I had the opportunity to attend an advanced screening of “Waiting for Superman” tonight. I fully expected to be nauseated by what I perceived to be corporate-backed propaganda, with the predictable message of teacher unions as the villain and so-called reformers as heroes. The film’s premise and claims are uninformed and drastically miss the boat in terms of creating a narrative regarding the real issues our public school system faces. Further, the film completely neglects to engage in any meaningful discussion of the real reforms needed to improve educational opportunity for our children.
Some highlights (or lowlights if you will)…
Claims vs. Truth
Claim: “We know that it is possible to give every child a great education,” (based on the success of charter schools).
Truth: Charters in general, and in particular the ones featured in this film, sort and select students, serve far less ELL students, students receiving special education services, and students who qualify for reduced and free lunch compared with their neighboring public schools. The truth is, charters do not outperform public schools, even with every advantage, including smaller student to teacher ratios, the ability to discharge students at will, and increased autonomy.
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Claim: “There is usually only one mainstream school in every school district in America that is above average.”
Truth: I do not presume to know the stats on this, but the claim is completely unsupported in the film and would venture to say untrue. As a perfect example, District 15 in Brooklyn has many schools that are above average.
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Claim: “If you don’t go to college, you are screwed in America.”
Truth: One of the purveyors of this claim in the film is Bill Gates who says we cannot have American innovation without our kids going to college. This from one of the most significant innovators of our time, who, that’s right, didn’t get a college degree.
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Claim: “KIPP schools are better schools because they won’t let kids fail.” “You can’t argue with KIPP’s data.”
Truth: KIPP students and parents sign a “Contract for Excellence” and if the contract is not followed, they can be dismissed from the school.
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Claim: “Even progressive educators believed that the achievement gaps in our education system could not be closed.”
Truth: As a progressive educator, I am horrified by this claim made as a general and factual statement, and can personally attest that it is untrue.
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Claim: “Kids that go to charter schools (featured in this film I believe is the context) do not just do better than poor kids, they do better than everyone.”
Truth: Some charter schools do better than public schools, some do worse, the majority, do the same.
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Claim: “If we replace bad teachers with average teachers we can catch up to Finland in just a few years.” “Unions are a menace and an impediment to reform.” “Teacher union contracts say you can’t fire them.” “Good teachers teach 150% of curriculum in a year, bad teachers only teach 50% of curriculum in a year.” “Teachers get tenure if they just breathe.” “It should be simple, put teachers in a school house where they fill children’s heads with knowledge, but we have made it more complicated.”
Truth: The simple blame game, painting teachers and teacher unions as villains is a completely unsupported claim. Virginia, a right to work state, has some of the worst educational outcomes in the country. Finland, touted with some of the best educational outcomes in the film, is a pro-union system. Teachers do matter, but their tenure is not decided by them, it is decided by principals. Teachers do matter, but we do not write the standards, curriculum, and tests. Teachers do matter, but we live in a climate of extreme external pressure that prevents us from actually teaching. Teachers do matter, but so do parents, principals, education officials, economic opportunity, school and community programs. The list goes on and on. The fact is, the vast majority of teachers are good teachers, who work hard, and whose ability to speak out with parents and advocate for children is protected only by their tenure. Imagine a system where teachers could not advocate with parents for children!
more . . .
http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/09/reviewing-waiting-for-superman-real.html
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