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THE LEARNING Broadcast Premiere on PBS, Sept 20

There is a shortage of teachers in American public school systems. Consequently, a significant number of urban school districts across the country have begun hiring foreign teachers. School districts across the nation have traveled the world in search of highly qualified teachers. In this search, the Philippines has emerged as a recruitment hub American-based education system, and its English-speaking population.

THE LEARNING follows four Filipino teachers – Dorotea, Angel, Grace, and Rhea - during their freshman year in America. Across the school year’s changing seasons, the film chronicles the sacrifices they make as they try to maintain a long-distance relationship with their children and families, and begin a new one with the mostly African-American students whose schooling is now entrusted to them. Their story is at once intensely personal, as each woman deals with the implications of her decision to come to the U.S., and fundamentally public, as they become part of the machinery of American education reform policy.

Starts	September 20 2011
Ends / Deadline	September 20 2011
Homepage	www.pbs.org/pov/learning
Contact	apeck@wmm.com
Issues	Economic Justice, Economic Development, Labor, Family & Society, Gender/Women, Immigration, International, Asia, Racial Justice, Asian-American, Youth, Educational reform