I Am a Promise

I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School is a unflinching documentary of the interactions of principal, teachers, students, and parents in a inner-city elementary school in North Philadelphia. A minimum of directorial intervention introduces the viewer into the (almost) unmediated reality of a school where 90% of the students live below the poverty line and grow up outside the American dream.

Many connections can be drawn between the educational attempts at Stanton and themes we discussed in class. The behavior of the devoted principal Deanna Burney and the energetic teacher Mr. Coates echoes the concepts of “other-mothering” and "going above and beyond” as they take over the role of a mother. For example, by saying that "Before they [the children] are able to learn, they want someone to understand them…they want someone to show that they care, and they love them" Mr. Coates identifies a deficit of love and care as the main problem in educating poor African American children. Most of the children come from broken families where the parents are overwhelmed and desperate due to their economic situation. As a result, parents turn to drugs, especially crack, and become alienated and emotionally detached from their children. Thus, they fail to raise their children with care and love. Through wild and aggressive behavior children try to get attention from other children and authoritarian figures in the school. To a certain extent, people like Coates and Burney try to compensate the lack of love and care by taking over the role of a mother or father figure, similar to the concept of other-mothering. You can see the principles’ empathy and compassion for the children when she gets very emotional in the interview about the future of her students. Based on love and care they try to moderate the children’s behavior. Further, the educational focus is on raising the students’ self-esteem by constantly reminding them that they can achieve any goal they have in mind. This approach reminded me of Makiguchian pedagogy which always aims at bringing out the infinite, inherent potential in children. As Burney recognizes, however, a lack of funds to train teachers makes this undertaking almost impossible. Most children who come to Stanton already experienced 6 years of adverse childhood in which they are exposed to drugs, violence, and poverty. Although people like the principle try educate to children by encouraging and empowering them, the children’s disobedient behavior makes an educational environment impossible. Out of desperation they have to enforce discipline through fear (threatening the children to call their parents if they don’t behave). This is very similar to the reaction of the parents who, because there are overwhelmed and desperate, also use fear by threatening their children with a beating to control their behavior. In terms of enforcing discipline it would be interesting to compare all three documentaries we have seen so far: Albany Free School, City Springs, and I Am a Promise.

The fact that the principle quits her job in the end made me wonder whether heroic leadership is enough. It raised the questions: What's the major cause of the failure of inner-city schools? Is it a lack of character and leadership, or political and economic inequality?