Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman shed light on the injustices of our society and the flaws in our educational system.  The movie really goes to show everything that I have been saying in my blogs. Our educational system is discouraging our students instead of propelling them forward. This is a very complex issue with a lot of moving parts, between the federal, state, local city governments, teachers union and parents.  “No individual is necessarily to blame, but collectively they are the goliath of the system.” (Jonathan Alter, Waiting for Superman) The educational system is flawed, we put into place educational acts and doubled the money per student thinking it will help. But there is no improvement.  “The things we’ve done to help our schools work better, have become the things that prevent them from working.” (Narrator of movie) The flaw is not just with funding, it is with the system. There is no clear answer.

                The movie discussed multiple issues. One topic in particular was teacher tenure as a road block to success in the schools. Teacher tenure is certainly contributing to the problem.  I feel that teacher tenure should be eliminated and they should have to work and be held to a disciplinary standard of other working individuals.  Teachers need to feel the fear of being unemployed which would make anyone want to work harder and not become complacent. Get rid of tenure to get rid of poor teachers who have become “burnt out” or those teachers who are just not cut out for teaching.  There was an attempt made to eliminate teacher tenure in the Washington D.C schools by the superintendent.  That superintendent, Michelle Rhee was brilliant. She recognized the problem and set forth with a passion to fix it but was shut down by the, lazy, and scared individuals heading up the teachers union. “There is a complete and utter lack of accountability for the job that we’re supposed to be doing, which is producing results for kids.” (Michelle Rhee, Waiting for Superman)

I’m in complete agreement with this movie. One of the former superintendents of Washington D.C., Lt. General Julius Becton, is quoted for saying that he has “never faced a more difficult task then reforming the schools of Washington.” This goes to illustrate how dysfunction the politics are in the educational system. Lt. General Becton was awarded two purple hearts and a silver star, I think he would have an understanding on what is difficult. He resigned sixteen months later.