Bird Rock Elementary School (BRE) is transforming into a movie theater for two days to highlight the struggles of raising children in America today. The school will host two film screenings of the highly-acclaimed film “Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture” — a documentary complete with compelling real-life stories of students, parents and educators and their struggles with issues like the prevalence of cheating in schools, the rise of stress-related illness and depression among teens, disengaged students and ill-prepared high school graduates who enter college. “We decided to show ‘Race to Nowhere’ at Bird Rock Elementary School because we feel that it is important to raise awareness and generate dialogue among parents, students, teachers and school administrators regarding the current assumptions on how to best prepare American youth to become healthy, bright, contributing citizens,” said Ronit Austgen, BRE PTA member and parent. The documentary was produced by a concerned mother-turned-filmmaker who illustrates the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has become a reality for students across the nation. By the end of the film screening, the hope, Austgen said, is that parents, teachers and students can take a number of lessons home with them to prepare and inspire the youth of America through healthy means. “First, families and teachers need to examine their practices and see if they need to make changes,” Austgen said. She urged parents to identify individual goals that work for the family dynamics and reduce performance pressure on their child, encouraged students to talk with their parents about stress in their lives and stressed the importance for teachers to become knowledgeable about research on the correlation between homework and academic success. “Communities need to examine school practices to fit the needs of our individual students,” she said. “The purpose of the documentary is to help communities redefine success and achievement for young people by moving away from creating stressed-out students who are not learning to developing engaged lifelong learners through making students’ physical, social and emotional health a national priority.” She said excessive homework, AP classes and high standardized test scores are not necessarily accurate indicators of students’ learning or future success. The film has already ignited a “Homework Pledge” in public schools and districts across the nation. The initiative, which was launched by the film’s online action platform, www.endtherace.org, calls for an elimination of homework on weekends and school breaks to promote healthy learning and growth outside of structured schoolwork. BRE’s first film screening will take place on Jan. 11 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. followed by a panel discussion featuring BRE principal Sally Viavada, La Jolla High School (LJHS) counselor Cathy Hutchins, college advisor Linda Dowley, LJHS associated student body president Erik Vantrum and LJHS senior class officer Ellen Latta. The next film screening will take place Jan.18 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with no film discussion to follow. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 on the day of the event on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://rtnbirdrockelementary.eventbrite.com or call (925) 310-4242.
