Waiting for Superman (Prompt 6)

By: Megan Ross

I recently watched a documentary that I have been wanting to see since it came out in 2010. I was only eleven when it came out, so I didn't show much interest in it, however I knew I wanted to be a teacher so I always listened when I heard adults talking about it. I forgot about the documentary for a while until a few days ago when I watched a TED talk about learning the fundamentals of your field. I instantly remembered the buzz about the documentary, Waiting for Superman, and wanted to watch it and learn more about what I can do to make things better in my future field.

I'll give you a short summary of the documentary. It follows an investigation of the education system and how it has been failing children.
    
Throughout the documentary, we follow the lives of five children. It explains the repercussions of the NCLB act and discusses test scores of children in different states, also comparing scores from public and charter schools. Basically, the documentary puts all the downfalls of public schools on display.

Even though I agree that our public schools are in need of major reform, I think the documentary is harsh in many ways. For one, there is little to no positive things said throughout the film, which I think is a false perception of the school system. Secondly, there is no background provided for the five children, so we have to gauge  their level of capability, possible hardships or poverty at home, which could be leading to some of their difficulty in the classroom.

I think the main message of the film is that the answer to the problems and downfalls of public schools is charter schools. The documentary fails to mention that charter schools for the most part have the same scores as public schools. The director blames one thing for the prominent problems in the public school systems: teachers. He then goes on the say only 1 in 5 charter schools produces exceptional test results. I think he forgets this though, because he goes on and on about the things more charter schools would do for our education system. The film shows little kids in uniforms bragging about the books they have read and the test scores they have received.
     
Aside from the fact that there are unsupported claims and biased facts, the documentary fails to voice the opinion of even one teacher, which is who they are blaming in the first place. For that reason, I don't trust this portrayal of public school systems.
      
I began to watch this to learn more about how to better the education system when I become a part of it, but what I learned is that a lot of things will be put on my shoulders and blamed on me, and I can only do my very best to help be a positive resource for the students of the future.


Media Source:
http://www.takepart.com/waiting-for-superman/alliances/index.html