Documentary: The Bad Kids

The Bad Kids documentary targets adolescents who are at-risk of dropping out of school. With that being said, many of these adolescents are impoverished and have faced hardships that have led them to be at-risk of not obtaining a diploma. The purpose of this documentary was to portray the journey of those at-risk adolescents and their fight to receive their diploma. Likewise, the impact the principal, Ms. Viland, had on her students in order for them to be more successful in life. This documentary is centered around Black Rock High School, an alternative public school, which is a last chance for most at-risk adolescents to earn their diploma. The interesting aspect about Black Rock high school is it is not a tradition high school. Black Rock

This high school targets life skills, which includes time management and being interdependent. The only rules were simple: complete your credit checks, show up on time, and don’t be defiant. My perspective changed when the at-risk adolescents were in charge of their own education. They could earn as many credits as they wanted to in a week, as long as all the work was completed. Likewise, they had to maintain a specific amount of credits each credit check in order to remain enrolled at Black Rock. The credit checks are a good way to accomplish small goals, yet also map out the bigger picture in order to make sure the students are staying on track. Attendance was an important part of Black Rock, even administration would check in on students who failed to attend. By doing this, it showed that another person cared and showed support for those at-risk students who weren’t doing what they were suppose to. Likewise, sometimes the hardest part for at-risk students is just showing up, as long as they were physically in school they would make their days productive. The last rule was key for Black Rock, people must behave appropriately, just like they would in society, in order to remain at the high school. It must come from within for these at-risk students, they must want to learn and better their lives, no one is going to do it for them. Ms. Viland and the rest of her staff are doing their jobs to further these at-risk individuals’ lives, the students must be willing to do the