Free Write

For my free write today I chose to write a review/commentary piece about the movie, "Where to Invade Next."This film was directed by Michael Moore, documentary filmmaker and political activist. I saw an early screening of this movie about a month ago and ever since I've been fired up about the issues it discussed. Some of the topics relate to education, drugs, government spending, police officers, prison, and proper employee hour and benefits. "Where to Invade Next" begins with a hilarious scene featuring important US government officials asking Moore to "invade countries and steal some ideas to help improve America. Moore visited Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Portugal, Iceland, etc. 

He discovered affordable and healthy school lunches in France. They were served on real silverware and the kids were taught table manners. France also has a very informative class for high schoolers, sex ed. The teachers go very in depth with the subject and the curriculum even has a formal textbook. France's teen pregnancy rate is much lower than ours in the United States. In Finland, Moore planted his flag and claimed their principles on education. He talked about brining back the ideas of no homework and enjoying youth while you still have it. The schools in Finland stopped teaching to standardized and focused on the quality of education. School hours are shorter and the classes are more interesting. The students get to take classes like art and poetry. The school Moore visited claims that all schools in Finland are like this because there are no private schools. Wealthier families let their kids grow up along side everyone else so they invest in public schools.

When Moore traveled to Italy, he talked to big business owners who let him in on the employee's schedule and benefits. When he found out that the Italian workers get about 11 paid weeks off a year, Moore was astonished. He asked them why they received such generous time off and one of the CEO replied, "I get a nice vacation, why shouldn't they?" The American values we have instilled in our country have evolved into beliefs that only concern profit. This movie opened my eyes to the changes  our government needs to make.