Race to Nowhere

Director Vicki Abeles turns the personal political by igniting a national conversation in this groundbreaking documentary about the pressures American schoolchildren and their teachers face moving into the 21st century. What started as a private family matter widened into a cogent examination of systematic pressures faced by youth and teachers today amid dropping test scores, a shrinking global economy and increasingly unrealistic expectations of parents, universities, school districts and society at large. The demands have crushing, widespread consequences. Cheating has become commonplace, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, teenage suicide is on the rise and students arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.

Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people who have been pushed to the brink, parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, and educators who are burned out and worried students aren’t developing the skills needed for the global economy, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic running rampant in our schools.

Race to Nowhere is a call to families, educators, experts and policy makers to examine current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become the healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens of the next century.