@boomerang,
Maybe it's because I just finished reading
Last Child in The Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder that I'm particularly saddened by this movie. All the kids are either in a classroom, in front of a computer, being driven around in a car or on a soccer field being yelled at. The movie is an examination of how over the past 25 years or so we have started this emphasis on test performance and awards. Education is no longer about learning to think it's about memorizing systems to perform well on tests. Cram it in, squeeze it out. There is also this thing about kids having to perform in other activities like sports, music, theatre etc to the point that they never have a free moment. The emphasis is on wining, not having fun. You can't do something because you like it, you have to do it to be The Best. The movie explores all the unrealistic pressures that are put on parents, teachers and kids. Everyone is stressed out and unhappy, but no seems to know how to stop the merry-go-round. It's a national problem, we fund it with our taxes and there are basically laws that keep this system in place. You see a lot of good hardworking people (young and old) being totally smacked around by this method of educating and raising our children. It's not making our children into smart, happy adults, it's just making them and everyone involved in child rearing feel like tired failures. Even the kids with good grades and a wall full of trophies feel like it's never enough. Kids are literally killing themselves from these pressures. I doubt the movie will change much, but at least people are opening the problem to discussion. I not saying it's a perfect movie, but it has an important message.