THE PROVIDENCE EFFECT
There is no question that the American educational system is in a state of crisis. Despite calls for “no child left behind,” “just say no” and so forth, as a nation we seem to be falling further and further behind. Part of this problem has to do with the inequities built into our economic system, one which isolates poor populations: either in crime ridden inner cities or crime ridden rural towns and villages. But with the promises industrialization and it’s manufacturing jobs failing and the middle class disappearing, more and more people find themselves left behind. So it’s partly a class problem. But it’s also a cultural problem. A culture that increasingly believes that education is not a necessary goal, that believes that luck rather than studied skill will rain down riches upon them is a culture that is in serious trouble.
The Providence Effect is a film about The Providence Effect that is the effect of a certain educational model that emphasizes discipline, high expectations, skilled teachers and a safe environment and which has been utilized at the Providence St. Mel School since 1971 when Paul Adams III took over. The school belonged to the Catholic Archdiocese in Chicago and, located in one of the roughest and poorest neighborhoods there, had been failing until Adams showed up. Adams, who had been prevented from teaching in his native Alabama because of his active participation in the civil rights movement, later took over the school, when the church pulled out making it a not-for-profit independent prep school. According to the film, 100% of Providence St. Mel’s students are admitted to 4 year colleges, and recently significant numbers have been admitted to top tier and Ivy League schools.
The film is meant to hold Providence St. Mel as a model of what should be happening in public education. We see students in classrooms: kindergarten students doing addition and subtraction, second graders engaged in analytical discussions of material they have read. We see high schoolers managing advanced alegbra and geometry and get a glimpse of the music program which so integral to the curriculum that students attend music classes every day of the week. The methods are so effective, in fact, that former President Ronald Reagan visited the school twice. Additionally, in 2006, the “effect” was applied to a charter school, Providence Englewood, with an almost immediate increase in test scores.
There is no question that this is an important and inspiring film. To see students so enthusiastically focused and disciplined lends hope. The usual questions arise, however. Clearly everyone cannot attend private prep schools, even if everyone in the family scrapes their money together. And some won’t stay, they will be ejected if they cannot conform and then what is to be done with them? It is important to have these kinds of schools and opportunities for poor as well as rich kids, but how can we effectively replicate this in a public school system that is required to educate every child, even the bad apples?
I didn’t get any sense of the home lives of the students featured in the film or even the streets they came from and I think that context would have been of great benefit. It’s not necessarily easy, but it’s easier to educate the self-selected. On the other hand, there are lots of private schools with far less successful educational models, whose rich kids wind up falling through the cracks thanks to low expectations. But they’ll still probably have a trust fund, or many connections to fall back on. Providence St. Mel is a miracle and Paul Adams a saint, of sorts, I just hope there are many more like him.
The Providence Effect opens in Los Angeles on October 2, 2009.
Directed by Rollin Binzer; produced by Tom Hurvis and Rollin Binzer; Director of Photography, Robert Tutman; edited by Richard La Porta; music by Tom Dumont and Ted Matson. Released by Slowhand Releasing. Running time: 92 minutes.
