Christian Message Boards: Waiting for Superman

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Posted by WildB (Member # 2917) on :

The Need for Education Reform

October 18, 2010

The ground-breaking new documentary, Waiting for "Superman" vividly highlights the problems with our public education system-and may prove a spark for educational reform across the country.

The film follows the lives of five children as their parents desperately try to enroll them in high-performing charter schools. The problem is, there are so many children trying to get into these schools enrollment is determined by lottery-often with heartbreaking results.

While highlighting the touching stories of these children, the film is a strong indictment of the adults responsible for the poor educational conditions these children are so desperate to escape.

A prime target of the movie are the teachers unions who oppose reforms and have been a key to creating a system where bad teachers can't be fired. This indictment of the teachers unions is particularly stinging since the director of Waiting for "Superman," Davis Guggenheim, can't be dismissed as a conservative. He previously won an Oscar for directing Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

Guggenheim exposes our broken education system and highlights prominent reformers like Michelle Rhee, the recently-resigned Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools.

In the wake of Rhee's resignation, the Washington Post called her a "superstar of the education reform movement" under whose leadership, "student test scores rose, decades of enrollment decline stopped and the teachers union accepted a contract that gave the chancellor, in tandem with a rigorous new evaluation system, sweeping new powers to fire low-performing educators."

Guggenheim stumbled on the topic of education reform as he drove his children past three public schools every day to drop them off at their private school. Overcome with guilt, he realized that there was a story behind the obvious problem that not every willing child in America has access to a first-rate education.

In that moment, Guggenheim was inspired to tell this important story, and the movie will no doubt spark thousands of similar moments of inspiration for parents across the country.

Unfortunately for America's school children, the teachers unions have gone on the offensive. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has cautioned the public that the film doesn't paint the whole picture, citing high performing public schools around the country.

But Ms. Weingarten is missing the point. This movie is not about finding a scapegoat; it's about creating a system where great teachers can be rewarded and schools can meet the academic challenges of today.

But it will be a long, hard slog. As Waiting for Superman shows, the system is rigged in favor of school bureaucracies and teachers unions over schoolchildren. Come to BreakPoint.org and click on this commentary for more on the teachers unions and on one teachers' association that puts children first.

Guggenheim's film about global warming created a firestorm of controversy and legislative action. And Waiting for "Superman" is certainly on track to become a full-fledged movement in its own right, while reinvigorating the education reform agenda nationwide. I urge you: go see it.

Posted by MentorsRiddle (Member # 2108) on :

The majority of my teachers in school were horrible – horrible.

I had to take it upon myself to learn the things I needed to learn, which often times included self-study.

Unfortunately, a lot of people today, naming children, don’t have the desire to better their selves – at least not to a degree where they would be willing to do a little self-study.

Our educational system is broken.

But, I don’t blame the teachers in totality.

Yes, it is partly their fault because they are either under qualified for their position or they just don’t care.

But the other half is the students, their self.

I am young enough to be able to remember much of my Jr. High – High School career. During that time I can remember being frustrated at students who didn’t pay attention all class, only to begin asking questions at the very end and “not getting it” because they didn’t pay attention.

This was not the teachers fault but the child.

And for that I blame parents for not teaching their child discipline.

So, I suppose, I blame the students more than the teachers.

We can’t rely on someone else to carry our load – we must do it for ourselves. Just as the students should do it for theirsevles.

Posted by TB125 (Member # 2450) on :

In regard to this matter of "education", I invite anyone on this board to come my blog and discuss it with me and others. Go to http://christianityetc.org/blog/good-education I think that this is a very important and timely matter for discussion.

Posted by Eduardo Grequi (Member # 3984) on :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myhcygxY00A

I just watched the Czars that Obama had chosen to watch and lead America to a Godless soceity pay attention to the education agenda of Obama's cabinet.

The bible says to Train up a child in the way he should go paraphrased found in Proverbs.

My grand-nephew is 8 years old had told his mother two boys cornered him in the bathroom and asked him if he loved boys! I truly believe too much has been lost to save America, however, when can save one person at a time through the Lord's help.