I recently watched this documentary and thought it was worth sharing.
It’s called Please Vote for Me and it’s about kid’s running to be class monitor. You see, every class in China has a class monitor. It’s like the class president and the monitor is responsible for keeping the kid’s in line, handling and organizing paperwork, dealing with teachers and other administrative duties. If I ever need to organize something, like cancel a class or schedule a makeup time I call the monitor. I also ask the monitor to find me some chalk when there is none on the board or help me with the computer if I’m having trouble.
So this (short) documentary is about a class holding elections for the first time and the trials and tribulations that ensue. Now here’s the deal, I think this documentary WAY overplays the democracy card just for a freak out factor. They make it sound like kids have never voted for anything (or are even aware of the concept) and that voting for a monitor is an outrageous new thing.
Not so. These days almost all class monitors are elected democratically so I think this school is actually a little behind the curve. Without exception all my students have said they voted for the monitors in middle and high school as well as college. So I’m not sure why the filmmaker decided to make it such a big deal. Perhaps because he knew it was for a western audience who would buy the “opressed Chinese people with no freedoms” story line he starts off with.
So why am I recommending this movie? The interesting part of this story is not the voting aspect. It’s the kids and especially the parents. I don’t know how the filmmaker managed to luck out with this group of people, but they are fantastic. From the manipulative kid that has a penchant for walking around in his undies to the sensitive girl that cries through a flute recital (the bravest performance I’ve ever seen) these kids and adults make the movie.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch it yourself!
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