Frederick Wiseman, one of the pioneers of the cinema verite documentary movement which is basically turn the camera on and don't say anything style, filmed in black and white and 16mm in a Philadelphia High School in the late 1960's.
Watching High School, one should keep in mind the necessity of the school administration and facility for keeping some kind of order in what could be a lot chaos in a building full of teenagers.
That said, Northeast High School a predominantly white school in Philadelphia seems to be more interested in spitting out little models of conformity into society then actually educating kids. A lot of scenes show the facility verbally and nastily disciplining students or browbeating girls about the length of their skirts. It seems like the overall concern of the facility is humiliating the students.
The teachers are mostly a middle aged bunch of white people who seem to be going through the motions. The teaching scenes show them droning on and on while bored students stare into space or sleep at their desks
High School ends with a facility meeting where the principal reads a letter from a former student now a soldier in Vietnam, (this was during the height of the Vietnam war). The principal drones on in a monotone voice while she reads the letter. The implication to the viewer is that turning out soldiers who can serve in Vietnam without question has made their jobs as educators all worthwhile.
75 minutes.
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