Rebekah Levy

As an older (67) teacher who grew up a total nerd in the East Bay Area (and knew some Lowell students in the '60s), this movie was simultaneously breathtaking and excruciating to watch. Currently, public schools across the US have increasingly less room for academically bright, motivated students of ANY color; what used to pass for "regular" academics is commonly called "AP." But what was really excruciating and sad was that, over the decades, college education has morphed from a once-wonderfully broad education into viciously competitive test-score manipulation and ethnic juggling. There is very little time for academically -motivated students to experience any life outside of school, unless their parents buck the tide (as the one girl did whose parents were both Lowell alums). The dilemma rests with the whole SYSTEM and SOCIETAL AND PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS in general; Asian kids (including Indian- American ones) need to have a lot more exposure to non-Asian cultures, and Black (and Hispanic--I live in New Mexico now) kids need to experience higher intellectual expectations from BEFORE Kindergarten--from HOME. Much of the latter could be accomplished simply by re-instating the PHONICS method of reading, by the way...