This movie is an insider's critique of the Tiger Mom culture through the study of high school students at the Lowell High School. With a majority Asian American student body, these kids are working hard to gain admission to the most prestigious University or College possible.
In eyes of most students and parents, the college admission process is the culmination of high school and ultimate representation of individual and perhaps family 'Self-worth'. The term "Ivy-league" and "Stanford" are mentioned repeatedly. To the students at Loyal High School, admittance to one of a handful of schools guarantees entry into some rarefied world where the rest of their lives will be defined by the golden label on their resume.
Chances of admission, however, are remote. The biggest factor working against the kids at Lowell High School is their Asian ethnicity. The entire college admission process is quite openly racist and devoid of academic merit. Yet, apparently, the college admission process has just enough of an illusion of meritocracy that most of the students at Lowell High will spend their senior year doing everything possible to gain admission to an elite school - only to be rejected.
One hard-working Asian woman takes a break from her job at an ice cream job to check responses on her phone for Ivy league schools on the day that these schools announce their decisions. Of course, she has applied to all eight schools. Painfully, one-by-one we see her read the messages from each school. Sadly, she is not accepted by a single "Ivy" School.
A few voices in the film acknowledge the absurdity of the entire process. A physics teacher meeting with a student and his mother at his home advises that the best college selection is one based on the student's actual interests and opportunities for research. Another student is glad that his mother does not fall into the "Tiger Mom" Asian stereotype. We learn this mother attended Lowell High School back in the 1980's and thus probably has firsthand experience with the lasting damage of the high-pressure succeed at all costs high school experience.
These wise voices are drowned out by the herd of parents who are driving their kids to succeed at all costs. We hear about the mystical accomplishments of the school's violin virtuoso who seemingly effortlessly masters all exams and has been admitted early to the best schools. We hear amazingly little discussion of what students will study in college and what they will do with their lives beyond University. And through this montage of images, the filmmaker delivers a stinging rebuke to all those individuals and forces who seem to have forgotten the ultimate purpose of education.
