This program looks at how artists and filmmakers in different areas of the Middle East have dealt with the subject of teaching as a site of indoctrination. In The First Ones, Hatice Güleryüz records the singing of the Turkish national anthem in schools to capture the fragile links that tie young citizens to nationhood. In Oussama Mohammad's Today and Everyday, as kids in preschool are exposed for the first time to notions of learning, reciting, and proper pronunciation, they are also being molded into conformity. Mahmoud Hojeij's Once is a reflection on the upbringing of middle-class children, particularly attempts to normalize childhood fantasies. This witty video catches parents in the act of dictating to their children how to answer when asked the banal question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Omar Amiralay's A Flood in Baath Country uses a classroom in a remote village in Syria as a sample of the ruling Baath party's culture, examining how hierarchy is built.

The First Ones (Hatice Güleryüz, Turkey, 2000, 4.5 mins, MiniDV). Today and Everyday (Al yawm wa kol yawm) (Oussama Mohammad, Syria, 1986, 12 mins, 35mm). Once (Mahmoud Hojeij, Lebanon, 1997, 11 mins, Beta SP). A Flood in Baath Country (Toufan fi balad al baas) (Omar Amiralay, Syria/France, 2003, 46 mins, Beta SP)