Stanton Elementary

As I watched this film, I realized that I will never know even half of the experiences that the children who attend Stanton Elementary have had.  I went to a top school in a top school district, located in a well-off, fairly safe, white, suburban area in California.  I had a very emotional response to this film, as a result.  

The list of things that bothered me about this film are too numerous to count, but there were several that stood out to me.  I was curious as to why, if the principal makes the students recite how they are, "talented, intelligent, and gifted," she would put "problem" students in special education classes and/or see that they are dispensed medication such as Ritalin.  The narrator stated that only 2% of minority students ever return to regular classes from special ed.  Why is this? Do these students become so lost in the cracks that they never find a way out? Do they begin to believe they are incapable? The fact that Cornelius' mother said that she was going to "punch [him] in the face" because he had been acting out, shows, alongside the scene where a young girl picks up a syringe filled with a narcotic, what a terrible neighborhood this school is located in.  The filmmaker didn't provide many interviews with parents which leads me to believe that either the parents tend not to be present in their child(ren)'s life or the effect was to make the school seem as though they were doing the parenting.

I was particularly struck by the scene in which the male teacher in the all-male class begins a discussion of racial tension and stereotypes.  The adults at the school seem to be very honest with the children about their environment, and the children are portrayed as being extremely aware of the conditions in which they live.  Does this honesty help kids cope with these types of situations? Have any of these children been able to escape their living conditions, and if so, did Stanton help them succeed at all?

There was a scene in which the flag is waving in the background and the children are reciting the pledge of allegiance, and I was reminded of how ironic the wording is.  These kids have no liberty or justice by living in a neighborhood such as this one.