By the Horns

If you’re curious about education in America, go watch Year of the Bull at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. In 2003, filmmaker Todd Lubin followed defensive end Taurean Charles and the rest of the Miami Northwestern Senior High football team all the way to the 6A state championship game. The same year, and for the second consecutive time, the school received an F on the state’s grading chart. Flash-forward to the present. Charles’s hopes to play in the NFL have gone unfulfilled. He’s been dismissed from the University of Florida team and has transferred to Bethune-Cookman. Northwestern still has not scored higher than a D. Gee, maybe it’s because the football coaches are telling their players to “forget about the SAT” and concentrate on the game. The kind of physical and emotional abuse depicted in Year of the Bull — grown men picking fights with children and calling them “bitches” — is by no means restricted to Northwestern or Miami-Dade County or even Florida. Wake up, sports fans.

Thu., June 18, 6:30 p.m., 2009