think that's the parents' fault but instead that of the system itself.
While I agree that parents are responsible for allowing their children to become overscheduled (I see it even with my preschooler's peers!), and that learning to read/think outside the box is critical to real learning, I don't vibe with your comment #1. Balance and prioritization are not the primary issues -- that blames the student alone. I think the teachers have pressures that lead them to forget students have other obligations besides just their one class, thus leading to hours of homework that really are pretty unnecessary.
I used to teach (a decade ago), so I sympathize with the teachers, but I also think they need to work to change the system. Shouldn't kids and their well-being be the number one priority? Honestly, who cares about test scores when our children and stressed-out and hating life? Nothing in the world is worth that.
It scares me when I read post like these in responses to movies like this. Yes children are over booked, yes there needs to be a change in some priorities, but to blame the teachers when they are told their jobs depend on the test scores is blaming the person who has no control over the system. All over the country teachers are receiving pink slips and budgets are being cut. But yet the all mighty test score is what everyone; parents, administrators, universities, government, and taxpayers look at. We test kids in March to see what they know for the year...school doesn't end until May. Parents assume their children are going to be sports stars and forget they have to know how to read, class sizes are overloaded and class times are cut, the standards that are expected to be taught are increased. What was being taught a decade ago is not what is being taught or expected in the classrooms today.
It's both: parents and schools. Both have forgotten about kids' well-being. They think grades = learning, SATs = college success, class-rank is healthy. As a teacher, I can tell you that many of the most stressed out, AP, high-ranking kids I know, have s shallow understanding of the material; care not about learning, and due to the system they suffer in, resort to cheating, being unhelpful to peers and thinking about grades more than learning. I don't blame the students, however.
THANK YOU for making this film; it's long overdue. I work with elementary students and see my job as conveying a need for an education revolution to them: educate for their future, not our past. Give them their childhood back. Enable a healthy, innovative next generation.
I was a perfect example of the kids in this movie: grades, drama, sports, volunteering, bulemic to fit the ideals...started college @ 15 and went Ivy League. By 19 I BURNED OUT, DROPPED OUT, and became an entrepreneur. Moved to CA and made my first million by age 30 by NOT following the rules of the traditional school/job system. I've now reached a place of bliss that is not related to money, looks, or other outside standards. My income and schedule are not determined by an employer. I consider myself one of the few truly free humans, as the current education system is perfectly suited for creating slaves/employees, who will sit still and complete tasks no matter how mundane or boring. Unfortunately, that worked in the Industrial age but is harming us in this age of globalization, where we need creative thinkers and risk takers.
My main point though is that when I became a mother, I decided to home school my children to avoid that whole rat race, including the over-sexualization of our girls. I found that community to be phenomenal, and have even settled on a sub-group called Unschooling, which lets kids get in tune with their OWN talents, dreams, and goals and to test repercussions in a safe setting. For anyone interested there is a cool group on Facebook called "Unschooling" (or just google it).
It looks like the first 19 years prepared you for success, rather than the opposite. Apparently you found your direction early and moved on. Some people need structure longer.
Thumbs up to you!!!!! I also decided to do exactly the same thing. I attended private schools, swam and volunteered. I did not mind the work but most of my classes were very conceptual. After realizing my children were in a learn, test move on system I decided to home school and eventually unschool. My children discovered their interests by the time they were young teens one 14 the other 16 and the last 15 and all attended a small politechnical college. The oldest graduated and then started his own business with a fellow homeschooler pulling in his siblings to participate in the business. The siblings continue with classes (their choice) the degrees are their choice, their interest. They spend many more hours at home playing games, going out in the yard to challenge each other at ping pong and going to movies. Yet they are very well educated, love having intellectual discussions and run a home based business. Their friends were over worked, super tired and would come hide at our house to get away from the high school rat race. I am so glad we baled out when my oldest was ten and my youngest was four.
We are considering homeschooling. I also have some friends who are unschooling. I am sure you have heard of Naomi Aldort. If not, google. She is a great author, family therapist and unschooler. Thank you for sharing your story.
