Poll: Race to Nowhere?

[ultrachicken]

So, I was at school when instead of History class we talked about an obscure movie called Race to Nowhere. The movie isn't out yet (I think) but you can watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--zDyLGQYGk. I hope that link works.
Anyways, it's about stress in school districts and how tough it is on kids.
I personally think almost all of what's said in the trailer is bs. I go to a private school with high standards and I have overbearing parents, and I'm not that stressed out, and neither are my classmates. I have yet to meet a kindergardener who's worried about high-school. Also, take a look at Europe and Asia. Their education system is waaay more difficult than America's.
So, what do you think of the trailer?

 

[Timotei]

Sure their education system is much more difficult, but it also produces a lower volume of idiots and works much more efficiently because they aren't restrained by agrarian school calenders and old ideals on how to spend money.

I think the reason your school is apparently better tan what the trailer is depicting is because you are going to a private school most likely funded by the parents of the students as opposed to the state. Unlike mine, which is getting progressively worse every years as even more and more freshman who think they are King Shit poison the social atmosphere and fuck things up for the rest of us.

Next year we're going to be the first school in the district to have metal detectors and armed security personnel guarding the entrances. And on top of that there are going to be more drug raids and more oppressive policies in place. Next year is essentially going to be a forced learning camp rather than a place where people go to better themselves.

As for the trailer, I could care less.

 

[Omikron009]

School stresses me the hell out, but only because my parents get mad at me and take away the only things that help me relieve stress if I do poorly.

 

[Rhade]

While it probably all depends on which school system you study, I'd bet a lot of the stress of being in school is probably related to things other than simply classes themselves, at least until kids reach late high school and/or post-secondary.

I mean, the school experience is a big interweave of social opportunities, pressures, challenges and the like. But for most students that don't struggle too much with classwork it's probably all the things other than textbooks that are what influences them most, drives their behavior and become the things they remember most from times of being younger.

As for this trailer, you're probably looking at the poster-children for being overstressed. Whether it's them doing it to themselves, or from parents or some other source, you really don't need to buy into letting yourself get so ground down by all the kinds of perceived pressures. Probably easier said than done for most, and hard to turn off nagging thoughts that add, sure, but making yourself miserable to please unreasonable standards you/someone else has for you...

Personally, I look to parents most on this. I mean, I know it's a huge number of factors, and that kids are rarely expressive or want to talk (most anyway) but if you take a major part in overworking them from before they're out of pre-school it's just going to grow from there.

Most people probably want to have high grades, and be well socially accepted, and be reasonably athletic in some from, and be self-understanding, and be creative/artistic somehow, and be helpful to others in some way, and get into a good school and....and and and and, there's a ton of ands we all want but achieving them all to 100% is unreasonable and impossible to most of us. Parents have a ton of shit to deal with too but I generally tend to think of the "know that you're not a superhuman, and regardless of what anyone says, no reasonable person expects you to be" idea as one of the most core things you should attempt to impress upon your kids. If they don't learn to understand that they'll probably just seethe in misery for a long time and become a twisted person. Or crack, partly shatter and lose some important kind of potential forever.

Or reach critical mass, in whatever end scenario you want to believe that might lead to.

 

[Rhade]

School stresses me the hell out, but only because my parents get mad at me and take away the only things that help me relieve stress if I do poorly.

I'm just curious a few things, I mean no offence, but humor me:

- How often do you do what you/they consider poorly and what does it cost you?
- How do feel losing some of these things affects your behaviour/motivation?
- Have you explicitly mentioned this things-lose-stress-more-bad-increases relationship to them?
and, related,
- Do they seem to have really understood you/seemed to care times that you might have tried to spell it out to them?

 

[manaman]

I went to private school. A catholic school. I don't remember being stressed out at all. In fact I don't remember being stressed about anything at school, except social stuff. Social stuff being a different story though.

