Local Parents Still Talking about 'Race to Nowhere'

"Unplug, slow down and make time for things you love" is just one of many messages the film, Race to Nowhere, wants families to act on.  

About 100 parents came together, Thursday evening, at John Green Elementary School, to watch the documentary, Race to Nowhere, a film that exposes the dark side of America's achievement culture.  

The night began when Principal Keith Nomura asked the crowd, "What does 'successful' mean to you?"  The question ignited a conversation around the word "success."  

After the 80-minute film, parents were encouraged to talk about how they were feeling.  One parent stood up and said she felt "angry" that her current middle school student spends so much time on homework every day.  

The movie spent a lot of time discussing the current overload of homework many schools give children.  According to Denise Pope, Education Professor at Stanford University who is interviewed in the movie, "There is no correlation between homework and learning for grades K-5.  In middle school, there is a slight correlation but, once the homework lasts longer than an hour, there is actually a decline in learning."

The reality is, kids are doing homework, starting as early as Kindergarten and increasing in the amount of time spent per night, though elementary school.   

Parents of middle school students, who attended the screening, spoke out in anger that sometimes their kids spend 3-4 hours a night doing homework.

One mom became emotional and said she was "angry" that her daughter is already feeling stressed out and unable to complete everything expected of her from her teachers.  "I am angry.  I am really, really angry that my daughter is forced to do so much homework every single day, and then more, even on weekends."  

Other parents echoed her concerns and frustrations. Parents, such as Sonia Gurusiddaiah, a mother of a fourth-, sixth- and eighth-grader, said, "One thing that surprised me was that there is so much data about how homework is not the answer to a better education - professors from Stanford spoke and other education experts, and yet there still is not any change coming down from the national level."

This begs the question, why doesn't Dublin Unified School District have a homework policy?  Neighboring school districts San Ramon Valley and Pleasanton have district policies regarding homework.  To read more about San Ramon's homework policy, click here: 6154 AR Homework-Makeup Work.pdf.  

"I thought it was a great film and really opened up my eyes to the real stresses our kids feel.  I'm going to start taking my sixth- and eighth-grader's complaints about school a lot more seriously," Gurusiddaiah concluded.

Danielle Cooper, mother of four boys, said, "My husband and I agree that the best thing we can do for our children is to let them 'run their own race' and not pressure them to get perfect grades or to be perfect.  We want to focus more on having fun as a family and together time.  We only have so many years with our children."

After seeing the film, Hennah Rahman, mother of three, was asked what she will do differently.  "For me, I think realizing that we don't have to do everything is OK. Nothing in this film was news to me but it really made me think about how as a parent, I/we are participating in perpetuating this overachiever cycle. I hope to reiterate it's not always about the end result but about the process. As long as you work hard and try your best, it's OK to not get an A. I also hope to be able to let them have more free time by not signing them up for too many extracurricular activities."

When James Morehead, father of two, was asked if he thought "this race" existed here in our community, he said, "It absolutely exists in Dublin - there is a divide, unfortunately, between parents that are pressuring the schools to layer on more valueless homework in the false belief that more homework means better schooling.  The arts and other important school programs that don't fit into the standardized test mold suffer as a result.  The Dublin Unified School District should dig into the research noted in the film regarding the diminishing returns of too much homework and enforce existing district policies regarding homework in an integrated way - meaning requiring teachers collaborate for homework across a child's schedule, not just in isolation."  

So, what does it take to raise a happy, creative, high-achieving child?  This is the question we, as parents, should be asking ourselves.   This is the tough question for which everyone wants an answer.  Visit www.racetonowhere.com to see how to take action.