This is a live version of the posts we often see here on CC! Kidding aside, it was actually well done , I thought. It follows the story of five students at a highly competitive high school in San Francisco and their college dreams. Longtime readers of CC can probably predict the ending. But the kids were so earnest and their stories were worth watching.
The documentary is streaming on docnyc.net
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Thank you for posting about Try Harder and docnyc.net. There are several films that look interesting. We happened upon ATTICA by accident. It was incredible.
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Bookmarked–thanks!
Thanks for the recommendation! It looked very interesting - I have it on my list now.
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I just watched “Try Harder”…it was SO good! Thank you for posting about this.
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I saw this at a film festival last summer.The filmmakers selected five student to follow, which made for an interesting and entertaining documentary. It’s definitely worth watching.
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Do we need to pay to watch? I located both Try Harder and Attica but it looks like we have to register and buy tickets.
With the service fee included, I paid $13.50.
I had the same question about Try Harder.
We came across Attica accidentally on Showtime which is part of our cable package. I think it is also on Hulu.
Here is the trailer:
However, the statement at 0:15 in the trailer that in the 1990s a good solid B average in honors courses (assuming that they mean 3.0 unweighted) student got into Berkeley is probably an exaggeration. Assuming a higher UC-recalculated GPA due to weighting of honors courses, Freshman fall admissions summary | University of California indicates that 1994 admission rates to Berkeley were 16% for 3.00-3.39, 26% for 3.40-3.79, and 51% for 3.80-4.19.
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Thanks for posting the trailer. Actually, the statement in the trailer referred to a good solid B average at Lowell. Lowell is (or was) the premier academic magnet in San Francisco – so not comparable to system-wide admission stats – given that the vast majority of UC applicants are not coming from Lowell or the handful of high schools in California with roughly equivalent academic reputations.
I said “or was” because post-Covid, the San Francisco School Board decided to end merit-based admission for Lowell in favor of a lottery-based admission system – which is good news for diversity but it remains to be seen what effect it may have long-term to academic demands of the Lowell environment and/or to the school’s overall academic reputation.
I’d add that I just Googled and learned that Try Harder will be premiering on PBS in May:
It’s also showing locally for me at some theaters, but I’m personally not going back to movie theaters yet.
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According to Admissions by source school | University of California , for Lowell students applying for fall 1994 frosh entry to UCB, the average application, admission, and enroll GPAs were 3.52, 3.85, and 3.84 respectively. For 2020, those GPAs were 4.03, 4.21, and 4.18 respectively.
A good solid B average (3.0 unweighted) with honors courses probably corresponds to 3.3 to 3.4 UC-recalculated weighted-capped, which is substantially below the average GPA of Lowell students applying for fall 1994 frosh entry.
Other San Francisco high schools had similar application, admission, and enroll GPAs for those applying for fall 1994.
Rather than pay I watched a YouTube panel discussion with three students in the film and a teacher. I will watch it on PBS when available. I would be more willing to pay to watch Attica.
Apparently one Asian-American parent in Try Harder was “the opposite of a Tiger Mom” and encouraged her son to do what he loved and not overdo on AP’s. He ended up at Emory and expressed a lot of gratitude to his parents for their attitudes. A strong young man to persist in being more relaxed, in such a competitive environment.
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Worth noting that his parents went through the US school system and have differing attitudes about school than the Asian Americans who came to the US for grad school and work. I notice that in my own school district, which is pretty good. But many of the immigrant parents here with high performing kids think that our county magnet school offers a better chance at elite universities, despite data to the contrary. I am friends with many of the parents, but I keep my mouth mostly shut when it comes to discussing schools , SAT’s etc. As someone of Asian descent who’s been through the US K-12 system, my perspective is different from theirs.
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Thank you for posting about this documentary. I found wanting to yell out “have a balanced list” and affordable list ! Seeing the kids go from relaxed with their peers and teachers to stiff and solemn when with their parents was difficult. The relationships with several of the teachers was heartwarming and nice to see the support provided by these important role models.
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Is this it?
The panel in the above video includes two students in the movie (seniors in college at the time, one at Brown and one at Emory), a teacher who has been there for about 30 years, and an alumni who graduated in the 1990s, went to Harvard, and currently works in a specialty school in the area (but outside of San Francisco). Because the panel discussion was in January 2021 while two of the students in the movie were seniors in college, that means that the events while they were seniors in high school took place in the 2016-2017 academic year.
In that panel discussion, it seemed like quite a bit of awkwardness among the various panelists in saying that some Asian students were racist against Black students in response to a question about race issues at the school (beginning around 54:00).
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Just watched this. Very interesting and well done I thought. It’s crazy to think about how much more competitive it is just a few years after this was filmed.
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I also thought it was well done. Sad and depressing for these kids.
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Thought this was really well done. Throughout, I couldn’t help but think that the prioritization of outdoing everyone else over finding things they really loved coupled with the over-parenting was actually making these clearly very bright kids far less attractive as applicants. The teachers who tried to give them perspective and encouragement were lovely.
I would love to see another documentary about these kids 10 years from now. For most people, where you go to college is much more important before you go than after. Hoping they find that their work ethic and brains have served them well.
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