Movies: School Choice At The Heart Of "Barbershop: The Next Cut"

Confessions of being an actor, #PootieTang & #BarbershopTheNextCut « https://t.co/El5DHG4qIF via @PrestonBarta pic.twitter.com/tqtyHgaMbv

— Fresh Fiction (@FreshFictionTV) July 26, 2016

Hidden inside this summer's comedy about the South Side of Chicago is a story about whether parents should leave their son in a school in which he might be groomed as a gang member or take him out to a safer option.

In one scene in particular, the school principal tells the parents (including the father played by Ice Cube) that their son seems to be involved in gangs, while at the same time encouraging the parents to keep him at the school:

Principal: Mr. Palmer, now hold up. Hold up. Now, that's not what I was suggesting. We want Jalen to be here. The school needs him here.

Ice Cube: For what? Seem like y'all losing him.

Principal:  Mr. Palmer, I understand...

Ice Cube: I'm supposed to sit here and we're going to sacrifice our only son to this system?

Principal: There's gotta be something we can do to work together on this.

Ice Cube: Seems like the problem is bigger than you and me.

There's also a montage featuring Urban Prep, the all-boys charter school known for sending all of its high school seniors to college.