 

[FranzTyphid]

Im classed as a kid technically but i have the mental age of a 120 year old.
Anyway yeah school makes a lot of kids stressed simply because that every one is putting pressure on each other to be perfect and if anybodys diffrent (like some of us) they get hell from everyone

 

[nick_knack]

Somebody put a period on the end of his link. Fix pls. School doesn't stress me out at all. Only the super hard working Asian kids get stressed, and even then they aren't that bad.

(Don't accuse me of stereotyping, I live in Vancouver, Asians are everywhere, I'm half Asian, hard working is a cultural thing)

 

[SonicKoala]

Personally, I did really well in high school (and I'm doing really well in University), and I'm hardly stressed out at all. I don't know how I manage it, but I'm usually able to keep a cool head and just take things one step at a time. Then again, I hardly get any pressure from home (makes me wonder where my motivation to do well comes from).

Somebody put a period on the end of his link. Fix pls. School doesn't stress me out at all. Only the super hard working Asian kids get stressed, and even then they aren't that bad.

(Don't accuse me of stereotyping, I live in Vancouver, Asians are everywhere, I'm half Asian, hard working is a cultural thing)

That is so true - I remember in high school all the asian kids being obsessed with their marks, but it was often because their families put a lot of pressure on them (or so they told me).

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

So, I was at school when instead of History class we talked about an obscure movie called Race to Nowhere. The movie isn't out yet (I think) but you can watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--zDyLGQYGk. I hope that link works.
Anyways, it's about stress in school districts and how tough it is on kids.
I personally think almost all of what's said in the trailer is bs. I go to a private school with high standards and I have overbearing parents, and I'm not that stressed out, and neither are my classmates. I have yet to meet a kindergardener who's worried about high-school. Also, take a look at Europe and Asia. Their education system is waaay more difficult than America's.
So, what do you think of the trailer?

By "kids" I'll assume you mean "teens." They create their own stress through retarded drama. Thats all. So once they're through dealing with said retardation, grades, college, and jobs seems that much more daunting.

 

[Souplex]

Wait, how do you know when you win?

 

[BlindMessiah94]

If they think they are stressed now, wait until college.

Yeah life doesnt get any less stressful as time goes on.

 

[Sleekgiant]

Life was never stressful for me as a kid, just saying

 

[Trivun]

Sure their education system is much more difficult, but it also produces a lower volume of idiots and works much more efficiently because they aren't restrained by agrarian school calenders and old ideals on how to spend money.

That's true in Asia and mainland Europe, but here in the UK it's completely different. Almost all our schools are state-run and are basically absolute crap, the UK education system is a shambles. I was lucky enough to attend a grammar school, which despite being paid for by the government was pretty much self-run, with only the Governers and the Headmaster dictating the running. It was much better than most UK schools. Sadly my brother failed the entrance exam (well, admittedly there was much more demand for places when he took the test than when I did) so he ended up at the local comprehensive. It was basically a shithole, and then when it finally started becoming a decent place to learn, some consortium took over and turned it into an 'Academy'. They replaced half the GCSEs with things called BTECs, and basically ruined the school completely. Fortunately my brother only had to endure one year of the Academy before he could leave for Sixth Form, which he's doing now at a reputable local college.

Universities here are feeling the pinch too. My own university is facing £35 million in cuts this year, and there's talks of lecturers possibly undergoing strike action to protest against possible redundancies. Some faculties may end up being merged to save money, some are focusing more on certain parts of their courses to save money and neglecting other areas of research and teaching, which is bad for students, and the government is also planning on reducing the budget spend on Higher Education (compare to European countries such as France and Germany that are making cuts elsewhere and in fact boosting funding to Higher Education in an attempt to kickstart further economic growth).

So yeah, basically in the UK, the education system is completely crap. How does this tie in the the main discussion? Not really sure. But although I have yet to see anyone I know feel under too much stress from their course (aside from one girl I know who dropped out earlier in the year), there is plenty of reason for UK students and young people to be under stress. Especially those who aren't going to university, as they're going to have a real struggle trying to find work in this current economic climate.