Education in the Movies Titles List

276 titles as of April 2013

The following list of movie titles covers movies that feature children and/or schools which meet my personal minimum standard of cinematic competence or cultural significance. Most are feature length. They are organized into categories according to the level of reality that is presumed to be presented and the degree of learning formality. From most to least real (with the understanding that film is inherently unrealistic): Documentaries, Based on a True Story, Fiction, Fantasies. From most to least formal: School, Non-Classroom Teacher/ Student, Non-school Kids. I tend to avoid horror and High School and College age. I started this list several years ago with the thought of analyzing how education and schools are portrayed as part of my personal work on understanding why our school system is the way it is and communicating how it could be changed for the better. Also, I've seen all but one or two and almost all of them are available via Netflix.

I welcome your helping me fill in the gaps if I've missed some truly great movie. If you truly believe I should add something I would appreciate your input as long as you make a case for either the cinematic or cultural value of the film you think I have neglected.

The Categories:
1a-Documentaries- School (22 titles)
1b-Documentaries- Non-School Kids (7 titles)
2a-True- School (20 titles)
2b-True- Non-School Kids (9 titles)
3a-Fiction- Classroom School (49 titles)
3b-Fiction- Non-Classroom Student Teacher (13 titles)
3c-Fiction- Non-School Kids (49 titles)
3d-Fiction- Kids- Violence War Crime (14 titles)
4a-Fantasies- School- SciFi Horror Comedy Musical Animation (22 titles)
4b-Fantasies- Non-School Kids- Learning- SciFi Horror Comedy Musical Animation (71 titles)

1a-Documentaries- School
1994 Hoop Dreams
1995 Small Wonders
2001 Chain Camera
2001 First Year & Teach
2002 Etre et avior (To Be And To Have)
2002 OT- Our Town
2003 Children Full Of Life
2004 Free To Learn
2004 Paper Clips
2004 Touch of Greatness
2005 Class Act
2005 Heart of the Game
2005 Mad Hot Ballroom
2007 Please Vote For Me
2007 War Dance
2009 War On Kids
2010 Schooling The World
2010 The Lottery
2010 Waiting For Superman
2010 We Are The People We Have Been Waiting For
2011 August to June
2011 The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman

1b-Documentaries- Non-School Kids
2000 Sound and Fury
2001 Children Underground
2001 Merchants of Cool
2002 Spellbound
2003 Girlhood
2004 Born Into Brothels
2006 Blindsight

2a-True- School
1969 L'enfant Sauvage (Wild Child)
1974 Conrack
1988 Stand And Deliver
1989 Lean On Me
1995 Dangerous Minds

1998 Ruby Bridges
1999 Music of the Heart
1999 October Sky
2000 Remember The Titans
2002 Rabbit-Proof Fence
2003 Radio
2005 Coach Carter
2006 Ron Clark Story
2006 Take The Lead
2007 Freedom Writers
2007 Great Debaters

2008 Summerhill BBC
2009 An Education
2010 Temple Grandin
2010 The First Grader

2b-True- Non-School Kids
1947 Life with Father
1962, 2000 Miracle Worker
1985 Mitt Liv Som Hund (My Life As A Dog)
1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer
1996 White Squall
2000 My Dog Skip
2001, 2009 Anne Frank
2004 Finding Neverland
2005 Dreamer

3a-Fiction- Classroom School
1939, 2003 Goodbye Mr Chips
1945 Bells of St Mary's
1954 Ninjushi no hitomi (24 Eyes)
1955 Blackboard Jungle
1956 La Ballon Rouge (The Red Ballon)
1961 Children's Hour
1966 To Sir, With Love
1967 Up The Down Staircase
1969 Kes
1969 Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1973 Paper Chase
1975 Picnic at Hanging Rock
1976 Argent De Poche (Small Change)
1978 Du Er Ikke Alene (You Are Not Alone)
1980 My Bodyguard
1981 Taps
1983 Educating Rita
1986 Children of a Lesser God
1987 Au Revior Les Enfants
1989 Dead Poet's Society
1990 Pump Up The Volume
1992 School Ties
1995 Lust Och Fagring Stor (All Things Fair)
1995 Mr. Holland's Opus
1997 Good Will Hunting
1998 Madeline
1998 Simon Birch
1999 Lengua De Las Mariposas (Butterfly's Tongue)
2000 Finding Forrester
2000 Pay It Forward
2000 Yi ge dou bu neng shao (Not One Less)
2000 Yi Yi
2001 Lost and Delerious
2002 Emperors Club
2003 Caterina va in Citta (Caterina In The Big City)
2004 Choristes (Chorus)
2004 Saint Ralph
2005 Machuca
2005 Tom Browns Schooldays
2006 Akeelah And The Bee
2006 Half Nelson
2006 History Boys
2006 Notes on a Scandal
2007 Son of Rambow
2007 Taare Zameen Par (Like Stars on Earth)
2008 Doubt
2008 Entre Les Murs (The Class)
2008 Phoebe in Wonderland
2010 Easy A

