“If you have an interest in the topic of education or if you’re worried that mainstream schooling isn’t working for your kids, it’s well worth a look.”
Press & Testimonials
“Intriguing look at what maybe a better way of teaching kids and the pros and cons related to it.”
“This film is about believing in the power of all kids. Instead of allowing them to pass through an overwhelmed and underdelivering school system, this film shows what happens when you trust children to know their own passions and help them to dream bigger than anything they can see around them. It’s the promise and the potential of the next generation. Believe in them.”
Ann Shoket, former Seventeen Editor-in-Chief and Author
“Unschooled is an unflinching yet ultimately hopeful exploration of a complex landscape of questions, challenges, motivations, and fears…(that) us to journey with educators who have differing visions of the type of educational experience that will allow marginalized young people from eastern Philadelphia to succeed. We meet young learners Miles, Jaya and Amani, and their families, and have the opportunity to share their uncertainties, fears, ambivalence and hope, as they grapple with what it means—and what it takes—to take a leap of faith into a radical new vision of what education could be.”
Education Reimagined
“I was drawn into this film as it unspooled…by the people, the personalities, the challenges, and yes, the premise. When first presented, my first thought was ‘Impossible!’ But, then I remembered that the human spirit gets revealed in incredible ways, and often triumphs (and when it doesn’t, it’s efforts are usually valiant). ‘Unconventional’ has often been the way that we have progressed in society, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the correct path…let’s continue to give options for all to choose, and that’s what we see here in this film of hard fought triumph, and yes, failure (although that failure is not final). This film gives us a scoreboard that is real, and while not an “Afterschool Special,” it’s real life that makes us confront our own thoughts, and feelings on how best to help us all succeed.”
Charles Davis, FOX and NFL Network On-Air Announcer and Analyst
“This film captures what a school could be. We are led into the lives of the school director, students and their parents within the context of assuring the students that: you can do this if you want to. The film captures student strengths instead of deficits, positively affecting their lives and putting into action the educational movement of unschooling that drives learner-centered/self-directed education.”
Fredricka Reisman, Ph.D.
Emerita Professor, Drexel’s School of Education
President Emerita, American Creativity Association
Co-Director, Drexel/Torrance Center for Creativity and Innovation