Woman to Woman: Our Exclusive Interview with “Race to Nowhere” Filmmaker Vicki Abeles

If Race to Nowhere isn’t playing near you, call up your local school right now and arrange a screening. Focusing on the unparalleled physical and mental toll homework, standardized tests and AP classes are taking on our children, this documentary is determined to be a catalyst for change. Lois was so mad, sad and scared after watching it, she immediately contacted filmmaker Vicki Abeles to get more information about what we can all do to change the current education system which is hurting our children and our country.

Race to Nowhere is such an important film, and as the mother of two kids who recently went through the whole getting-into-college process, I could totally relate. This is obviously a very personal issue for you. Why did you decide to make a film out of it? 

This film got started when my daughter became physically ill from the pressures she was feeling. She was 12 years old and coming home to several hours of homework and studying for tests each night. 

At first I felt so alone, but as I shared my concerns with other parents in different communities, I realized this was not an isolated incident. Everywhere I went I met young people who were depressed, anxious, sleep deprived, abusing performance medications and, in the worse case, contemplating suicide.  Many had simply checked out of learning. I began wondering, “What is going on in our schools and our culture?”

Searching for answers, I approached teachers and principals and top education experts, and wound up making a movie because I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing anymore.  

You bring many shocking statistics to light in this documentary. I was especially horrified to learn that suicide among teenage girls has spiked to an all-time high in the past decade. Which statistic surprised you or had the most impact on you? 

I was most surprised to learn that so many young people are using performance-enhancing medications that haven’t been prescribed to them simply to get through all the hours of school, homework and practice. 

I was also surprised to learn about the high percentage of students who arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. We continue to hear this at every screening, from both college students and professors.

 As you show so powerfully in the film, today’s kids are so overscheduled because they feel they have to have a full “resume” in order to get into college. In truth, they’re right because the competition is so fierce now and they need to make themselves stand out somehow. Are there really so many more smart kids now? What can colleges do to help this situation? Don’t you think it would be great to get rid of those books and magazines that rank colleges? They seem to give kids the feeling that there are only so many schools worth getting into.  

Of course, as parents, we don’t want to risk our children’s future.  Race to Nowhere highlights the price young people pay in a culture and education system driven by high-stakes testing, inflated GPAs and resume-building.  As parents, we need to place value on health, resiliency and self-efficacy over grades, test scores and “brand name” colleges.  

The film’s main message is that we can’t wait for large institutions and policies to change to make the changes our kids need today.  

We also must remember that there are many paths to a successful future — success is not determined by the name of the school one attends. And, ultimately, when it comes to college, the focus should be on finding the right fit, not on a “name brand” college. If parents move away from the “top” 50 colleges as ranked by the newspapers and magazines, there are hundred of other schools that are looking for the person rather than for the resume.

So, yes, let’s stop buying the magazines and books that rank our high schools and colleges, and let’s work in partnership with our schools to rethink the information that is reported to the press. 

Every year Newsweek ranks the “best high schools” in the US based solely on the percentage of students taking advanced placement or International Baccalaureate Tests. In 2007, the Palo Alto School District in California refused to play this game. By declining to participate, Palo Alto says it hoped to strike a blow against shallowness, student stress and unwanted publicity. 

College and university trustees, admissions offices, professors, donors and alumni can also speak out regarding admission policies and practices. 

The title, Race to Nowhere, is so meaningful, especially considering that, with all the pressure we’re putting on kids, the U.S. has dropped to almost the bottom of the top 25 list in math and science. Wouldn’t it be better to simply let kids be kids at a young age – give them time to play and imagine and think and create – and maybe even, sacrilegious as it may sound, drop AP classes and let kids actually take college courses in college?

Yes to all of your questions. That’s what the child development experts and education experts featured in our film are advocating for. We should all be advocating for an education system that is developmentally appropriate and encourages learning for the sake of learning. 

A number of high schools have eliminated AP courses, and replaced them with classes that are not constrained by the test. This allows the teachers and students to go deeper into the material. By eliminating the GPA boost, students are encouraged to take classes because they are interested in the subject matter rather than for the weighted grade. 

Homework is such a controversial issue but you make the facts clear – that there is basically no correlation between more homework and academic achievement and that AP scores actually went up went homework was cut in half. Why don’t teachers and parents understand this? 

Homework is a symptom of the much larger issues, but it’s the one that most directly impacts us as parents and also impacts the health of our children.

We are so afraid that our kids won’t be able to compete in the global economy that we’ve adopted policies and practices that focus on doing more of what we’ve always done.  As the experts in our film say, homework is driven by the standards which create a curriculum that is a mile wide and an inch deep, and it’s also driven by parents who are asking for more. We need to look at how time is used during the school day and adopt policies and practices that respect the research. 

