Race to Nowhere

[jenbrdsly]

Has anyone seen this? Race to Nowhere I'm curious what other people think.

 

My thoughts were that it was a bit elitist, and talking to the maybe 2% of students who really are studying seven hours a night trying to get into Harvard. But maybe I'm off base?

 

I'd also love for somebody from Oakland to chime in with their thoughts about $. Those houses they were showing... 2 million? 3 million? Private school for three kids in Oakland... 20k each kid?

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Has anyone seen this? Race to Nowhere I'm curious what other people think.

 

My thoughts were that it was a bit elitist, and talking to the maybe 2% of students who really are studying seven hours a night trying to get into Harvard. But maybe I'm off base?

 

I'd also love for somebody from Oakland to chime in with their thoughts about $. Those houses they were showing... 2 million? 3 million? Private school for three kids in Oakland... 20k each kid?

 

I can't speak to the movie because I haven't seen it yet, but I know that with the exception of the local Catholic schools, private schools around us here in NJ start at $25,000 or so for the kindergarten years and go up from there. (And I know this because I may or may not have been pricing them out yesterday *sigh*.) So those costs, for Oakland, sound completely realistic to me--maybe even a little low, given the housing costs!

[sassenach]

I really want to see it, but haven't yet.

 

I live near Oakland. Private schools in my area run between 10k and 25K a year. I will say that in our area, the achievement pressure is tremendous even at the public schools. The kids are trained from an early age to reach for elite colleges. When my dd was 12, she mentioned to a ps high schooler at a party that she wanted to be a vet. The boy asked her where she planned to do her undergrad. I chimed in that she was only 12, and he just gave me a blank look.

[jenbrdsly]

Sassenach, I understand what you are saying 100%. I used to live in Menlo Park and that's just how it was. You went to your doctor and expected him/her to have gone to Prestigous University X,Y or Z. Now here where I live in WA, the best university most people have gone to is the University of WA. It's sooooooo different.

[Arcadia]

I've watched the movie too long ago to comment. As to Oakland, Governor Jerry Brown has a pricy mansion there. The crime areas of Oakland are the ones making the news, but there are very pricy areas in Oakland too. My boys used to go to the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland and the drive there is a study in contrast.

The first post on this link gives a quick overview of the pricier zip codes in Oakland especially Piedmont. http://www.city-data...on-average.html

[fourisenough]

I saw the movie when it was released a few years ago. Although, it only applies to a certain segment of the world, it is relevant to MY world. We are in the suburbs of a large, mid-western city. Many of the kids in our district attend selective/elite colleges. It is intense ~ but at the same time, it beats the alternative, YKWIM? Seems like we have two very dramatic extremes: a drop-out crisis and the Race to Nowhere situation. My girls have found middle ground, I think. They study every night and a few hours on the weekends. They care about their grades, but even more about learning. They have set high goals for themselves but still manage to enjoy their lives. I think it is up to parents to set the tone and be their children's leaders. I came away from the movie thinking about how everyone (especially the parents in the film) had bought into a race/competition that they didn't really understand or even really care much about - they were just keeping up with the Joneses or blindly following along with what they THOUGHT they were supposed to do. A little moderation, anyone?