AMERICA UNDERCOVER: I AM A PROMISE: THE CHILDREN OF STANTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (TV)
Summary
One in a series of documentaries presented by HBO. Filmed over the course of an entire school year, this film focuses on an inner-city elementary school struggling to surmount the huge burden that drugs, crime, and dilapidated housing has placed on the students -- ninety percent of whom live below the poverty line and come from broken homes. Located in North Philadelphia, the grounds of Stanton Elementary School are littered with used syringes and crack vials. As the film opens, the African-American students between the ages of four and ten are on their way to their first class of the day. At assembly, Stanton's principal, Deanna Burney, encourages students to set personal goals for the school year. The film follows Burney as she pays individual attention to such students as: Cornelius, a restless third-grader whose mother assures her child of a swift beating during a meeting at the principal's office; Nadia, the gifted daughter of crack-addicted parents, who found herself homeless at age eight and wound up living with a neighbor; Rasheed, a second-grader who has not yet mastered the skill of reading, but who shows an acute interest in computers; and Anthony, whose recently-paroled father finds little time for supervision, and whose crack-addicted mother works as a prostitute near the school. The film also follows John Coates, the teacher of an experimental first-grade class for boys who are "discouraged learners" in need of role models. The narrator discusses the Sisyphean task of educating children who, many critics decree, have little chance of overcoming these obstacles. The program notes that near the end of the year, a standardized school-wide test revealed that most of the students performed fifty percent below the norm. At a conference table, several teachers debate the merits of their efforts; one cites disciplinary concerns as the major obstacle to tapping into students' potential. Coates, an ex-Marine armed with a bullhorn, talks about the community's responsibility; in his recess-hour discourses, Coates emphasizes strong, reliable family ties and good behavior as the keys to success. At the graduation exercises for the fifth-grade class, Berney delivers a stirring speech on the state of education, directly addressing the inequity endemic to government funding. In an emotional follow-up interview, she rallies against the insufficient resources and gross indifference incurred by her students.
("I Am a Promise" is the recipient of the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Information Special and the 1993 Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Documentary Feature.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: October 11, 1993 Monday 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:29:25
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:34412
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: Afro-American elementary schools; Afro-American students; Afro-American teachers; Blacks - Education; Documentary; Education, urban; African-American Collection - News/Talk
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 1983-2006
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Alan Raymond … Producer
- Susan Raymond … Producer, Director, Narrator
- Tom Verlaine … Music by, "Depot" and "Spiritual" composed and performed by
- Kross, Kris (musical group) … Music by, "L'il Boys in Da Hood" performed by
- Deanna Burney
- John Coates