Our Facilitation Guide is a great resource for those interested in taking action on homework. 

Despite all its bally-hoo, George Bush’s No Child Left Behind is actually responsible for leaving more children behind than ever before. Why is that? What was the specific problem with that program? 

The weakness in No Child Left Behind was in its narrow focus on standardized tests concentrated in two subject areas – math and English — as a way to improve education for everyone. The program provided data but did not lead to improvements in education. There is no research to support that this kind of testing actually helps students learn. Instead, as the experts in Race to Nowhere point out, the tests have the impact of narrowing the curriculum. 

The inordinate amount of time spent teaching to the test has actually been shown to have some negative effects. In addition, it can cause students to disengage. Reducing the quality of education to a test score is simplistic and misleading.  

I haven’t seen Waiting for Superman yet – which is being championed all over the place — but I would have to think it’s a natural partner film to Race to Nowhere, and that if audiences see both, there’s a better chance of something actually changing in the education system. What are your feelings about that?

Waiting for Superman raises important issues about our broken education system. Race to Nowhere is a much different film and grassroots phenomenon; it takes us inside the lives of the students, parents, and teachers struggling to cope with a system now dominated by standardized tests and the unrelenting pressure to perform and compete. It’s the only film to bring their voices together with those of the leading thinkers in education and child development, to explain why we need a top-to-bottom reappraisal of what education is for in the first place.

Again, not having seen Waiting for Superman, your film seems like a much more personal one that focuses on the effect that all of the homework, standardized testing and grades have on actual children. School should NOT be making children physically sick, and I don’t think anyone else has addressed this issue. Can you talk a little more about this? 

We believe Race to Nowhere is speaking to millions of parents, educators and students, and empowering everyone to make change. 

Race to Nowhere is the only film to highlight the intersection of health and education. A teacher can not teach to an empty desk. When a student is absent, the desk is literally empty. When students are anxious, depressed, sleep-deprived, and abusing performance-enhancing medications, their desk is figuratively but equally empty.  

Race to Nowhere highlights the need to educate the whole child. 

It made me cry that, in the film, a really amazing English teacher had to leave her job and an equally inspiring math teacher talks about having to leave as well. How are we going to raise the status of teachers the way they have in Singapore? And, conversely, what will we have to do to get rid of bad teachers? Will the teacher’s union be a help or hindrance? 

Many people want to blame the teachers unions for the faults in education. Our film is not about blaming the union. In fact, in the often-cited Finnish education system, teachers are unionized. Dr. Deborah Stipek, Dean of the School of Education at Stanford University, talks in our film about how teachers come to the profession and want to do a great job. Rather than a system that punishes and awards teachers based upon standardized test scores, we need to support them and treat them as professionals. 

Layers of change are needed.  Our hope is that Race to Nowhere helps create a paradigm shift in the way our culture values, develops and compensates teachers as professionals.

I love that you offer some specific action steps that educators, parents and students can take at the end of the movie. What do you think it’s really going to take to revolutionalize the archaic system? 

We believe that those on the front lines of education – parents, students, teachers, college professors, schools of education — know that our current system is not serving our children. Race to Nowhere highlights the educational and health outcomes of today’s culture and system. We are just at the beginning of raising awareness and giving everyone permission to say what is true. An appropriate metaphor is The Emperor’s New Clothes. This film is creating the political will to transform education. We need every parent, educator, student and concerned citizen to speak out on the changes that our children need. 

What is the one message you want people to walk away with after seeing this film?

I want everyone to feel empowered to form alliances with one another and to mobilize in their local communities. Together we can be the change our kids need.  We can influence policies and practices.  Take the film’s message home with you and stay engaged.  Ask the young people in your life how we can better support them as parents, educators and as a culture. 

How are your own children feeling these days?

My children are doing well because they have parents who see them as more than a grade and a test score. They also know that so many of the challenges they faced a few years ago are being felt by young people everywhere. They are comfortable advocating for what they need and see the importance of everyone adding their voice and questioning what’s happening to the next generation.

What has been the reaction to Race to Nowhere?  

The reaction has been very positive. Everyone who sees the film finds a place for personal connection. Their views on childhood and education are forever changed. And they leave feeling this isn’t so complicated to address. This isn’t global warming – it doesn’t require new technology to solve. These are children and we all instinctively know we need to transform what we are doing.

What’s next for you?

There’s nothing more important to me right now than continuing my work on Race to Nowhere to ensure its impact.  I am also consulting on production and distribution of a few other documentaries while thinking about the next film.