3b-Fiction- Non-Classroom Student Teacher
1979 Black Stallion
1984, 1986, 2010 Karate Kid
1991 Little Man Tate
1993 Man Without A Face
1994 Leon The Professional
1997 Bian Lian (King of Masks)
1999 Phorpe (The Cup)
2000 Billy Elliot
2000 Malena
2000 Wonder Boys
2002 Whale Rider
2004 Mala Educacion (Bad Education)
2005 Duma

3c-Fiction- Non-School Kids
1941 How Green Was My Valley
1944 National Velvet
1953 Crin Blanche- Le Cheval Sauvage (White Mane)
1963,1990 Lord of the Flies
1980 Tendres Cousines
1983 Risky Business
1985 Color Purple
1985 Journey of Natty Gann
1986 Stand By Me
1987 Pelle Erobreren (Pelle, the Conqueror)
1991 My Girl
1991 Wild Hearts Cant Be Broken
1992 Into The West
1995 Kids
1996 Kolya
1996 Ponette
1997 Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven)
1997 Ma Vie En Rose (My Life in Pink)
1997 Rang-e Khoda (Color of Paradise)
2000 El Bola (Pellet)
2001 Her Majesty
2001 Malunde
2002 Anita and Me
2002 Jibeuro (Way Home)
2003 I Am David
2003 Papillon (Butterfly)
2003 Story of the Weeping Camel
2004 Dear Frankie
2004 Ikke Naken (Not Naked, The Color of Milk)
2004 Millions
2005 Because of Winn Dixie
2005 Bee Season
2005 Cave of the Yellow Dog
2005 Live and Become
2005 Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
2006 Astronaut Farmer
2006 Fall
2006 Little Miss Sunshine
2007 August Rush
2007 Martian Child
2007 Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon)
2007 Renard et L'enfant (Fox and the Child)
2007 Vitus
2008 Secret Life Of Bees
2008 Treeless Mountain
2009 Amreeka
2009 Children of Invention
2010 Its Kind Of A Funny Story
2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild

3d-Fiction- Kids- Violence War Crime
1954 Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)
1962, 1997 Lolita
1963 Sammy Going South
1971 Walkabout
1987 Empire Of The Sun
1987 Hope And Glory
1996 Scream
1997 Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)
2005 Tsotsi
2006 Pan's Labyrinth
2007 Atonement
2008 Boy in the Striped Pajamas
2008 Doubt
2008 Slumdog Millionaire


4a-Fantasies- School- SciFi Horror Comedy Musical Animation
1982 Fast Times At Ridgemont High
1982 Pink Floyd's The Wall
1983 Christmas Story
1984 Sixteen Candles
1984 Teachers
1985 Breakfast Club
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1986 Pretty in Pink
1995 Major Payne
1996 Matilda
1998 Rushmore
1999 Election
2001-11 Harry Potter Series
2003 School of Rock
2005 Chicken Little
2006 Accepted
2006 Chalk
2007 Juno
2008 Lat Den Ratte Komma In (Let The Right One In)
2009 Three Idiots
2011 Bad Teacher

