Waiting for “Superman” an Educational Eye-Opener
It seems like you can’t go anywhere or turn to any Cable news channel without finding someone talking about director Davis Guggenheim’s (An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud) latest documentary Waiting for “Superman”. An examination of the Public School system in the United States, it is an inquiry into what isn’t working, why, what actually does and what the debate needs to be to go from a sub par status quo to something far more worthwhile. It is a story of what it was that got us here as a country and where we need to go in order to dig out of our current hole, the most precious commodity of them all our children’s future at the very heart of the problem.
Educator Geoffrey Canada in Waiting for "Superman" © Paramount Vantage
Anyone claiming that the film is anti-union or anti-teacher must have seen a much different picture than I did. If anything, Guggenheim continually lauds teachers, extolling the virtues of the good ones showing again and again how one person in a classroom can make such an astonishing difference they might as well be a superhero. Additionally, as far as the unions are concerned he talks about the good they’ve done in their history and the potential they have to do even more, showing that teachers standing together in order to provide better standards of education is a thing well worth fighting for.
What he does have a problem with are bad teachers and the intractable force of union contracts upon administrators on both reprimanding and getting rid of them. He sees tenure and the ability of most educators to get it after as little as two years of service as one of the single major roadblocks to reform, the fact the major teacher’s unions seem so intractable in their dug-in defense of it almost alien to him.
A case could be made that he does become a bit too infatuated with Charter Schools. Granted, considering the successes of the ones he singles out who can really blame him? While there is plenty of data to suggest not all Charters get the job right, the simple fact is that there are many in this country, usually in some of the most economically depressed neighborhoods like Harlem in New York City, that are. Guggenheim showcases what these educational leaders are doing to get their kids passing their classes and eager to learn, trying to come up with talking points that could be passed on district to district and student to student.
He focuses on five families, all from different regions of the country, all wanting the best for their children. These kids, the oldest on the verge of Middle School, already realize how important a good education is and just from the looks passing on the faces of their parents how difficult getting one will be. All of them enter into lotteries to try and get into their local Charter Schools, the odds any of them will actually get in positively enormous against.
Interview subjects here include Geoffrey Canada, the creator of Harlem Children's Zone, Michelle Rhee, the beleaguered Chancellor of the Washington, DC school system whose reform attempts have met with roadblock after roadblock, Randi Weingarten, the former head of United Federation of Teachers, and Eric Hanushek, a Stanford University Senior Fellow who has done groundbreaking research on teacher quality, classroom size and their relation to a child’s ability to learn no matter what their background. All have fascinating things to say, all offer much for debate, and whether you agree with everything they bring to the table of not I still found it incredibly important to listen to them.
I’m not sure if Guggenheim finds any answers that will help our educational system. Even worse, I’m fearful that even if he does no enough people will see the film or have the need to let their voice be heard on the subject to do much of a difference. There is a growing apathy, especially in this current economic climate, that nothing will get done and problems can’t be fixed, and as much as we’d like to think otherwise the chances of our children having a better, more fruitful future than our own has just about vanished.
But as Waiting for “Superman” shows there isn’t a savior coming, no figure in a red cape swooping down to save the day and make these problems disappear. We have to get over our apathy and fight for our children if we want them to have a fruitful and prosperous life. It is up to us to stand up, demand that quality education be both available and affordable for everyone, not just those used to slurping up their meals with Silver Spoon. Guggenheim shows us that there is light at the end of this tunnel, we just have to be willing to do the hard work necessary to make sure those bulbs start burning brightly and that the flickering signaling their end comes to a stop.
Film Rating: êêê1/2 (out of 4)
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