Monday, June 13, 2011

Movie Review: Waiting For Superman

Major Points:
The American education system is failing those who are in it
It is not just the teachers fault that education is failing, and that force above the classroom play a part
Race, and socio-economic status still plays a role in education
Tracking students is a faulty practice
Tenure for teachers is not all that great

My Agreements:
The American education system is failing those who are in it
It is not just the teachers fault that education is failing, and that force above the classroom play a part

My Disagreements:
Tracking students is a faulty practice
Tenure for teachers is not all that great

My Comments:
I have to admit that I was skeptical about this movie and walked away as skeptical, but surprised as well.  Normally I approach anything dealing with education with a health amount of caution.  Most articles, movies, books, studies about education are written or produced by people who have never taught, or who have studied teaching from a distance.  That being said WAITING FOR SUPERMAN was well done and respectful of teachers.  It placed blame where blame was due.  For that I give it some respect, and my only real disagreements stem from ideas restated in the movie rather than initially stated.

I totally agree with the concept that there are faulty elements in the education system.  Teachers do have their hands tied by tests, and bureaucracy that is not necessary.  Many teacher abuse the bureaucracy and many simply do not work at their jobs.  I felt that the movie did not do as good a job at pointing out teachers that do a good job.  They did highlight several projects and school concepts that were successful which I will say suffices.

We do need to fix our system or totally revamp it.  We constantly hear comparisons between the U.S and Europe/ China.  Those systems are not like ours at all.  They leave children behind.  They do not deal with every child.  If you will allow me a story I will explain both types of system. 

Once a business leader was asked to speak to a group of teachers.  He spent most of his talk telling the teachers how his company made the best ice cream from only the all the best ingredients, in particularly their blueberry ice cream.  He talked at length about how if a blueberry wasn't to their very high standards they sent it away.  He encouraged the teachers to do better in their classrooms and to in a sense make better students.  At the close he asked for questions.  One older teacher stood up and said "I appreciate your comments and you dedication to making the best blueberry ice cream, though we as teachers have to deal with ALL of the blueberries, so when our ice cream isn't as tasty as your, don't be critical."

Can you guess now which character in the story represents other countries in the world?
Can you figure out which is the United States?

My question has always been, are we going to throw away blueberries or use all of them? As it stands now we're trying to do both and it's not working.

One thing that I did disagreed with was something that was not original to the film which is the notion of tracking students, and placing them into like groups.  The idea is a fairly old idea and was thrown out during the age of "everyone can succeed if given the same chance."

Please do not get my intentions wrong in what I am about to say.  I subscribe to the idea of giving everyone a chance.  I also think that if you were to group kids with other kids that are operating on the same level then you allow the teacher more room to grow those children and move them forward.  In my classroom I am likely to have a student operating on a say 9th grade level sitting right next to a student on a 5th grade level.  How fair is it to either of the students to be in that situation?  Would it not be better to have the 5th grade kid in a room full of 5th grade kids so that the teacher can better teach them what they need to know to catch them up?  Would it not be better for the kids operating on a 9th grade level to be in a room full of other kids on the 9th grade level so that the entire class can be pushed? 

If you will allow a metaphor. As it is, we as teachers have to a) figure out what starting line EVERY kid in a class is starting from b) figure out what the finish line is going to be c) figure out how fast all of your students can run d) figure out how to get ALL of the kids to that finish line.  I am only saying that if you put all of your class on the same starting line, you will be more likely to get to the finish line with all of your students

Overall I liked it the movie, though I am still skeptical.  I worry that many people are going to see it and try to be a Superman to education.  Education doesn't need Supermen, we need good teachers