Burlington Hosts 'The Race to Nowhere'

On Thursday, April 28th at 7 p.m., Burlington and Wilmington Schools co-hosted a screening of the documentary film “The Race to Nowhere.”  The screening, which was followed by a discussion lead by high school students, was well attended. The audience included nearly 200 parents, students, teachers and administrators and the film seemed to strike a chord with all in attendance.

Superintendent Eric Conti addressed the crowd telling them that this screening was just a first step.

“It starts the conversation,” he said.

The Race to Nowhere was produced and directed by Vicki Abele, a former Wall Street lawyer and mother of three. Abele was increasingly concerned about the level of stress that her own children were experiencing. The suicide of a young girl in her community spurred Abele to take a closer look at the expectations that modern society has for students and the impact on their physical and emotional health. The documentary features students, parents, teachers and mental health professionals who share their stories about overwhelming workloads, unreasonable expectations and a hyper focus on testing that is counter-productive to real learning.

The film painted a bleak picture, but at the end offered concrete advice for families and schools to help them achieve greater balance for their kids. The most important advice for parents was to talk with their children about the pressures in their lives.  The film cautions parents to avoid an over-emphasis on homework and test scores. Instead, ask children about their feelings and relationships. Try to modify schedules to include unstructured time and family time.

The documentary challenges teachers and school administrators to reevaluate the accepted norms regarding homework. According to the filmmakers, research shows that more than one hour of homework during the middle school years offers no additional benefit and can have detrimental effects.  In high school, anything over two hours per days is inadvisable.

The film encourages students to unplug, slow down and make time for the things they enjoy. 

“The movie presented an opportunity for reflection from all different perspectives,” said Conti. “I would suggest that people who saw the movie, including myself, should reflect.  An immediate reaction I had was the importance of listening to the student's voice."

Wilmington Superintendent Joanne Benton was clearly touched by the film. She shared stories about her own family and then told the audience “We can’t do this alone. It can’t just be the teachers. It can’t be just the students. We all need to work together.”

For information about Race to Nowhere and guidance for parents, teachers and students, visit www.racetonowhere.com.

Comments from the audience

Students:

“Last year I would do four hours of math homework alone each night. You need to take a step back and think about what you are doing.”

“I would love a homework free night.”

“It gets crazy – the amount of work and what’s expected.”

“I take ceramics. I like to be able to grab some clay and pound the thing. I can lose myself. It unravels all the stress of the day.”

Parents:

My nine year old twins come home crying every day from school. One is being seen for depression. We are hurting our kids.”

“As employers, we expect 6 hours of productivity for an 8 hour workday. We as adults could not handle all that pressure and work. I see it with my own son.”

“The kids don’t have vacation. They have homework on vacation which is not a vacation from school. We need vacations!”

“We can’t fix this as parents. (turning to Conti) A lot of this is going to be on your shoulders.”

“Will teachers be required to watch this? I think they should be.”

“I don’t go to bed at night until my kids’ homework is done. I’m stressed out because they are stressed out. This film has made me think I am going to make changes. We need to dial down the pressure.”

“I would like my kids to see this. I wanted my son to come but he had too much homework.”

“I want to go talk to my kids who get A’s and B’s and tell then don’t be afraid it that grade goes down. It’s okay.”

Teachers:

“I’m really touched by this film because it talked about what’s not going on in our education system in the US."

 “There is this big push to get more kids in AP calculus. To do that, we need to start in 7th grade. I keep saying why are we pushing this? Some of them are not developmentally ready.”

“Every child learns differently. We need to make room for that in our society.”