Better than Bueller, Bueller, Bueller...

My husband and I took in "American Teen" this past weekend, a recently released film documentary about the lives of four teenagers in small-town Warsaw, Indiana. Good stuff! The film-makers had incredible access to the personal lives of these kids. The breaking-up scenes... eek. Painful.

So, we liked it. But as parents ourselves -- and as somebody who spends a lot of time with public school teachers, both professionally and personally -- we couldn't help but notice how little the lives of these kids (at least on film) had to do with their families or teachers. There was one brief classroom scene -- and, let me tell you, it didn't exactly flatter your colleague. (Honey. Yes...you. Put down the People magazine.) And the parents? Well, I cringed when one momma says to her desperately needy daughter, "You are not special."

Aieee. The sad truth is, I think, that high school life for a lot of kids doesn't have that much to do with actual school. Except for the occasional basketball game, prom planning, and college application -- at least for these kids.

Thumbs down to that.