"Hello !" "This is a high school diploma." "Maybe you have one yourself?" "You'd better have one- otherwise you're a failure, a good-for-nothing, useless" "And you'll starve to death!" "because that's the rule:" ""no diploma, no job!"" "Everything's getting more and more automated, so you need a good education to compete;" "more now than ever before." "." "In other words, no diploma no job!" "See?" "Kids these days are quite puzzling;" "They've got no discipline, they aren't serious, and they can't handle any responsibilities." "Well, that's their point of view!" "but mine, no one's interested in." "You see, from my point of view..." "They control everything!" "This is a biased film!" "THE CANADIAN FILM BOARD presents" "FOR A PIECE OF PAPER" "A student's perspective on education" "Screenplay by Christopher Nutter and Mort Ransen" "Alright, now I asked you to learn pages 118 to 121 by heart" "Jean-Claude?" "Jean-Claude!" "What are you smiling about?" "Answer me!" "I wasn't smiling." "Either way, you weren't paying attention." "look, I wrote it down" ""Learn pages 118 to 121 by heart"" "Who did that?" "!" "Sit up and pay attention!" "Well, that does it for that class!" "Hi Jeanne!" "Hi- Hi" "Where you going?" "To Champou's history class" "And I have mechanical testing with Duval" "He docks you 10 points For having any smudges on your paper." "I'd better go to the bathroom and wash my hands before I go in!" "Oh, I'm fed up!" "Me too!" "Ever since I've known you guys you've been saying that stuff!" "both of you!" "I know... it's terrible!" "Hi, Jean-Claude!" " Hi!" "Jean-Claude ..." "I have something to tell you uh ... listen, I made a decision, I gotta tell you ... ah, it's silly, I'll tell you at recess" "Wait a minute ..." "Jeanne what do you have to say?" "Uh ..." "About last night ... uh ..." "Come in, please!" "In my last class, I gave you four causes for the spread of Christianity." "4 factors that contributed to its growth." "So I want you to tell me These four causes in the same order I delivered them to you." "That is, in order of importance." "First cause?" "Larue" "The zeal of the missionaries?" "Wrong!" "That isn't one of the causes I gave you." "Miss ..." "Greek and Latin were widespread languages..." "I said I wanted these causes in order of importance!" "The first:" "The Roman Empire introduced the unity ..." "Switch places with Jeanne!" "The Roman Empire established the unity of government, and populations in different regions had more social intercourse" "Lagloie!" "Is that you laughing?" "You find the word 'intercourse' funny?" "No sir." "You will write down the four causes of the spread of christianity 10 times and I want that on my desk tomorrow morning!" "Also, you will write the the following sentence 25 times:" ""I do not find the word 'intercourse' funny"" "OK ... 1st reason:" "unity   Of ..." "Government ..." "Miss Richard, can you give me the 2nd cause?" "Uh ..." "Greek and Latin were widespread ..." "Uh ... and the missionaries were understood by all the people." "OK!" "Second   Common ..." "Language ..." "What is the 3rd cause?" "You read this chapter in your book you highlighted the important points we discussed it together and I told you the four causes." "Take out your notes and find them!" "Larue, please read me the 3rd reason." "missionaries were offered roman citizenship." "Roman ..." "Citizenship ..." "Now that's an interesting fact!" "When Rome extended its power in the Mediterranean ... it gave many of the conquered peoples" "the right to citizenship." "Remember that Paul, who was Jewish, was a Roman citizen." "the Roman citizen lived under the protection of the law." "he had the right to private property he could marry he could vote and hold office" "miss Levy?" "Pay close attention to what I say!" "Believe me, it's very important!" "It might just be worth 5 points on the test!" "The 4th reason now!" "Roy!" "Roy!" "Read me the 4th cause!" "Christianity attracted the poor and the oppressed" "OK!" "it was attractive to the poor ..." "Stop, please..." "Well what are we doing here then?" "Let's get out of here!" "I'm sorry..." "I shouldn't have, I ..." "I'm nervous..." "How edifying!" "(Look out!" ")" "I must admit, it's quite edifying!" "Lovers are alone in the world!" "I do apologize!" "I should have left you alone in the corridor ..." "But I'll close my eyes ..." "Continue, please!" "Your frolicking ... is probably interesting to the class than the spread of christianity!" "miss Breau, is that your seat?" "Julien, change places with Jeanne!" "And if he tries to hold hands with you, let