Dream School

This episode starts on a low note. The grades are posted from the students’ first test – and almost everyone’s failed.

A moment later, Ellie says, “People said I was stupid… I started believing it. I started becoming it.”

In Episode One, almost every kid in the school said they didn’t study or that they didn’t care – in effect striving for failure… to be the person that they think everyone thinks they are.

They were reaffirming themselves as stereotypical dropouts. Ironic as Soledad O’Brien, their teacher this week, immediately digs into the question of, what do people assume about you when they look at you? And then she asks, “who are you really?” – and the answers are diametrically different from the previous ones.

When I first heard about DREAM SCHOOL – I’m not going to lie – I was skeptical. I might have even rolled my eyes. I mean, high school dropouts being taught by celebrities? “What will be taught – and who will be the teachers?” I wondered. Would Britney Spears teach an auto-tune music class? Would Professor Kim Kardashian teach elocution or videography? Or would Miley Cyrus hold court on sex education? My mind boggled.

Sundance Channel announced today an impressive list of innovators and leaders from a cross section of professions including music, politics, film, science, journalism and more who will come together to create a DREAM SCHOOL for 15 troubled students in the network’s new six-part unscripted series premiering on October 7 at 10:00pm et/pt.

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone to astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, these instructors will have one mission – to excite young minds and reignite their students’ desire to learn. An ambitious project where the best and the brightest in our culture teach kids who have been falling through the cracks, DREAM SCHOOL is designed to motivate troubled teenagers to turn their lives around. Pregnant, neglected, bullies or bullied; the kids all have one thing in common — they are dropouts. Now Sundance Channel is giving them a once in a lifetime chance to start over, but overcoming past failures and future obstacles will prove to be no easy task for both the students and their instructors.

Sundance Channel announced today the greenlight of a new original non-fiction series “Dream School.” Multi-platinum award-winning musician and entrepreneur Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will executive produce under his G-Unit Films and Television banner and appear in the show. The series format was created by Jamie Oliver who will also executive produce under his Fresh One shingle. The announcement was made today by Sarah Barnett, Sundance Channel President. The series is slated to premiere in fall 2013.