The difficulty at first seemed to center on one critical issue: the plight of students driven to acquire the strong performance requirements for selection by top universities for enrollment to ensure rewarding careers.

[1] Race to Nowhere is a film containing stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their children.

[4] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times was critical of the director's attempt to make a "single, clear narrative" out of such a large topic, but praised her compassion.

[2] Writing for The Village Voice, Ella Taylor said that the director "sheds little new light" on why many parents, teachers and politicians are in favor of extensive homework and testing of high school students.

[5] Though Abeles has been approached by major distributors offering to place her movie in commercial theaters, the filmmaker has chosen to distribute the film directly.