me know!" "Bring in the prisoner!" "To educate is to encourage!" "But instead of encouraging students, you discourage them!" "To educate is to interest students!" "But instead of interesting them, you bore them!" "You stand accused of having mercilessly bored thousands of innocent students to death." "guilty or innocent?" "GUILTY!" "Soldiers!" "Take aim!" "Fire!" ""Lovers are alone in the world!"" "Oh shut up. please." "What's wrong?" "This time it's serious ..." "I just want to climb this damn fence and get out once and for all!" "It'll be the last time you hear me complain about this junk!" "You're freaking out...?" "Finally you're taking me seriously?" "But what are you gonna do?" "!" "Education is important, regardless of what we might think now." "You can't just drop out just like that!" "Yeah, well not the education they give in this dump!" "What will your mother say?" "After all, your grades are pretty good really ..." "You can't just drop out!" "Why not?" "I've already told you what I think about all that." "Let's talk about something else ..." "Have you thought about us?" "What do you think about maybe going somewhere this weekend with me?" "What do you mean...?" "Sure, I could tell my mom I'm off camping at the club." "Well... what we would do all that time alone together?" "Well ..." "I've made a decision" "I'm not going to put it off anymore." "After all, we'll get married soon, once we're done with school so ... it's ..." "It's silly to wait!" "Well ..." "In that case, I guess I get it now!" "if I stay in school, we'll sleep together." "Is that it?" "No, Jean-Claude, it has nothing to do with that!" "Whether you drop out or not, it's the same!" "That's exactly what I wanted to tell you before history class" "And you know, it really makes me sick that you think of it that way!" ""is that your book of poetry?"" "No." "I can take a look?" ""It's Elsa's Eyes, by Aragon." "Oh my God!" "Aragon!" "You are way ahead of us!" "Why is there a bookmark on this page?" "That's where I stopped oh yes!" "Hm." "Well, I suggest you put this aside for the moment and follow the lesson with the rest of the class." "Alright ..." "Let's take it from the top." ""Homeland, farewell!" "desperate is the swell!" "Homeland, good-bye, Blue sky!" "Farewell, vines of ripe fruit, and house and hall," "And golden flowers on the ancient wall!" "Homeland, farewell!" "Field, heavens, forest dell!" "Homeland, good-bye!" "Blue sky!" "Farewell, homeland ..." "Farewell, my bride-to-be, with vestal eyes," "Black are the heavens, bitter storm winds rise." "Homeland, farewell!" "desperate is the swell!" "Homeland, good bye!" "Blue sky!" "Our gaze, veiled by the sorrows we await," "Strays from the dark seas to uncertain fate!" "Homeland, good-bye!" "For you my prayers will fly." "Homeland, good-bye, Blue sky!"" "I beg your pardon, I want to see Mrs. Roy." "Tell her it's her son" "Ms. Roy, your son is here and asks to see you can you come down?" "Alright, I'll tell him." "She'll be here in 5 minutes" "I wish you as much success as you had last time." "Thank you!" "Indeed, I want to congratulate you for the way you conducted negotiations at your last sale." "Do not forget to let me know..." "Jean-Claude?" "!" "What's going on?" "Nothing, I came to ask for your advice." "About school?" "Well..." "It's still a half hour before my lunch break." "Oh... what a drag." "at least tell me why you came" "Pardon." "Ah, Ms. Roy ..." "That's your son, right?" "You met him once at a children's Christmas party" "Ah yes I remember now, of course..." "He was about 2 or 3 years old- he dumped his cup of ice out on my desk!" "sorry about that!" "Ha ha, that's OK, it was a long time ago." "How's school?" "Not bad!" "Not bad indeed!" "He had an average 88% last year!" "88%?" "!" "Well ..." "He just might work here one day ..." "Thank you ..." "Thank you ..." "Thank you ..." "What's going on, Jean-Claude?" "Nothing ..." "Nothing special" "You said you wanted to ask for advice" "It was just an excuse." "I wanted to have lunch with you" "I forgot that your lunch break is at one o'clock." "Oh, what a shame!" "You're lucky, little squirrel." "All you need to live is a few nuts!" "You don't have to get an education!" "You know, we had a squirrel like you at school" "They put it in a jar with a label on it!" "They put everything in jars with labels on them." "That's their style." "I'm labeled too you know ..." "A quitter ..." "Because I'm dropping out ..." "I guess you don't care too much!" "Eh?" "Yeah well it interests them!" "They always want to know what we're doing what we're