From Serial 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 no pads deep in discussion.

They will solve this problem together. In another scene, a machinist

in California approaches his boss, the factory owner, with a request from the workers.

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

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.

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