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Title: Waiting For Superman
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there's only a minor bit of language. Recommended for ages 5 and up. |
Like the original the film begins with Dre’s mom uprooting them from their old house and moving to a new town. This remake takes it a step further though by moving the characters to China. The last movie was content to throw a new living arrangement at the character. The remake throws Dre this as well as a new country, culture, and way of living in general. Here Dre falls in love with a cute Chinese girl but her ex-boyfriend doesn’t like the new kid and makes it his goal to bully the kid. So Dre gets beat up on a daily basis until the wise Mr. Han takes pity on the kid and decides to train him in art of kung fu.
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There are so many words to use to describe my feelings towards the things I heard in “Waiting For Superman”...and none of them kind. If you know me you’ll know that I’m not really a fan of the school system. I refer more to the college system than the high school system, but there was always something fishy about a system that would force people to take a bunch of classes they didn’t need for a degree they wanted. I mean, taking a math class that goes over fractions for a degree in Journalism? Wasn’t this crap supposed to be covered in high school? That’s where I learned it so what gives? Well, looks like colleges may have a point, because if “Waiting For Superman” is to be believed then high school is failing our kids in educating them. And not only high school, but junior high as well.
Heck, there are schools that are failing kids so bad they find themselves having to retake the SECOND grade all over again! In some cases twice! What is going on here? Is something wrong with the school system? In a word; yes. Here is a movie that argues that we have something that is broken. And unlike the health care system there is some real substantial data to support this claim. Kids are failing to graduate high school. Many don’t know basic math and reading skills. We’re a nation that is behind in producing actual results in school. But we rank number one in confidence so...yay for that? God folks, this is pathetic. I’ve been critical of the school system for years, but this movie more or less validates my concerns.
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If less than an average 40% of kids per state get into college and make something of themselves then we truly are failing our kids. We’re failing them and doing nothing about it. There are many problems with the current system, most of which you wouldn’t suspect. People blame social class and status as the key reason kids underperform, but why is it many of those same kids could be moved to a school one city over and learn what their previous school could not? If you are born in an area that designates you to a school that is known to produce failing students then why isn’t there a better way to prevent your kids from going there outside of paying for a private school or moving?
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If there is a key problem with our schools though - the movie claims - it’s not the lack of money (though more would be nice), or the location (though peer pressure can add a different set of problems), but the teacher themselves. The teachers are all part of a union that makes it nearly impossible to fire anyone. One principle catches a teacher reading the newspaper in a classroom and promptly fires the man. Case closed right? Wrong. Because of his Ten Year status the principle was forced to rehire him with a years back pay. What’s the point of being a principle if you can’t even control the teachers? More doctors and lawyers lose their credentials then teachers. I remember watching a “20/20" special several years ago about this very problem.
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It was basically about how the Teachers Union protected their teachers SO much that once you get to a certain point it becomes nearly impossible to fire one! One person who has a radical idea is Michelle Rhee. She suggests that schools can keep Ten Year. However the teacher can either take that privilege and always work for a low wage or they can forgo it and get bonuses and pay raises based on the quality of their teaching! This could potentially go into six figure salaries. But no, the union feels so threatened by this that they don’t even vote on it. One of the few heroes in the film is Geoffrey Canada, who opened up a series of charter schools in areas that were poverty stricken and poor, with the goal that they would get these kids to college.
The result? Many kids are getting good education as a result of his inventive ideas. So since it CAN be done why isn’t it?! I’ll tell you why: It’s because of the system. This system...this stupid, &*$@ing, useless system does nothing but set our kids up for failure! Forgive my language, but it’s true. The kids are caught up in a tug-of-war from people who want to make education better and people who want to get paid for doing squat. This means that the few good schools out there get so many requests for kids to attend that they have to select their students randomly through a lottery. Are you serious? This is how kids get a good start in their future: At random selection?
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Sounds very Darwinist to me. This movie was directed by Davis Guggenheim. His previous film was the Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Like that movie this one raises a serious issue that if undealt with could present us with some real future damage. With every ticket sold you get a voucher to donate some money to a school project of your choice. On the director. So I know he cares. But boy does this movie piss me off so much. It left me shaking in anger at how selfish our teachers, politicians, and unions can be. It’s clear something needs to be done and we need to do it now. People need to watch this film and education themselves about this problem. Just make sure to see it in theaters. I doubt this will be shown in classrooms around the nation.
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