thinking about ..." "They don't understand what it's like to live in the moment!" "It bugs them when we leave the road they've paved for us." "They think their way is the only way to have any kind of future for yourself." "Doesn't really mean much to me though." "Moreover, most of the guys, even if they don't drop out ... have known better than to believe in all that junk for a while now..." "They just have to hold out for another few years and ... they'll have an advantage over me:" "a diploma." "I'd give my right arm to really learn something " "But not for some piece of paper!" "No!" "Uh ..." "Jeanne" "I ..." "I'm sorry aboiut what I said" "Uh ..." "I did not know where you went at noon;" "I was worried!" "I was afraid you left for good!" "I went to see my Mom." "And what'd she say?" "She knows nothing" "Are you really dropping out, Jean-Claude?" "See?" "I didn't bring any textbooks." "Let's talk about it, OK?" "What are you doing here, you two?" "!" "Go on!" "Back to your classes!" "... Which leads us directly to integral calculus." "But before we move on to that ... we're going to do a full review starting from algebra 102." "This material is essential before moving on to calculus." "and if there are things you do not understand, feel free to ask questions." "The square of two adjacent sides of a rectangle is equal to the sum of the squares of both of its sides plus twice the rectangle" "The square of the sum of two adjacent sides of a rectangle is equal to the sum of the squares of both of its sides" "The personal pronoun..." "object of the second imperative tense... is placed at ..." "The populations of different regions ... established closer social intercourse ..." "The Roman Empire established unity of Government ..." "If you intend to go to University ... they'll require at least 11th grade-level scientific studies." "I'd say you could knock before you come in, couldn't you?" "You want to see me?" "Yes sir!" "Will you make an appointment?" "I want to talk sir!" "Well, I'll set an appointment and you can come back." "I'm busy right now." "I want to talk now!" "I'm dropping out of school." "Just forget it ..." "Wait a minute!" "Louise, will you step outside for a moment please?" "We'll talk in a minute." "Excuse me." "Do you think your problems are more important than hers?" "Sit down!" "I can't stand class anymore, sir!" "What are you doing?" "I'm looking for your file so I can see your grades." "I have good grades I have a good memory!" "But they're not teaching me anything, so I'm leaving!" "I suppose you've made your decision then, if I understand you correctly." "Yes, I have." "Is there anything I can do for you?" "I don't know." "You have any idea about what you'll do after you've left us?" "If I stay in school, I'll find a job," "Is that it?" "Something like that." "So it's blackmail!" "Absolutely not!" "No diploma, No job!" "It's the only reason we sit in these insignificant, stupid, boring classes until 3:15 every day!" "The only reason!" "Now now, you're exaggerating;" "listen!" "You call this waste of time an education?" "!" "I know a lot of people who are satisfied with the education they get here!" "Louise!" "Yes?" "I want to see the Principal!" "Do you have your appointment form?" "No." "You can't see the Principal without one." "I really need to see him!" "Well, I'll give you a form then." "I'm dropping out of school!" "What are you doing?" "!" "I'm dropping out of school!" "I'm dropping out of school!" "Mr. Mayor!" "I'm dropping out!" "And of course I am not authorized to speak on behalf of a number of members of our firm who are not here ..." "Mr. Prime Minister" "Yes?" "Excuse me." "Thank you George." "Gentlemen, I have just learned that Jean-Claude Roy has dropped out of school." "JEAN-CLAUDE ROY DROPS OUT!" "Who is Jean-Claude Roy?" "He's a good-for-nothing!" "A spoiled brat!" "A failure!" "A thug!" "Looks like Jean-Claude's dropped out of school " ""What are do going to do, Jeanne?" "I don't know..." "He'll never find a job!" "He did it to himself..." "Remember, he dumped ice all over your desk!" "I'm sorry ..." "If you had a diploma ..." "He will never find a job!" "Want a job?" "Take this shovel!" "You see that pile of manure there?" "55% of students drop out before the 11th grade " "Good riddance!" "This is very bad for the country!" "Director:" "Mort Ransen" "Branch:" "John Kemeny" "French management:" "GEORGES MAYRAND" "Image:" "MIKE SLOW" "WITH" "Editing:" "Mort Ransen" "Sound:" "ROGER HART" "Directed by:" "MARCEL Malacket" "Transcribed and Translated by Archilax and Freakout @KG"