Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere

There’s a lot of hype right now about the new educational documentary Waiting for Superman. I saw it last spring and took some notes on it. These are my notes:

Ideas from Waiting for Superman that I thought were true:

- We all were promised the ideal that public schools could work
- We are placing our children in the hands of luck in public schools
- We all have a different definition of a great school
- A good teacher is the answer
- NEA is the largest campaign contributor to democrats
- NY rubber rooms waste $65 million/year
- The kids who get hurt are the ones in the middle
- Tenure was originally meant for university professors only
- Teacher’s unions were originally set up to protect women’s rights, yet 100 years later the union is still a major force
- Teacher’s unions say we shouldn’t make distinctions among teachers [then how do we reward good teachers or fire bad ones?]
- Cal State remediates 50% of freshman
- It is a lie that disadvantaged kids can’t learn

Ideas from Waiting for Superman that I question:

- Charters like KIPP http://www.kipp.org/schools are the answer
- A college education automatically means a career
- 1 in 5 charters produce good results (define good results)
- Up until 1970s US schools were best in the world (how was that measured?)
- Bill Gates’ emphasis on math, science and engineering only as the answer to saving schools

I’m thrilled educational documentaries are getting a lot of exposure right now because I’m on the Advisory board for the film Race to Nowhere. If you get a chance to see any educational documentaries, please do so, but if you have to choose between Race to Nowhere and Waiting for Superman, I’d recommend Race to Nowhere. And, here’s why…

Those in the media who are promoting Waiting for Superman claim the film can fix education. Be wary of anyone who claims to be able to fix education. Race to Nowhere offers a grassroots change, especially when it is screened in local theatres and schools that have discussions after the film. The film’s website also offers a facilitation guide to aid in post film discussions. RTN admits that education’s problems are vast and complex, and change needs to come from many places, including from within.

Another reason I’d recommend Race to Nowhere is that most readers of this blog will be able to relate to it. It highlights several schools in suburban communities and one urban school. I’m guessing that most readers of this blog live above the poverty line and in the suburbs, so the schools mentioned in RTN will look and feel familiar. Waiting for Superman is mainly about poor, urban schools and mentions only one suburban school, in Redwood City.

Waiting For Superman praises charter schools like KIPP. KIPP is a very regimented approach that claims to transform disadvantaged inner city kids with poor test scores into college bound students with high test scores. While this may be true of some KIPP students, KIPP schools seem to disregard a developmental, individual approach and turns kids into products that must produce at a certain level.

Even though not every charter is a good school, I like the idea of charter schools because they give parents more choice about where to send their kids to school. If there are several charters to choose from, parents can decide for themselves what is a good fit for their children.

In Race to Nowhere an innovative school is shown as an example of a school that works. This is the Blue School in New York. There are many wonderful charter and independent schools across the country. Please take a look at my sidebar on this blog under “My Recommendations – Noteworthy Schools/Programs” to see some that I’ve found to be worth checking out. One approach that I’m particularly impressed with is Big Picture Schools.

And lastly, while Waiting for Superman tends to blame the teacher’s union for many of education’s problems, Race to Nowhere doesn’t blame any one group but rather blames all involved parties. RTN asks us to question our own lives and try to make changes starting at home.

Here is a good review and comparison of Race to Nowhere and Waiting For Superman:

In my opinion, I prefer RTN because I identify with it more, but both documentaries are worth watching and if Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere help begin a national conversation about myriad issues gone wrong in American public education, that is a very good thing.

If you feel that RTN should get as much media attention as WFS, why not Face Book about it or write an editorial for your local paper or mention Race to Nowhere each time someone talks about Waiting for Superman?

Your thoughts?