Q&A with Carol Black '81 on New Film
Schooling the World: The White Man's Last Burden

by Alisa Giardinelli
10/14/10

This new film by Carol Black '81 examines the impact of modern education on the world's last indigenous cultures.

Carol Black '81 is a writer/director/producer of both entertainment and documentary television and film, including the Emmy Award-winning series The Wonder Years. Her newest film, Schooling the World: The White Man's Last Burden, is the culmination of years of research into cross-cultural perspectives on children and education.

In a recent q&a with Toronto's Globe and Mail, she was asked to pitch her film in 30 words or less:

"If you wanted to destroy a culture, where would you start? With the children," she says. "Schooling the World examines the real impact of modern education on the world's last indigenous cultures."

Shot on location in the Buddhist culture of Ladakh in the northern Indian Himalayas, the film weaves the voices of Ladakhi people through a conversation between anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wade Davis, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Vandana Shiva, both recipients of the Right Livelihood Award for their work with traditional peoples in India, and Manish Jain, a former architect of education programs with UNESCO, USAID, and the World Bank. Schooling the World premiered this past weekend at international film festivals in Vancouver, Canada, and Eugene, Oregon.