The trailer alone has profoundly affected me because I lived this as a child, growing up in Lafayette. Your work is appreciated and I'm sure that it will create a positive change in consciousness of teachers, parents and children alike. I feel for these struggling kids and I hope that attitudes toward learning and education shift...it truly is a race to nowhere. I currently attend an alternative college in the Pacific Northwest (The Evergreen State College) which does not have grades, but written evaluations of a student's work and progress. I write this to let readers know that there is hope, and there are wonderful alternative paths to take that suit each individual. Thank you for your work.
Terrific material. Definitely a must see for me and my family. Hopefully this will help point our kids in an individually authentic direction.
Whoever's behind this, thank you!
Help us get the word out. The film is a vehicle for creating a much needed movement.
The more we can raise the awareness of the citizenry of the devastating harms of high stakes standardized testing and the thoughtless focus on competition, the more steps we will be making toward saving our next generation - indeed all of society from dehumanization and mechanization.
Please, please, everyone read the book, "Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety" by Judith Levine.
We need everyone to join us in creating a movement to safeguard our children's health and better prepare them for adulthood
We can start safeguarding our babies from birth by creating ways for them to spend time with lots of other children. In her book, "Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety," Judith Levine describes how the pressure for parents to give their kids one of everything isolates them from the very beginning...
This is timely! My son said all of this to me as he underachieved through Jr. High and High School!
And my 7th grade daughter grade is already becoming a straight "A" perfectionist!
IDEA FOR THE NEXT ONE!: THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS AND HOW THE PENDULUM HAS SWUNG TO FAVOR GIRLS. In the public school arena there has been a subtle shift across the board which favors girls: from competitive learning to cooperative, and non-fiction literature to fiction among others. This has had the effect of disengaging our boys from the intrinsic interest they once had in achieving.
With all due respect, I could give you countless examples from different middle schools that would refute every assertion you just wrote about girls getting favored rather than what we now can label the standard denigration that girls received "since forever." Every kid is suffering, the straight "A" perfectionist as much as the "underachiever." A 20-year old young man who had graduated with honors from Gunn High School, where he had wrestled on the varsity squad just committed suicide by standing in front of a Cal Train. Perhaps the harshly judged "underachiever" is at the head of the pack in that he has already understood that the feeling of emptiness cannot be filled by trophies, transcripts, and SAT points. Our children are HUMANS first. Love your children. Love them because they are people and we are the stewards of the next generation.:)
My local high school showed this film in the fall and hundreds of people came. They held a panel of teachers, administrators and students afterwards where most of the adults basically denied that there was a problem at our high school. In case you were wondering, the problems that the film addresses are alive and well at our high school. Only a few written questions were fielded from the audience and the responses were laced with denial. They promised a follow up forum where an actual discussion would be held and people would have an opportunity to share thoughts and concerns.
Just yesterday,1/6, almost two months after the screening, an email was sent out announcing the forum which will be on 1/12 (less than a week away). Hopefully, people will come. The short notice and time lag between when the film was shown and when the forum was scheduled will more than likely minimize the turnout. I imagine this is their intent. Yes you can hear my cynicism is seeping through. We will see if the river DENIAL still flows through Ross Valley, California and if the concerned citizens will show up and speak up. So many are afraid to speak up so it very likely will be the same few voices. Who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and the countless concerned citizens who share their concerns privately will come and finally find their public voice. Let's hope.
torri
Fabulous and much needed. Our young people are burned out and fried from all the pressures. And now, this Race to the Top money ala Duncan will only make things worse, not better. Guess who will get the money? Right...those who develop the tests, sell the tests, and score the tests. Follow the money trail and you will find out who the Halliburtons of education are.
When viewing the trailer "Race to Nowhere" I related and most certainly agreed to the points the clip made. When I wake up every morning I have the same thoughts running through my mind as the students in this video did. I have this mind set to being the prettiest,smartest, and basically being the best I can be. I feel as if this problem does relate to Zeeland High School.
I feel as if I am pressured to keep a high GPA,wear the best clothes, hangout with the "popular" people and act and carry myself in a certain way. I feel everyday of high school is a challenge for me and makes me feel exhausted at the end of the day. That's why I can relate to every word the students say in this trailer. You have to know yourself, and that's how you get acceptance. We get this so called pressure in everyday life from colleges,teachers,parents,coaches, and the government to be this so called "superhero". I do believe many students at my school relate to this as well. I believe this problem can be solved by teachers,coaches,parents and the student him/herself working together to take the pressure of themselves by less work, or simply more time to accomplish a homework assignment or yet balancing their activities out.
