The last few days I have been struggling to work on my honours thesis in order to complete my final year of university. The thought of reading journal articles and writing has felt like hard work.
Then this evening, I saw an eye opening documentary on SBS called ‘The Boys from Baghdad High’ (Produced/Directed: Ivan O’Mahoney and Laura Winter). Watching this beautifully made documentary put everything into perspective.
‘Girls, exams and bombings’ was the tagline for this documentary where four 17 year old young men were given video cameras to record their lives as they completed their final year of school in Baghdad, Iraq.
If you thought studying was hard here (in safe Western Australia) then perhaps studying in Iraq for even a day would do us all some good.
These young men were typical generation Yers. They were just like my Australian male friends. They liked listening to pop music, had mobile phones, surfed the internet, had girlfirends, joked around with each other, had dreams and hopes for the future, etc. The difference was they were forced to study with power cuts, to the sound of bombings and guns firing shots outside their homes, knowing their classmates/friends had been murdered and kidnapped and that they could be next. Most of their free time was spent at home as it was just too dangerous to go outside.
I can’t even begin to imagine how stressful that would be and the effect that kind of stress would have on studying for final year exams.
It was no surprise that school attendance and motivation/inspiration to study was low at the school the boys attended in Baghdad. It was also no surprise that they failed several of their final exams. But amazingly, given all the stress and trauma they experienced, most of the boys got through and graduated in the end.
This documentary was inspiring to say the least. I’ve been complaining about my honours thesis, but after seeing what these young men went though it just seems ridiculous to complain anymore.
If in need of inspiration or a new perspective on your life as a student, I recommend watching ‘The Boys from Baghdad High’. You will be deeply moved.
2 thoughts on “Providing a new perspective on student life: girls, exams and bombings”
Wow, sounds like a great documentary. It reminds me of a series that I got hooked on, on SBS. It’s called the Up series and each series would profile about 10 or so people every 7 years of their life. One program was 21 up, so you would get to follow their lives watching the interviews of when they were 7, 14 and 21. Some series have reached up to 49 up – so every 7 years you would get to get an inside into their lives. It’s great to follow people’s aspirations at different stages of their lives. I saw one series profiling a bunch of people from Britain, one from Japan and also a very moving one about a group of people from South Africa. I think it’s interesting to step into some else’s shoes even just for awhile.
The 7 up series is awesome!
Although I remember some of the participants had reported not enjoying being involved and the way they were portrayed by the producer, it was fascinating to follow their lives.
The movies have helped some participants do amazing things in the world (i.e. set up orphanages in developing countries) due to the publicity.
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