the hardships of stanton school

I really enjoyed this film. As I reflected on the immense problems afflicting this neighborhood, it helped my reconfirm for myself the central importance of education in helping empower individuals and communities. The interviews with the children’s families demonstrated that many of the problems that the students face have been problems for their parents too. The boy Anthony had been in foster care for 7 years just as his mother had. When Cornelius doesn’t take his medication, his mom flies into a rage and yells, “I haven’t taken my medication today either!” This community is trapped in a cycle of suffering that is passed down from generation to generation. What then can break this cycle? In my opinion, the only solution is the self-transformation of individuals. And education is one of the most important tools in this effort. Thus, watching the painful hardships of the community further deepened my conviction in the central importance of education in effecting social change.

Of all the scenes, the all male classroom with the male teacher interested me most. In this class, the teacher is talking about drug addicts, alcoholics, theft, murder, prejudice, and other very heavy topics. Some educators might argue that this is inappropriate for elementary-aged students. However, as the last article by McClaren argued, in the future these students will definitely have to deal with – no, rather, these students are already definitely dealing with these problems. To avoid engaging with these issues would be doing a horrible disservice to these kids and leaving them frighteningly unprepared to deal with the problems of their immediate environment. As Freire suggested, education must help individuals confront the problems of their own community.

This male teacher argued that all students have the ability to learn. However, before they can learn, they must first develop self-confidence and have somebody that truly believes in them. I agree with this claim, as it seems that even the parents of many of these children have already given up on them. At the end of the film, I was saddened to learn that Principal Bernie left the schools because she felt it was impossible to continue with such insufficient funding. After watching scenes when Mrs. Bernie answered questions and became distressed, I really believed that she was fighting her hardest for these kids. However, she had to leave as it seems that the school district of Philadelphia has given up on these kids as well.