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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've only had time to watch the first 30 minutes.

I am seeing Idris's difficulty with school but not seeing so far much connection with him being AFrican American.   THey are saying the school thinks he may have ADHD but someone (the dad?   psychiatrist) doesn't think he resembles kids with ADHD...

But he looks exactly like my (white) child at that age who had significant Executive Function Disorder.    It was painful watching Idris upset at having worked on some story for 2 weeks but then having apparently left or forgotten it somewhere. [/quote]

I'm AA with a child that age, too, and was wondering the same thing as I know several boys of different races with ADHD.  However, I'm also aware that AA boys are disproportionately labelled learning disabled.

While on one hand I found AP moving,[b] I didn't get it's premise of what happens to our AA boys (psychologically) who attend predominantly white & affluent private schools. [/b] I was expecting experiences of teachers viewing the boys as intellectually inferior or the boys being conditioned from pk-high school to believe that their white counterparts are intellectually superior.  My son and peers have encountered both situations.[/quote]

I agree.

Unlike their son, the Summers are not very self-aware. I can't believe they edited and viewed this film thinking it would be an indictment of predominately white schools and didn't realize even once that Idris' problem was THEM!

Dalton diagnosed the boys' learning issues early on, but instead of addressing the issue, they blamed racism, the school and even said, "They don't know him. He's not like that at home." Uh, DUH! He doesn't have his classmates, bright lights and colors, and lots of stuff to get into at home. All he had at home were two stuffy, uptight parents. Of course, he was chilled out there. Michele even questioned the school environment. DOH! Fast forward to 10th grade and the boy is diagnosed with ADHD and given medication.

The school even provided private tutoring free of charge for the boys. But instead of being grateful, they complained the boys had been singled out because of their race. Uh, Noooooo....the other parents were paying for tutoring outside of school.

I believe Dalton did everything they could to support Idris. But the parents weren't interested in being team players. I believe they had a pre-conceived idea of how their son would be treated and it became a self-fulfilled prophecy.

Had they addressed his behavior and provided tutoring early on and taken the edge off the micromanaging, I think he would've been just fine by HS.[/quote]

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