Wow! I am there with you. I teach 6th grade at a low SES school site in the Fresno, CA. We are pressured by our school district to keep pushing and pushing and pushing these kids to perform on standardized tests ... I hate it and I think that what we are doing is criminal. It makes me sick and the pressure I feel is unbelievable. So, what am I having to do to these kids each and every day? The same damn thing ... it is beyond me ... I will retire in less than 4 years - I am only hanging on for my benefits. Teaching now is not about critically thinking and assessing questions and situations ... it is about what can you bubble in that is accurate and that will raise your score ... even by one lousy level. LHL - Thank you for making, what appears to be, an amazing film.
Thank you for sharing your concerns. Please help us get the word out on the film and movement we hope to create. Encourage your friends and family to join our Facebook page. Together we can end this race for the sake of our children and their teachers.
Hope you can join us at a screening very soon. The film also addresses the tremendous pressure we place on our educators. Please help us get the word out. Parents and educators need to unite in the interest of the health of our children and the preparation for their future.
I viewed your film last night in Moraga. First off, I would like to say thank you so much for making this documentary. You have started a mass movement and hopefully parents, educators and the general public will push for a dramatic change. These kids are our future. If we do not take care of them and show them that learning is not supposed to be painful and depressing, we will have failed them. I have a 5 year old son, and I am worried for his educational future. We need to let kids know it's alright if they are not perfect, if they don't always succeed. Parents need to stop living through their children and teaching them that the end all be all is NOT how much money you make or if you are tops in everything. I want my son to be able to navigate his way in life without stress, love learning and above all be happy.......
Thanks for referencing David Herschcopf in your credits, I miss him as a colleague and friend. We taught at Bentley school together for 9 years. It's also nice to see some of my students in your film, and I'm proud to say, I have always tried to help my students keep perspective on what is important in life. Now go out and play!! - Mr. Gerry
I agree with the films main points. I think that too many students are just trying to perform and are really not learning as much as they think they are. I think that this problem exists to an extent in Zeeland. I don't think that every student is too loaded down to have free time to do anything though. I know personally that the workload is not that overwhelming. I do know students, however, that struggle to keep up the pace of some classes. I think that to solve this problem teachers and students need to work cooperatively. If the student is having trouble keeping up than that student should talk to the teacher and see what agreement can be reached or what is the best way to solve the problem.
I think the biggest problem is that we reward mediocrity so much in this country, that it's hard for kids to see the value in the results they achieve for their hard work. Why work hard when slackers are rewarded equally? And also, Americans promote this idea of Entitlement: if you work hard you're Entitled to certain things. This is a FALLACY that's hard for teens to grasp, especially now they're living in an age of instant gratification. It's important to call attention to how we measure and communicate Success to our kids, and make sure that they're truly learning and not just achieving. Just as long as we don't inflate their sense of Entitlement even more, and promote an even more prevalent culture of Mediocrity.
We don't even teach the "mid-range" students a skill by the time they graduate with a B or B- average from high school. What happened to training high school students who are interested in carpentry, electronics, plumbing, restaurant work, hair cutting, running a housecleaning business, opening a car wash, or becoming a highly-skilled auto mechanic how to do it??
Americans live in a "winner-takes-all" culture. We piss on mediocrity and teach students with non-academic strengths that they are broken and inferior.
Thank you so much for creating such an amazing film. I recently saw the entire film at the Mill Valley Film Festival and I was blown away. Let's get this in the hands of our administrator's, teachers, parents, and law makers.
Let's get back to being "learners" and "innovator's" again!
This is a worthy film, and would like to know if this movie will come to Minneapolis, Mn and also how one can order this movie, when it will (if it will) be available to purchase?
Thank you for making this, and taking a look at our educational & western cultural system that seems to be failing our children in many ways.
We should have DVDs for schools in the next 2-3 months. In the meantime, our director is scheduling screenings and facilitated dialogue following the movie.
Is the Salt Lake City screening a part of Sundance? I would hate to drive down to the Gateway only to find out that there are not any available tickets. Thanks.