Scripps College’s Humanities Institute and The Munroe Center for Social Inquiry at Pitzer College will jointly screen the documentary film Race to Nowhere on Tuesday, March 29, at 5:30 p.m., in the College’s Performing Arts Center, Garrison Theater. A panel discussion, featuring the film’s producer and co-director Vicki Abeles, via Skype, will follow the presentation. The event is free and open to the public.
A mother of three and former Wall Street attorney, Abeles witnessed firsthand the pressures faced by schoolchildren and their teachers in schools that send large numbers of students to selective undergraduate institutions. First-time filmmaker Abeles is on the cutting-edge of independent film distribution, using a hybrid distribution model of screening the film in theaters as well community forums. This, in combination with a social activist campaign, acts to catalyze and shape public debate about the issues of pressure, competition, and achievement that the film explores. Featuring the stories of students and parents in many regions of the United States, the film provokes families, educators, and policy makers to rethink current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, and contributing citizens.
Included in the panel discussion with Abeles are Gilda L. Ochoa, Pomona College associate professor of sociology and Chicana/o-Latina/o studies, and Scripps College associate professor of music YouYoung Kang. Daniel A. Segal, director, The Munroe Center for Social Inquiry at Pitzer College, Jean M. Pitzer professor of anthropology and professor of historical studies, will moderate the discussion.
The Scripps College Humanities Institute spring 2011 program is “The Future of Higher Education: Gender, Geography, and the Humanities.” How can we address common goals of education towards global competency, leadership abilities, and critical thinking? Through a lecture, film, and performance series, the Institute explores these and other questions with educators, administrators, and activists in diverse fields. For more information, please contact the Humanities Institute at (909) 621-8237 or visit their website at scripps-staging.skybox0.com/hi .