Event

Race To Nowhere

Dir: Vicki Abeles & Jessica Congdon / 2010 / US / 85 min / Presented on digital format
"Once upon a time kids got to hang out, play outside, do nothing in particular. Increasingly there's been an outcry against how structured and future-focused the lives of America's college-bound students have become. As Race to Nowhere demonstrates the intense pressures they face, sometimes before they've reached the double-digit age bracket, continue to take their toll: rampant cheating, sleep deprivation, anorexia, depression, anxiety, self-mutilation, suicide. Interviews with students at both private and public schools, as well as parents, teachers, academicians and authors, uncover a market-driven conformity; one passionate teacher uses the word robotized to describe the educational process. High school is preparation not for college- once through the gates, many Ivy League entrants need to take remedial courses- but for the all-important college application. This documentary is a dire warning and a solid piece of advocacy journalism, complete with an action checklist at the end of the film". Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times.