Teenage Wasteland Review: A High School Class That Held Up Truth to Power

'Teenage Wasteland' Recap: Where Are Fred Isseks And His Students Now?

Teenage Wasteland is a new documentary film added to the Netflix library this week that follows an almost unbelievably inspirational incident from the late 1990s. Students at the Middletown High School, in the city of Middletown, New York, under the guidance of one of their teachers, Fred Isseks, investigated local landfills that were regularly being […]

Teenage Wasteland Review: A High School Class That Held Up Truth to Power

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. The film arrives on Netflix on September 4. In 1991, Middletown High School teacher Fred Isseks started an elective class that every student wanted to take. “Electronic English” introduced teenagers to new media and emerging art forms, providing them access to camcorders, editing machines, and digital photography. Each day, students filmed music videos, shot horror…