4b-Fantasies- Non-School Kids- Learning- SciFi Horror Comedy Musical Animation
1940 Pinocchio
1942 Bambi
1951, 2010 Alice in Wonderland
1953 Peter Pan
1962 The Music Man
1963 The Sword in the Stone
1964 Mary Poppins
1964 My Fair Lady
1967 The Jungle Book
1977 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
1979 Castle of Cagliostro
1982 Annie
1982 E.T.
1984 Die Unendliche Gesichte (The Neverending Story)
1984 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
1985 Explorers
1986 Castle in the Sky
1988 Big
1988 Hotaru No Haka (Grave of the Fireflies)
1988 My Neighbor Totoro
1989 Kiki's Delivery Service
1993 Mrs. Doubtfire
1994 Lion King
1994 Pom Poko
1994 The Secret of Roan Inish
1995 Indian in the Cupboard
1995 Jumanji
1995 Pocahontas
1996 James and the Giant Peach
1998 Mulan
1999 Iron Giant
1999 Sixth Sense
2001 Artificial Intelligence - A.I.
2001 Spirited Away
2002 Cat Returns
2002 Monsters Inc
2002 Return to Never Land
2003 Finding Nemo
2003 Holes
2004 Howl's Moving Castle
2004 Incredibles
2005 Little Manhattan
2005 Nanny McPhee
2005 Zathura - A Space Adventure
2006 Monster House
2007 Battle For Terra
2007 Bridge to Terabithia
2007 Last Mimzy
2007 Meet the Robinsons
2007 Ping Pong Playa
2007 Surf's Up
2007 The Last Mimzy
2008 Chasseurs de dragons (Dragon Hunters)
2008 Chonicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian
2008 City of Ember
2008 Gake no Ue No Ponyo (Ponyo On the Cliff)
2008 Kung Fu Panda
2008 Rolemodels
2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
2009 Coraline
2009 Secret of Kells
2009 Up
2010 Despicable Me
2010 How to Train Your Dragon
2010 It's Kind Of A Funny Story
2010 Kick Ass
2010 Nanny McPhee Returns
2010 Tangled
2010 Toy Story 3
2012 Moonrise Kingdom

Addressing Gun Violence

I was sent a survey about gun violence today and wanted to share my responses. This is a variation on the theme I developed in a previous post called "Guns are dangerous fun, so are cars and drugs."

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Other: I'm a citizen who is concerned about violence.

Please tell us more about why you are concerned about gun violence:

Guns are one of the tools of violence, so how we treat them may be indicative of our understanding of the ultimate problem. If guns are the problem, then controlling them is vitally important. But if guns are only a symptom of a larger problem then we need to ensure that controlling guns does not waste energy and resources that would be better spent on addressing the real problem.

Have you or anyone in your immediately family been affected by gun violence?

No.

Please tell us more about your story:

My dad accidentally shot himself in the leg when he was a kid. I don't count that as gun violence, but as a gun accident. Violence requires either intention to harm or intentional neglect of the power to prevent harm.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Gun violence is just one manifestation of the deeper problem of violence in our society. Children die in motor vehicles on a far larger scale than by fire arms. Our society has intentionally neglected to use the power of regulation to prevent children form dying in motor vehicles. That's violence by my definition and we are not banning any motor vehicles.

We register all motor vehicles and also license drivers for different kinds of vehicles to ensure they can demonstrate safe and law abiding use. That should be the case with fire arms. I am reluctant to support bans on particular classes of firearms in the same way that I would be reluctant to ban whole classes of motorcycles, cars, or trucks. We have a functional set of rules about what counts as street legal and that still allows lots of people to own and operate vehicles that deviate from those norms. So, in my view the regulation of guns should be brought into closer alignment with the regulation of the other major weapon of violence that kills children on a massive scale in our society, motor vehicles. And the regulations should focus on classifying firearms according to various uses and ensuring that owners can demonstrate safe and law-abiding use for whichever classes of firearms they choose to own.

The following occurred to me after I submitted the survey:

And in anticipation of those who think that firearms are critical to citizens being empowered to maintain a check on the power of the government: consider the strategic value of your means of transportation as compared to the strategic value of your firearms. As far as I can tell they will both be critical to any chance of success in the event armed insurrection is necessary. And the most devastating attack on our government by a citizen in recent times was via motor vehicle not firearms (Murrah Federal Building bombing).

Childrearing Lessons from the Deep Past

First a link to a piece on parenting by Jared Diamond who has intimate knowledge of hunter gatherer societies in New Guinea.

The subtitle summary: "Hold them, share them, let them run free."

Second a link to Peter Gray's series on lessons for education from hunter gatherer societies.
The subtitle summary: "Children are designed by nature to educate themselves."