One of Community Dining’s new initiatives focuses on screenings of films that stimulate conversation about insufficiently explored topics and challenge people to view these topics through a new paradigm. Most Likely to Succeed, “a thought-provoking documentary feature film that reveals the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today’s innovative world”, does just that. “The film explores compelling new approaches that aim to revolutionize education as we know it, inspiring school communities to reimagine what students and teachers are capable of doing. To date, MLTS has screened for thousands of audiences around the world, igniting conversations and empowering change along the way.”
Given that author, speaker, and education advisor Ken Robinson’s TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has become the most popular of all time with over 62 million views and poet and filmmaker Prince EA’s “I Sued the School System” video has nearly 20 million views, the idea that schools stamp out creativity and severely limit human potential should come as no surprise.
As Ken Robinson stated in a follow up talk to the one referenced above, “Human communities depend on a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability” and “A three year-old is not half a six year-old.” We all inherently know how we naturally learn and that something feels deeply wrong with the way in which our school system “educates” us. This film does a great service because it brings these ideas to light and helps us better express and discuss what we may not have previously been able to clearly articulate.
The organizer and funder Ted Dintersmith, an author, speaker, and venture capitalist, visited approximately 200 schools throughout all 50 states, giving him significant insight into our current educational system and helping develop a vision of what school could be, which he incorporated into the film. This discussion guide that Dintersmith created will serve as the basis for the follow up conversation we will have after after the film.