Film Short Abstract:

How can children adapt and do more than survive in neighbourhoods where violence is common. How can they learn in schools if teachers have given up on them?

Abstract:

This 1994 documentary, follows the early work of Lorna Williams who was concerned about aboriginal children in Canada who were dropping out of school, losing hope and committing suicide in terrifying numbers. Her search led her to to Jerusalem and the work of Reuven Feuerstein, an Israeli psychologist whose early work focused on children who had survived the Holocaust. Feuerstein's ideas provided Lorna with a deeper insight into the importance of cultural transmission in the cognitive development of children and the impact of residential schools in Canada Lorna returned to North America with a renewed approach to teaching that reveals the intelligence and the ability of children, and helps them to build missing skills. The same methods prove useful with children "at risk" in the inner-city neighbourhoods of Washington DC.

Discussant: Film Producer, Lorna Williams