The documentary our group watched en masse was The Lottery. The movie follows four families anxiously waiting to hear if their children have been accepted into Harlem Success Academy, the local charter school. This type of school is lottery based, highly prestigious, and has an extremely high success rate. According to Eva Moskowitz, the school's founder, 100% of Harlem's students pass their final exams. This is due to the rigorous curriculum and strict attendance policy producing results that are envied by many local charter and public schools. These schools are wonderful, however, they have one flaw: not everyone is accepted. Since there are only a limited amount of spots available for students, some must be rejected. You cannot buy or beg your way in; you must be lucky. This is a substantial point made in our book, Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. You must be born in the right location, into the right family, and in the right school system. You have to be lucky to get in education and be successful in life. According to Gladwell, there is no such thing as a self-made outlier, you have to be lucky and grasp the opportunities that come your way. In his book, Gladwell mentions the KIPP School. This school is similar to Harlem Success Academy in regards to the rigor of the curriculum and strict policies. Also, they both use the lottery system for accepting students. The results of these two types of school are the same- the students enter this schooling performing below their grade level, and graduate and attend college.
Many types of appeals were used in this video. Logos was the one most evident; startling statistics were flashed across the screen many times. Included in these statistics were facts about low graduation rates and high success rates of schools. Since the movie followed real families, I, as a viewer, became emotionally concerned when they faced challenges and rejection. I also was elated when two of the four families were accepted into this prestigious school system.
