School Swap - full documentary
May 11, 2025 9:23 AM Subscribe
British Kids Swap Schools With USA School Children UK big-city diversity collides with small town America, as teens from London switch lives, and schools, with high school students in rural Arkansas.
It looks like a very good documentary from the bit I watched, but yes, that video's just for UK & Ireland.
posted by ambrosen at 10:30 AM on May 11
posted by ambrosen at 10:30 AM on May 11
I also cannot see it in Canada.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:51 AM on May 11 [1 favorite]
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:51 AM on May 11 [1 favorite]
Works with UK VPN setting in Canada.
posted by MilNwsCurator at 12:42 PM on May 11
posted by MilNwsCurator at 12:42 PM on May 11
Pending VPN, the Guardian and the Sunday Times weigh in
posted by BWA at 12:58 PM on May 11 [2 favorites]
posted by BWA at 12:58 PM on May 11 [2 favorites]
Y'all shd get that VPN, if you want to see how the other half lives. When our chap was that age, he went on exchange to France. The night he arrived, he called home. We asked "well, is it a house or an apartment?". He replied "house, apartment or . . . errrm . . . chateau?!". Anyway, back to Mena, AK . . .
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:59 PM on May 11
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:59 PM on May 11
About 20 minutes in and it's a lovely documentary. I hope they do make it available to American audiences in some form.
(And if the BBC asks, my VPN and I are currently from "UK Southampton".)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:23 PM on May 11
(And if the BBC asks, my VPN and I are currently from "UK Southampton".)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:23 PM on May 11
I'm unable to watch the video, but oof that Times review. The fact that the author of that piece thinks that moving to rural Arkansas would be delightful tells me that the series did a lot to hide the reality of life in Deep Red US.
I grew up in a state full of natural beauty and allegedly bucolic small town Americana. There is no amount of tiny apartment living that could ever convince me to return. The small-minded hatred and xenophobia are oppressive and often literally life-threatening. And I say this as someone who presents as a cis white man... it would be much worse for anyone who didn't fit that mold.
(I have stories of the culture shock my partner, from an actual city in a solidly purple state, experienced when she lived there for a few months. Once you've heard your fourth or fifth story about domestic violence ending in hospitalization from coworkers as a "that's just how life is" anecdote, the streams and forests look a lot less welcoming.)
posted by fader at 1:25 PM on May 11 [10 favorites]
I grew up in a state full of natural beauty and allegedly bucolic small town Americana. There is no amount of tiny apartment living that could ever convince me to return. The small-minded hatred and xenophobia are oppressive and often literally life-threatening. And I say this as someone who presents as a cis white man... it would be much worse for anyone who didn't fit that mold.
(I have stories of the culture shock my partner, from an actual city in a solidly purple state, experienced when she lived there for a few months. Once you've heard your fourth or fifth story about domestic violence ending in hospitalization from coworkers as a "that's just how life is" anecdote, the streams and forests look a lot less welcoming.)
posted by fader at 1:25 PM on May 11 [10 favorites]
The fact that the author of that piece thinks that moving to rural Arkansas would be delightful tells me that the series did a lot to hide the reality of life in Deep Red US.
I would say that it’s more that the author of that piece is someone who would delight in all that is bad about rural Arkansas.
posted by ambrosen at 2:19 PM on May 11 [3 favorites]
I would say that it’s more that the author of that piece is someone who would delight in all that is bad about rural Arkansas.
posted by ambrosen at 2:19 PM on May 11 [3 favorites]
Got it with the VPN.
Really big swing, London to rural Arkansas.
New York kids would be freaked out by Arkansas, especially the Delta. Pine Bluff is meaner than mean kinda place, even for the Delta.
posted by eustatic at 3:22 PM on May 11 [1 favorite]
Really big swing, London to rural Arkansas.
New York kids would be freaked out by Arkansas, especially the Delta. Pine Bluff is meaner than mean kinda place, even for the Delta.
posted by eustatic at 3:22 PM on May 11 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I’m thinking the culture shock would be as much about urban-to-rural as UK-to-US. How about a sequel in which a group of Manhattan kids are sent to Lincolnshire, say?
I would say that it’s more that the author of that piece is someone who would delight in all that is bad about rural Arkansas.
Pretending we’ve got the franchise on deplorables is yet another type of American exceptionalism.
posted by non canadian guy at 4:34 PM on May 11
I would say that it’s more that the author of that piece is someone who would delight in all that is bad about rural Arkansas.
Pretending we’ve got the franchise on deplorables is yet another type of American exceptionalism.
posted by non canadian guy at 4:34 PM on May 11
I watched it thanks to this post and it was really interesting. The swap was for a month in total (I think) three weeks plus one in which the US kids returned and everyone did homecoming. Not enough time to really get to grips with the wider issues and it did feel that the US portion came off as weirdly positive.
I found it to be frustratingly limited and superficial in any representation of cultural conflict but it was actually brilliant at presenting the kids-eye view and maybe that's why it felt so surface. As 15 year olds each felt something of the difference but were not in any way attuned to those darker issues in a way that they would be able to fully understand or articulate. They were interesting characters to follow, and the doc didn't feel at all exploitative towards them. The focus on the ubiquity of phones as a crutch for kids these days was a good aside too.
The (to me at least) much more interesting insights came from observing the adults in each environment. They were each so much more a product of their environment, and so much less self aware it seemed, than the kids, and therefore much better avatars of the divide. Worth watching for that alone I think. Also the two featured teachers running the exchange were delightful!
posted by freya_lamb at 4:48 PM on May 11 [1 favorite]
I found it to be frustratingly limited and superficial in any representation of cultural conflict but it was actually brilliant at presenting the kids-eye view and maybe that's why it felt so surface. As 15 year olds each felt something of the difference but were not in any way attuned to those darker issues in a way that they would be able to fully understand or articulate. They were interesting characters to follow, and the doc didn't feel at all exploitative towards them. The focus on the ubiquity of phones as a crutch for kids these days was a good aside too.
The (to me at least) much more interesting insights came from observing the adults in each environment. They were each so much more a product of their environment, and so much less self aware it seemed, than the kids, and therefore much better avatars of the divide. Worth watching for that alone I think. Also the two featured teachers running the exchange were delightful!
posted by freya_lamb at 4:48 PM on May 11 [1 favorite]
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