Children and Education in World Cinema

Introduction

Immigration is a controversial issue in the United States today; an article in The Atlantic characterized immigration as “the most prominent wedge issue in America.”¹ This wasn’t always the case; until around 2006 bipartisan consensus existed between Democrat and Republican voters in their views of immigrants. In 2006, around 47% of both Democrats and Republicans felt that immigrants strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents. This contrasts with 84% of Democrats and 42% of Republicans who feel the same way towards immigrants today. What happened? In 2006, President George W. Bush pressed for comprehensive immigration reform that ultimately failed in Congress; the failure resulted in conservative backlash that led to a split between the parties that grew during the Obama presidency and fragmented further during the Trump presidency. While it is encouraging to note the number of Republicans that still believe that immigrants strengthen the country, a clear gulf in support of immigrants exists between the parties. Immigration is now a partisan issue that engenders strong feelings and opinions.

These strong feelings and opinions intersect with the lives of my students. Mark Twain Elementary School is a Chicago Public School on the Southwest side of Chicago. The student population consists of 944 students, of which 75% are considered low income. The population is 88% Latino and 9% white with a small population of Polish speaking students. Students that receive special education services account for twelve percent of the student population; and students that receive bilingual services account for another 22% of the student population.² Most students have either come from another country as an immigrant themselves or have a family member or neighbor that has come to the United States from another country. While they are generally aware of immigration as a hot button issue, this unit seeks to provide them a more nuanced understanding of the challenges associated with immigration and migration between nations.

In our efforts to begin unpacking immigration, the best place to start is focusing on children. This is relevant because my students are more engaged with content when, in readings and resources I select for class, they see children that look like them and are around the same age as them. In the “Children and Education in World Cinema” Seminar, we thought deeply about the agency of children in the films we watched and discussed how it complicated situations. The same idea is true of the three core texts of this unit, two films and one nonfiction text, that all center on the experience of children coming to the United States from Latin America. Film is critical for students to build greater background knowledge about topics and to stimulate them to think deeply to write with nuance and attention to detail. Two different modes of film will be explored as students grapple with the idea of mode and storytelling, fiction, and documentary. In creating a fictional story, can someone recreate the reality associated with a topic in a way that is effective and honest? And, while making a documentary, what are the implications of following individuals with handheld cameras? These are two different modes of film that students will view. I want students to think about the effectiveness of those modes in addressing the theme of immigration, and to recognize that each mode provides something different. I want them to be able to speak to that difference by writing an organized and detailed film review.