What Is The Theme Of Test The Flaws Of The American Public School System

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The documentary, Test: The flaws of the American Public School System, directd by Curtis Chin took the viewer on a realistic journey of the New York resident middle schoolers as they prepare to pick the right high school. Students have the option to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) which is a test that students can take to get accepted into 1 of 3 of the specialized high schools in New York. 8th-grade students have the opportunity to test into Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, or Brooklyn Tech. These schools are called legacy schools because students who attend these schools have a higher chance of getting into Ivy League colleges. They are also referenced as Ivy League high schools. I chose this documentary to watch because …show more content…

The themes within this documentary were to inform about the SHSAT process for students and families, discuss the struggles, and show the reality of students and families during this intense time of schooling.
The director Curtis Chin began the documentary with what looks to be a slide show introducing the 3 legacy schools and then clips of parents explaining the reasons they are putting so much effort into the preparation. This strategy gave viewers a sneak peek of the content of the video because the director informed them about the schools and the intense work that is being put in to get into these schools. After the introduction of the topic, the documentary content is split into sections of the process of getting into the schools. There are interviews of the students taking the SHSAT and with the parents …show more content…

Given what we know about school testing, the students are still not done with test prepping, there is the SAT, ACT, and other standardized testing that they have to prepare for, and this process wasn’t even mentioned in this documentary. The director did a very good job of pointing out the reality of this stress put on students, it is up to the students and their families whether they want to part take in this process. In the beginning, it was made clear that the test prep centers were completely optional and all of the students in the film wanted to be a part of the process and the parents were supportive too. Another message in this documentary was that even though the students wanted to take on this heavy process and they ended up getting into the schools they wanted, was to question if the work, time, and stress is all worth