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FILM LIBRARY: EDUCATION

High School
by Frederick Wiseman

Remember high school? Renowned filmmaker Frederick Wiseman's classic documentary High School renders this nearly universal American experience in unforgettable terms. Cited by the Library of Congress as a National Treasure, this 1968 film is both a document of the times and a statement of the ways in which school is used by one generation to pass its values on to the next.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

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Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball
by Kenneth Eng

In Japan, baseball is not a pastime — it's a national obsession. And for many of the country's youth, the sport has become a rite of passage, epitomized by the national high school baseball tournament known simply as "Koshien." Four thousand teams enter, but only 49 are chosen to compete in the championship that grips the nation for two weeks every August. Following two teams and their dedicated coaches, "Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball" take viewers inside a world where baseball becomes a proving ground for life's challenges.

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Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

Larry v. Lockney
by Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck

Meet Larry Tannahill. Out of 2,000 residents in the West Texas town of Lockney, he's the only one against the school board's new mandatory drug testing policy. Larry, a third-generation farmer, believes the testing is a violation of his son's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. He sues to overturn the policy, forming an unlikely alliance with the American Civil Liberties Union. In the battle over rights, Larry makes headlines around the country, loses his job and his family receives threats. Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck's "Larry v. Lockney" dramatically reveals the price of democracy in a small Texas town, when one man stands against the majority. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) co-presentation.

This film is not currently available in our free lending library.

Work with this film:
Buy the Film | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Boys of Baraka
by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

African-American boys have a very high chance of being incarcerated or killed before they reach adulthood. In Baltimore, one of the country's most poverty-stricken cities for inner-city residents, the Baraka School project was founded to break the cycle of violence through an innovative education program that literally removed young boys from low-performing public schools and unstable home environments. The Boys of Baraka follows four boys as they travel with their classmates to rural Kenya in East Africa, where a teacher-student ratio of one to five, a strict disciplinary program and a comprehensive curriculum form the core of an extraordinary new journey in their transformation to men. Winner of an NAACP Image Award. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Produced in association with American Documentary | P.O.V.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Education of Shelby Knox
by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt

What's it like to be a Christian teenage girl today? "The Education of Shelby Knox" profiles a young native of Lubbock, Texas, on the rocky road through high school. At 15, Shelby pledges celibacy until marriage, but because Lubbock has one of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state, she also spearheads a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the high schools, opposing the established "abstinence-only" curriculum. When the campaign broadens with a fight for a gay-straight alliance club in the high school, Shelby confronts her parents and her faith as she begins to understand how deeply personal beliefs can inform political action. A co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

The Hobart Shakespeareans
by Mel Stuart

Teacher Rafe Esquith has a point of view — a very strong one — about educating children of immigrants. Teaching in Los Angeles at one of the nation's largest inner-city grade schools, Hobart Elementary, Esquith leads his class of fifth graders through an uncompromising curriculum of English, mathematics, geography and literature. He inspires them with cross-country trips to learn history first-hand. And at the end of the semester, every student performs in a full-length Shakespeare play: in this case Hamlet, with advice from actors Ian McKellen and Michael York. Despite language barriers and poverty, these Hobart Shakespeareans move on to attend outstanding colleges, motivated by a teacher honored with a National Medal of Arts. A co-presentation with Thirteen/WNET New York.

Work with this film:
Borrow a DVD & Host a Screening | Visit P.O.V. Film Website

Downloadable materials:
Discussion Guide | Further Reading List | Lesson Plan

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