“Slipping Behind” short doc on education

www.reellinkfilms.com

I haven’t seen this film yet although a colleague of mine who gave us
a great quote for “Schooled” is involved with it, Sara Bennett.
There are screenings in NYC on March 5th & 6th if you’re around…

Here’s the note she sent:
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I am really excited to tell you about a new short documentary film, “Slipping Behind,” which looks at the fast-paced, high-stress lives, of many of today’s students.

There will be two free screenings of the film, on March 5 and March 6. I hope you can attend and please tell your friends, your teachers, your principals, and anyone else you think might be interested. (How about posting a copy of the flyer at your school, on your facebook….) There will be a lively discussion following the film and you will be able to give feedback to the filmmaker, Vicki Abeles. I will be helping to facilitate the discussion….

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Details:

7PM
Thursday, March 5 & Friday, March 6, 2009

Dolby Laboratories, Lobby level
1350 Avenue of the Americas
between 54th & 55th Streets
New York City

Screenings followed by facilitated conversation with
Director, Vicki Abeles
& Sara Bennett, Co-Author of The Case Against Homework

RSVP to julie@reellinkfilms.com – Space is limited!

SLIPPING BEHIND is a close-up look at the pressures on today’s students, offering an intimate view of lives packed with activities, leaving little room for down-time or family time. Parents today are expected to raise high-achieving children, who are good at everything: academics, sports, the arts, community-service. The film tackles the tragic side of our often achievement-obsessed culture, with interviews that explore the hidden world of over-burdened schedules, student suicide, academic cheating, young people who have checked out.

SLIPPING BEHIND asks the question: Are the young people of today prepared to step fully and productively into their future?

We hear from students who feel they are being pushed to the brink, educators who worry students aren’t learning anything substantive, and college professors and business leaders, concerned their incoming employees lack the skills needed to succeed in the business world: passion, creativity, and internal motivation. The filmmakers take viewers to schools across the country to talk to teachers, parents, students, and experts including:

Denise Clark Pope, author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Mis-educated Students

Madeline Levine, author of the best-seller, The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Materialistic and Unhappy Kids

Deborah Stipek, Dean and Professor of Education at Stanford

Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, an adolescent medicine specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of an American Academy of Pediatrics report on the importance of play; and

Sara Bennett, founder of Stop Homework and co-author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It.

Wendy Mogel, author of the best-seller, The Blessing Of A Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children

Please visit our website to pre-order the film and to join the conversation on our bulletin board. www.reellinkfilms.com

3527 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Lafayette, Caifornia 94549
Tel (925) 962-0330

Thoughts On Alt Ed

I’ve been working with a very cool on-line publicist named
Claudia Brown and we recorded a series of phone conversations
about my thoughts and feelings on alternative education that
we’re translating in to short articles to be published
on the web at various sites.

Here is the first one in the series:

“Should Kids Have The Power To Hire and Fire Their Teachers?”

I think kids should have the power to hire and fire their teachers. Students are the ultimate customers. That being said, I don’t think a student should be able to get pissed off at a teacher and say, “You’re fired!” There has to be a trustworthy process like the election system used by the Sudbury Valley School of Framingham, Massachusetts. Each year, students vote on how well a staff member serves the community. They cast their vote about wanting that staff member return, or not. The majority rules.

These elections are real! There are times when staff members who have children attending the school are still voted out. It’s rare, but it happens. Having THIS much power makes a huge impact. Even considering their wide range of personalities, these kids generally tend to be a little more sensitive and compassionate than most because they’ve experienced the good and bad consequences of having meaningful community power. They live the impact of their votes, the emotional aftermath, and it shapes them.

Another way to look at this is: why should a teacher be in a classroom if the kids don’t want that person there? How much learning will take place when teachers don’t have the respect of their students? Voting a teacher in gives them confidence to lead, and voting them out gives the kids another chance with an adult who might inspire them.

There’s a stagnant quality to traditional education, and a “voting for staff” policy like they have at Sudbury Valley would loosen things up. It also fulfills President Bush’s stated goals about greater accountability in schools. Instead of his plan, though, which basically says, “Make tests all-important so that the budget is funded relative to test scores,” Sudbury’s sort of accountability comes from a person’s attempts to positively influence kids and asking them, ”Do you want this person in your community? Vote yes or no.” To me, THAT’S accountability. You have the teachers grading the kids; why not have the kids grading the teachers?

Let’s look further at the flip side. Why would you not have kids involved in the process of who’s teaching them? I think the main theory is adults know better because they have more experience. However, children know if they’re getting value out of somebody. They feel happy, sad, scared, or angry during interactions with adults, and they let those feelings guide them. Again, I’m not talking about giving all the power to one particular kid. This isn’t the tyranny of youth; it’s majority rule, and I have high regard for groups of people at any age. The majority gets things right the majority of the time.

A community where teachers and students are equals empowers everybody. Learning goes on between student and teacher that’s very different from traditional education. At Sudbury Valley, they learn as much about life from the adults eating next to them at lunch as they do during more formal lessons. Ultimately, this empowerment goes back to what schools are about: making children great citizens by simply giving them experiences of getting along together and solving conflicts inclusively.

I think becoming a great citizen happens far better in communities where adults are not saying, “We’re bigger and smarter, so we’re going to make the rules. We don’t trust you to contribute on issues that matter.” Adults who genuinely welcome the ideas and values of children are powerful role models. It’s extremely valuable for kids to be around people with that level of self-confidence, especially in an informal setting where they’re really, in a sense, just hanging out, and learning by osmosis. Because at the base of it is this: we are all equal, with our own gifts of experience or age or talent. The better a community can tap into the resources of its individuals, the stronger the community and its members will be. If we can offer kids the chance to be fully involved in their school communities, the future of our society will be in the hands of people with much more experience and compassion than in any generation that has come before.

My Lesson From KID NATION (a letter to the editor)

I’ll be sending this around to see if any newspapers want to print it.
In the mean time, here it is…

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My Lesson from “Kid Nation”
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After watching the Dec 12 finale episode of CBS’s “Kid Nation,”
a show I felt mixed about, I was surprised to clarify the key lesson
– a lesson that bears underscoring.

I’ve spent the last 6 years researching alternative education models
in which kids are fully involved in their communities — schools like
Sudbury Valley in Framingham, MA. These “Information Age” schools
give students the power to vote on the budget, hire and fire teachers,
and even to decide how they spend their days:
studying, playing, and/or dealing with core school politics.

This research fueled my independent feature film called “Schooled,”
slated for it’s DVD release on Dec 17th. When I first heard about
“Kid Nation” I felt both intrigued and somewhat threatened.
Intrigued because the subject matter related to my project,
and was being given the mainstream treatment. And threatened
because I was sure there was no way the show could be true to
the principals of children’s empowerment that I had come to value
through my research. Network TV shows have to grab the attention
of millions of viewers so contrived contests and
two-handed heartstring tugging are a must.

Despite my skepticism, and feeling embarrassed that they even
caught me wiping away tears, I’m thrilled with the ultimate message
that came through loud and clear: kids handle responsibility far better
than most people think they can. In a culture where the biggest
challenge facing most high school class presidents is deciding on
a prom venue, we must bring democracy more directly
into mainstream education.

Perhaps greater community involvement in children’s formative years
will pay off most when these kids grow up and lead us in facing
overwhelming global issues. Challenges such as ferocious poverty
which can cripple us or global warming which could even kill us.

On the other hand, maybe choosing that cool local inn for prom night
really is still the best way to prepare our future leaders.

Brooks Elms
Writer-Director
“Schooled”
www.SchooledTheFilm.com