Research topics in life outside academia
Movies/Series/Documentaries/YouTube-Clips
Dead Poets Society
e.g., the scene above between Neil and Todd
Operation Varsity Blues
The US College Admission Scandal
Shaq's Plans for his children
Starting at 20:30 min [to 24:00 min]
Toni Erdmann
A hippy father and a consultant daughter
Losers
e.g., Episode 1 - The Miscast Champion
Into the Beat
Ballet or Hip Hop Dance?
Accepted
What to do if you get rejected everywhere, but your parents really want you to go to college?
Bend it like Beckham
Fences
King Richard
Biopic about the upbringing of Venus & Serena Williams. Plus a few scenes of parental behavior you encounter at Tennis tournaments...
October Sky
A son's dream to escape a mining town and produce rockets. And his father's (and town's) belief that he belongs down in the mines. What will he do?
CODA
Film about a child of deaf adults (CODA) showing that although sometimes it may be (almost) impossible for parents to appreciate what their children love doing or what they're good at, it may still be possible to bridge this gap. A beautiful way to show a more general pattern in a somewhat extreme form, with one particularly powerful scene...
Wakhas befreit sich von den Erwartungen seines Vaters | 37 Grad
For the German-speaking visitors: Wakhas' reflections about his father's influence
The "School of Life" on Parents & Career Plans
There is also interesting material in the comments sections...
An unexpected source: Advertising by Taylor's University
Again, don't miss out on the comments section!
Billy Elliot - I Will Dance
ARTE: Kinder im Spitzensport (Futurs champions, le prix de la gloire)
Documentary about children in elite sport, their coaches, and their parents. Some interesting quotes to reflect:
1) "...the earlier they start, the harder it is to distinguish between what they really want, what society wants and what their parents want."
2) "The problem is that if you say you don't want to do it anymore, you lose your whole life. Everything is lost. You lose your whole identity."
3) They are caught between the expectations of top-level sports and those of their parents. At the beginning of 2024, Thierry Henry, the world champion footballer, spoke out to tell his story. "My dad, this is exactly what he said the first time he took me in his arms. He said 'This baby will be an amazing football player'. This is what he said. (...) I was maybe five, six. From that point, it was always a mission. I was on a mission. To fulfill his dream... to please him."
Books
Educated, by Tara Westover (Goodreads)
Open, by Andre Agassi (Goodreads)
I am not your perfect Mexican daughter, by Erika L. Sánchez (Goodreads)
A woman is no man, by Etaf Rum (Goodreads)
The Inequality Machine, by Paul Tough (Goodreads)
The Price of Admission, by Daniel Golden (Goodreads)
Du bleibst was Du bist, by Marco Maurer (Goodreads)
The Meritocracy Trap, by Daniel Markovits (Goodreads)
Ein Mann seiner Klasse, by Christian Baron (Goodreads)
Frausein, by Mely Kiyak (Goodreads)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua (Goodreads)
They Called Us Exceptional, by Prachi Gupta (Goodreads)
Podcasts
Freakonomics, Episode 479. The Economist's Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later, especially the ~4 minutes starting at ca. 35:30 minutes (Steven Levitt talking about and to his daughters about educational/career choices)
Media (& Social Media)
See this discussion around socio-economic gaps in educational outcomes on Twitter and the various points raised in the comments [in German]
Your Recommendations:
Do you have any additional recommendations (books, movies, anything)? Please share them: maximilian.muller[at]tse-fr.eu