From cereal and the New York Times, this is Nice White Parents, episode 4.

I want to tell you about another old film I found during my research.

It's from 1951. We see a housewife, a white woman. Everyone in this film is white.

She's sitting in her living room with some neighbors. They're here to solve a problem.

A chain broke on a swing in a public playground.

Relatively unimportant, but a child might have been hurt.

They sit on couches with notepads, deep in discussion. They will solve this problem together.

In another scene, a machinist in California approaches his boss, the factory owner, with the request from the workers.

I'd like to show you the new pension plan that we've dipped.

I thought we had discussed the pension plan previously.

They had, but discussion requires listening, debating, and waving your arms a lot, which they do in the film.

Not yet friends, they may never like each other, but they'll sweat it out together.

The problem is mutual, much is involved. Developed within each citizen is the democratic spirit, the democratic method.

Where were they taught the democratic method, you might ask? Public school.

Where were the housewives taught to problem solve for the safety of the community's children, public school?

This film was made by the National Education Association.

It's a 25-minute promotional film that spends almost no time inside schools.

Instead, it's all about the purpose of public schools, how they prepare us to live together as citizens.

We see Americans use their public school training in everyday life, when they sit with their neighbors, debate their bosses,

when they go shopping and drive a car by a house. We are all part of a grand play, interdependent.

The senator, the homemaker, the factory worker.

And Fred Gorman, the farmer of Pennsylvania, are his decisions important?

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