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Subjects (65)
Education (35)

Educational Perspectives (10)

  • Dreams of Education
    Dreams of Education
    Noura Kevorkian 2003 10 min
    Dreams of Education sees a group of young high school students as they express their anxieties about life after high school and their ability to afford a post-secondary education.
  • Growing Up Canadian: School
    Growing Up Canadian: School
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    Sheila Petzold 2003 46 min
    Growing up has become marked in school years but at the beginning of the 20th century most children attended primary school only. This bygone era is wonderfully evoked by still photos and archival film showing what children studied and where, from the one-room schoolhouse to a railway car.

    School in the 1940s and '50s is brought to life through interviews with adults who remember the first day at kindergarten, feared and loved teachers and encounters with the strap. The '60s and '70s brought television into the classroom and the concept of the open school, which changed the actual building.

    School is one of a 6-part series entitled Growing Up Canadian. These documentaries explore the myths and realities of Canadian childhood through family life, schooling, work, play, health and the media. The series marks the contribution of childhood and youth experience in defining Canada as it grew into full nationhood in the 20th century.
  • The Hungry Squid
    The Hungry Squid
    John Weldon 2002 14 min
    In this animated short, Oscar® winner John Weldon spins a tall tale about young Dorothy and her myriad troubles: absentee parents, bad hair and a menagerie that devours her homework. But when her pet squid rampages through town and people finally realize that the homework-eating creatures aren't a figment of her imagination, Dorothy realizes that it's time to get the situation under control.
  • Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?"
    Professor Norman Cornett: "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?"
    Alanis Obomsawin 2009 1 h 20 min
    This feature documentary by Alanis Obomsawin is a thoughtful tribute to Norman Cornett, a McGill University professor celebrated by scores of students appreciative of his unconventional yet powerful teaching methods who was controversially dismissed from his teaching duties in 2007.
  • Ready to Learn
    Ready to Learn
    Nadine Tsehaie Makonnen 2003 10 min
    This film is a moving portrait of an alternative school model that aims to instill self-esteem through African centred learning.
  • Street Lessons
    Street Lessons
    Isabella Cairess Favaro 2003 10 min
    Street Lessons is a powerful, 10 minutes documentary that examines the meaning of an education lost as seen through the eyes of Buddy Dwan, a 43 year-old homeless man - who dropped out of school at the age of 13. Buddy offers candid reflections on the personal cost of missing out on a decent education and delivers poignant "street lectures" to young people about the need to stay in school. Through Buddy's voice we are privileged to gain a rare and new perspective on the value of an education.
  • Through These Eyes
    Through These Eyes
    Charles Laird 2004 55 min
    An American elementary school program from the 1970s, Man: A Course of Study (MACOS), looked to the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic to help students see their own society in a new way. At its core was The Netsilik Film Series, an acclaimed benchmark of visual anthropology from the National Film Board that captured a year in the life of an Inuit family, reconstructing an ancient culture on the cusp of contact with the outside world. But the graphic images of the Netsilik people created a clash of values that tore rifts in communities across the U.S. and revealed a fragile relationship between politics and education. A fiery national debate ensued between academic and conservative forces. Through These Eyes looks back at the high stakes of this controversial curriculum. Decades later, as American influence continues to affect cultures worldwide, the story of MACOS resonates strongly.
  • Two Films by Lipsett
    Two Films by Lipsett
    Donald Rennick 1968 28 min
    In this short documentary, teenagers discuss experimental Arthur Lipsett films they have just watched. What do these films mean? What feelings or thoughts do they evoke? What do they suggest about the evolution of mankind and the future of life on Earth? The 2 Arthur Lipsett films being discussed, Free Fall and A Trip Down Memory Lane, are also included.
  • The World at 10
    The World at 10
    Aeyliya Husain 2004 40 min
    Filmed over a school year, this cinéma vérité documentary shows the changing face of our culturally diverse, inner-city classrooms. It tracks the progress of two 10-year-olds, Mahfuzur and Neola, as they learn about fairness, the consequences of their actions and the realities of life in Canada. Their teacher Ken Scott, having been raised in a single-parent, low-income family himself, has a deep understanding of his students' lives.

    The World at 10 was produced as part of the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC Newsworld.
  • A Woman's Place
    A Woman's Place
    Colin Low 1967 16 min
    Two women discuss the roles and problems of women, education, and shopping on Fogo Island.

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