Click here to download a pdf Discussion Guide for Schooling the World.
- The filmShare| var addthis_config ={“data_track_clickback”:true}; If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it forced Native American children into government boarding schools. Today, volunteers build schools in traditional societies around the world, convinced that school is the only way to a ‘better’ life for indigenous children. But is this true? What really happens when we replace a traditional culture’s canon of knowledge with our own? Does life really get better for its people? SCHOOLING THE WORLD takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply troubling look at the role played by modern education in the destruction of the world’s last sustainable indigenous cultures. Beautifully shot on location in the Buddhist culture of Ladakh in the northern Indian Himalayas, the film weaves the voices of Ladakhi people through a conversation between four carefully chosen original thinkers; anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wade Davis, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence; Helena Norberg-Hodge and Vandana Shiva, both recipients of the Right Livelihood Award for their work with traditional peoples in India; and Manish Jain, a former architect of education programs with UNESCO, …
- StoreAll profits from sales of “Schooling the World” will be donated to nonprofit organizations concerned with cultural survival and rethinking education. But we don’t want money to get in the way of your seeing the film, so we’re adopting an “honor system” pricing structure. If you can pay our standard rate, we greatly appreciate it; if you’d like to pay our supporter rate, that’s fantastic; if you’re a student, nonprofit cultural or educational group, teacher buying classroom materials out of your own pocket, or just a private individual trying to survive in tough economic times, please feel free to select our sliding scale rate for DVD purchase. If you don’t have a credit card and you’d like to buy a DVD, email us at info@schoolingtheworld.org. SCHOOLING THE WORLD DVD NTSC R-O 65 min. “Powerful, effective, direct, clear… and at the same time poetic, subtle, delicate, tender.” – Gustavo Esteva, education activist and co-founder, Universidad de la Tierra, Oaxaca, Mexico “An important and fascinating movie.” – Sir Ken Robinson, author, The Element Rate options Standard rate $15.00 Supporter rate $25.00 Sliding scale rate $5.00
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- faq1. I was traveling in Africa / Asia / South America, and the people I talked to there all wanted modern schools for their children. Are you saying they’re wrong? No. But there’s an important context in which we need to view this phenomenon….. 2. Isn’t it equally paternalistic to say that people shouldn’t have schools if they want them? Of course. It’s not our job to decide how the peoples of the world should raise their children…. 3. If you don’t think schools are the way to end poverty, then what do you think we should do? Schooling the World is addressing the impacts of education programs on relatively intact traditional cultures…
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