Film+Annotation+12

Allison Mrugal 11/16/15 Russel Sage Labs, Rm 5510 Film Annotation 12: Sustainability Education, STSS-4280-01 Prof. Fortun
 * 180 Days: Hartsville **

Prompt: Watch [|180 Days: Hartsville] (about a struggling elementary school in South Carolina) (2 hours, in 2 segments) then do the interactive exercise[|180 Days: A Challenge] designed (or at least released) by the black media project " "to help more people accurately understand the state of public education today and the challenges and opportunities that come with trying to support the holistic development of children." Write both about the film, and about the interactive exercise, describing what new insight you gained from them, and also what you think about them as media tools (to educate people about education).

Response: The film and interactive exercise both provide insight into the rigid education system in the United States. While standards stress educators and students nationwide, the implementation of Common Core does not acknowledge other (local and more controllable) factors that affect students’ ability to learn. The film and interactive exercise show how attitudes of students, teachers, principles, parents, and community members impact a child’s ability to learn. The efforts made in the Hartsville school district are not ideal, and are an adequate example to leverage political conversation about national education and the individual needs of students, schools, counties, and states.

Rigidity in the education system takes shape as standardized tests, the demand for quantifiable success, and the monotony of school schedules. While each teacher brings a unique passion for education, often stemming from their individual childhood experiences, teachers and principles (like those shown in the film) fell into linear ways of problem solving: in order to motivate students to score well on tests they offered rewards, competitions, and other incentives—even money! These authority figures shouted at students as a way to stimulate and simulate enthusiasm. Instead of allowing students to build interest in subjects, a life-long thirst for knowledge, and elaborative memory, students learned how to set basic goals and repetitively practice skills until they “succeeded”. It is not enough to put on a smile, ask students to succeed, and penalize them when they do not.

When their original means of motivation were unsuccessful, the Hartsville schools employed limited solutions to help the students (that they had failed)—the problem students. They created referrals, organized teacher/principle/parent meetings with the students or used expulsion. The film showed that these tactics are unsuccessful and do not get to the root of the problem. The post-film interactive activity also offered only four solutions to potential problems that might exist in the classroom. Convergent thinking—where only a few solutions can prevail—does not apply to each unique student or situation. When these “solutions” fail it is stressful for all who are involved.

Since the film showed that Hartsville’s efforts were linear in method and, therefore, unsuccessful at achieving their goals—both schools received “B” letter grades and not “A’s”—it can be used as a film to show what not to do in public education. However, the film does not clearly distinguish good from bad methods and therefore is not the most effective media tool to shed light on public education. While the interactive exercise recognizes the difficulty in finding a balanced method of solving problems in the classroom, the exercise does is not substantial or focused enough to paint a picture of the national problem.