Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School

Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School shatters the myth that good schools are found in nice neighborhoods. Using data on school performance and interviews with parents, students, principals, and school reformers, Not as Good as You Think confirms every parent s silent fear: that their financial sacrifice and investment in an expensive home in a good school district is not yielding the achievement results needed to get their kids into good colleges and good jobs. The film takes audiences on a tour of America s best neighborhoods from posh Orange County, California, to the hotbed of innovation, Silicon Valley, to the lush green hills of Tennessee to reveal that schools in America s middle class and affluent neighborhoods are not adequately preparing kids for higher education, or worse, operating under widespread corruption. The film also contrasts the American public school system with that of Sweden s, a socially progressive country that allows parents, at government expense, to choose any school that fits their children s needs private of public no matter the parents income.