We need to change the way we define success in this country. We need to end the pressure for academic excellence from parents, schools, and students themselves. We need to stop seeing young people's lives as an 18-year preparation for the college application. This is the call to action voiced in the documentary movie Race to Nowhere.

The film was shown Jan. 20 in Cronin Auditorium, part of a nationwide series of screenings in a grassroots effort to "end the pressure-cooker culture of our nation's schools." The event was sponsored by the Harvard Schools Trust, the local nonprofit that raises educational grant money for Harvard schools, by Emerson Hospital, and by the Bromfield School Council.

From left, panel members Scott Hoffman, Tom Jefferson, Dr. Madhavi Kamireddi, Dr. Jessica Rubinstein, and Jim O’Shea field questions from the audience at the Race to Nowhere screening. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Schools Trust and Bromfield Council member Terry Symula, who spearheaded the event, introduced the documentary by saying that the intention was to begin a dialogue in the community about the issues raised in the film. Superintendent Tom Jefferson told the audience, "Education is a partnership. We want to work with you."

Following the film, the audience was invited to hear comments and ask questions of a panel consisting of three school administrators—Jefferson, Bromfield Principal Jim O'Shea, and Bromfield Vice Principal Scott Hoffman—and two local doctors—Dr. Madhavi Kamireddi, New England Center for Mental Health, and Dr. Jessica Rubinstein, chief of Pediatrics at Emerson Hospital.

Almost an hour-and-a-half in length, the film itself is informative, poignant, and, at times, funny. It follows several students—elementary, middle, and high school—and their parents as they navigate the stresses and demands of school. Teachers are also shown, caught in the demands of systems that slowly kill their ability to teach what they love in the ways they want to. Comments by health professionals are interspersed.

The film depicts students as caught up in a race to excel, even when they are incapable of keeping up. They are all held to the same standards of excellence: good grades. "We're ignoring other kinds of smart; we expect them to be smart in one way," one person said. The film showed that there are few rewards for being outstanding in other more creative and artistic ways—and it's all about looking good for the college application. As one affable, robust young man complained, "I can hardly focus on my eating." The film shows that the toll for this pressure ranges from a student's dislike of school, to hospitalization for stress, and even suicide. Another effect of this pressure is widespread cheating; students cheat because they can't possibly do it all. "Cheating is another course; you start in ninth grade and get better at it," is the way one young woman put it.

Rachel Leicher, speaking about her experience with homework as a Bromfield senior.(Photo by Lisa Aciukewivz)

Parents feel the pressure to make sure their child is doing as well as everyone else's child, even if this means pushing in ways that are stressful for both them and their child. They spend an inordinate amount of time monitoring homework. One parent in the movie complained, "When you have hours of homework after sports, it's not learning." Adults feel their children are not allowed to be children and that family time is lost to the rigors of "the race." The mother of a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide said that she had seen no signs. Her only explanation is that her high-achieving daughter received a failing grade on a math test the day before she killed herself.

The mental health professionals in the film talked about how well kids appear to be running the race but that the truth may be very different. Describing many young people, one psychiatrist said, "They look good on the outside, but you roll up their sleeve and they're bleeding." This was literally true in the case of a seemingly "together" young woman who, it turned out, had been cutting herself. Beneath her long sleeve was the word "empty" carved into her own flesh. The same psychiatrist lamented the practice of entering infants into the "race." She quipped that six-month-olds should be sucking on their toes and hands, not doing flash cards.

While the film raises numerous complicated issues through its dramatizations, at the end it lists concrete suggestions for different groups involved in education. It has specific questions and action steps for students themselves, for parents, teachers, and doctors. One topic is that of homework. The film questions the correlation between performance and homework and suggests that the type and frequency of homework be evaluated by a school community. One piece of advice to parents is to take a stance that feels right to them and try to resist the pressures of the race.

In the discussion that followed the film, O'Shea started by remarking, "What a sad state for children to exist in"—not enjoying the moment, always looking to college. He was passionate in his statement that "we need to help kids enjoy the moment and not always be 'racing.'"

Asked by an audience member who bemoaned the fact that his high school juniors never get enough sleep, "Can the administration do something about homework?" O'Shea said that Bromfield has taken steps to look at homework, to make sure that it is something that has "added value" and is not just busywork. He said he and the teachers are making progress around having it eliminated on vacations and reduced on weekends.

Hoffman commented that the school, parents, and students form a trio that works together to find balance. He admitted that he is working on this with his own kids. Instead of the first words out of his mouth when he sees them at the end of the day being, "Have you done your homework?" he now chats with them about various things—and then asks the homework question.

Dr. Rubinstein, in response to a comment from an audience member, reported that she sees an increase in young people suffering from depression and anxiety. Dr. Kamireddi commented, "The parents are key." They need to follow up on clues; depression and anxiety are treatable diseases, she said. Parents are the ones who need to monitor their own children and to advocate for them.

On the subject of students taking several advanced placement classes, Jefferson said that AP courses are needed to get into an elite college, but that families have to ask themselves, "Is it worth it?" He called attention to the family at the end of the film who were assessing their lives and choosing to get out of the race.

The audience seemed to take seriously the documentary's message that "The U.S. needs to rethink the way we do schooling." We need to improve the quality of teaching and to create a climate of respect for the profession. We have become a numbers-driven society, offering an education that is "a mile wide and an inch deep." In the face of more and more testing, kids aren't being allowed to find what they love. The film asks us to do nothing less than for "the whole culture to revise what's important and what's not." The Schools Trust and the Bromfield Council hope that the film will get the Harvard community talking about the issues it raises.

For more about the film, visit www.racetonowhere.com.