Film Highlights Reality: GHS Students Under Stress

Mary Jane Johnson was matter-of-fact about her advocating for the film Race to Nowhere, the documentary on the intense pressures young people face at school and at home.  

“I see more and more students here suffering,” she said of Geneva High School students. “There are more hospitalizations, more cases of depression than ever before.” 

On the plus side, she said of high school life today, “students have a million-and-one choices.” On the negative side, it’s hard to limit those choices, and students face pressure from other sources—parents, primarily—“who want them to be in everything.”

“In a word, it’s about balance: how do students achieve it, and what happens when they don’t,” said Johnson, head of the Counseling and Advising Department at GHS.

In the film, according to a flyer for the event, “a concerned mother-turned-filmmaker aims her camera at the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children’s lives. The film shines a light on the price young people pay for this 'race to nowhere.' ” High-stakes testing has replaced meaningful teaching and learning. Cheating is commonplaces. Stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant. Many young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared an uninspired.” 

The movie will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday at , 416 McKinley Ave. In addition, a panel of teachers, parents, counselors and students will do a question and answer session the following week with Dr. Michael Maniacci, a psychologist and specialist in the area of teen mental health. That session will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, also at the high school.

“We don’t’ want to have people just watch the film and say, ‘so what,’ “ Johnson said. “Dr. Maniacci is a specialist in the are of teen mental health. He’ll answer any questions people have.”

Tickets are available at www.rtngenevahs.eventbrite.com, under the “Geneva High School" venue. Tickets are $10 each, with a $1.54 fee. A $5 surcharge applies for tickets purchased at the door. (Ticket prices are fixed by the film distributor, not by Geneva High School.) 

In her eight years with the School District, she’s seen cases of social and emotional distress increase dramatically, “from ‘occasionally’ to about ‘weekly,’ ” Johnson said. And many students are dealing with suicide ideations as well, she added. 

The district is working to integrate social-emotional standards (set by the state) into the curriculum, she said. These standards include:

• Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success.
• Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.
• Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school and community contexts.

Johnson called the movie “the dark side of America’s achievement culture. Students are so overwhelmed with stress, and choices, and time management,” she said. 

She said the school is trying hard to transition struggling students back to a healthy lifestyle, and be supportive at school. 

According to the website, “Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. ... Tens of thousands of people are coming together, using the film as the centerpiece for raising awareness, radically changing the national dialogue on education and galvanizing change.”

Many, many parents try to walk the line of encouraging their children to excel and worry they fall over the line into badgering and pressuring. For those concerned about the topic, or how the pressures of academic life impact their children, this presentation is for you.

discussed the film on Wednesday.