“ BPI is … a very simple kind of experiment. Which is what happens when we provide the kinds of education that typically in the United States are only afforded to the children of the lucky or the entitled or the rich, to others? ”
- Max Kenner, Founder & Executive Director, BPI
College Behind Bars is presented with programs and materials that make it easy to use for classroom education.
Click the images to download our Educational Resource Guide for classroom use, stream clips and lessons from PBS Learning Media.
College Behind Bars is perfectly suited for secondary school classrooms. It explores topics like systemic bias, social inequity, and criminal justice reform. However, while foundational criminal justice and legal studies might not be commonly taught in secondary school, this film doesn’t just look at abstract, political, or policy-based issues – it raises essential questions that adhere to Common Core, C3, and subject-area teaching standards, adding value and rigor to any high school humanities classroom.
The film encourages viewers to look at the world around them through many topical lenses, including literature, philosophy, civics, sociology, media literacy, economics, and others, and poses essential questions such as:
As a society, what do we use prison for? Who in this country has access to educational opportunity? Who among us is capable of academic excellence? What is the correlation between academic access and socio-economic mobility? How do the arts shape an individual’s role in society? What is justice?
Lesson Plan Clips
See the College Behind Bars Educational Resource Guide above.