Waiting for ‘Superman’: One of the Most Persuasive Documentaries You Will See
Conservatives are loathe to admit it, but director Davis Guggenheim’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth impacted the national dialogue on global warming.
And all Guggenheim had to work with was a PowerPoint presentation led by a charisma-challenged former vice president.
Now, Guggenheim has turned his attention to our failing public school systems, a staggering amount of raw material for the Oscar-winning director.
He leverages every factoid for a movie far more persuasive than Truth. It’s a film both sides of the ideological aisle can embrace if viewed with an open mind.
Waiting for ‘Superman,’ now playing in select cities to brisk ticket sales, sounds the alarm over what it describes as a thoroughly mismanaged school system. We see children praying for the chance to attend charter schools, their parents teary eyed at the thought of another year in the current system.
Meanwhile, the powerful teachers’ unions retain the status quo at all costs.
It’s alternately heartbreaking and joyous, a testament to the power of education and a critique of the adults who too often stand in the way.
Guggenheim takes a personal approach to his latest film, but not in that intrusive way Michael Moore brings to his polemics.
The liberal director describes the internal dialogue he had regarding public education as he drove his children to private school. Other progressives might rationalize their actions, much like Al Gore must do when buying another energy-gulping home. Instead, Guggenheim investigated why he bypassed the public school system and why so many parents don’t have a choice in the matter.
The documentary introduces us to five children eager to leave their current public schools. They’re sunny-faced lads brimming with optimism, but their guardians know better. ‘Superman’ inundates the audience with sobering stats on dropout and literacy rates, figures sure to alarm anyone with a child near school-age.
Educational reform has been tried in some form by every president over the last 30-plus years. Even when President George W. Bush reached across the aisle to work with Sen. Ted Kennedy on “No Child Left Behind” legislation the results disappointed.
The film heaps much of the blame on tenured teachers who can’t be fired without the schools jumping through endless bureaucratic hoops. Some schools put bad teachers on hiatus, a process that stretches on for months while they enjoy full salaries and benefits. In New York, that process costs the state $100 million annually, the film reports.
Ironically, that “Superman” you’re talking about just could be the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. Think about it, this is the first governor in America willing to take on the Teacher’s Union head on. Not only does the Teacher’s Union fail by giving horrible teachers tenure, they also have bankrupted states with horrific costs due to their overly generous health benefits and pension plans. A teacher in New Jersey currently does not have to pay one cent for all of their health benefits which covers everything for not only themselves but for their entire family. And these health benefits continue even after the teacher retires. How does that stack up with all of you saps out there in private industry who always see your health insurance co-pays an premiums go up every year?
And teacher’s pensions in New Jersey are even worse. A teacher could work for 20 years and invest about $120,000 in his or her pension plan, while getting back over $3.5 MILLION in benefits after they retire. What state can afford this? Years and Years of politicians caving in to the demands of the Teacher’s Union has caused this mess and the only way to stop it is to finally stand up to them. Americans are literally paying more and more for an educational system that is doing worse and worse. In Newark, New Jersey, the state spends over $20,000 PER STUDENT, way above the national average, yet that district has one of the worst performance and dropout rates in the country. Some of the blame does fall on the parents, but it is odd that Catholic schools in some bad areas in the country (such as Washington, DC) seem to do so much better for a lot less money. Why is that? I’ll bet you the Teacher’s Union has a lot to do with it.
This is just another example of a union making things much worse for average Americans, not better (unless, of course, you belong to that union, then it’s great).
About time, but generations too late.
Of course, the answer is more vouchers, more private schooling. Not only will this solve practically every problem with the school system, but it will have a large impact in stopping the establishment of state religion: evolution.
I tried to submit this comment earlier, but it evaporated.
Vouchers should definitely be an option–allowing parents to choose their child’s school should be a given.
But having read the comments here, I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned that the best educated kids in our country today are those whose parents have taken their education into their own hands. If you have a friend or relative who is considering home-schooling, offer your support and encouragement. If you are considering that option for your family, go for it.
BTW–I spend the last years of my professional life as a public school teacher in a suburban midwestern district. As public school districts go, it is a good one. Most of the progress I observed during those years was downward.
Michelle Rhee has a connection to the Gerald Walpin matter
Walpin was the inspector general for AmeriCorps who was fired in June 2009 after finding evidence of corruption.
Charter schools are one solution to our educational woes. And while they are not perfect, there is a significant difference between a poorly performing charter school and a poorly performing “regular” school: When a charter school does not meet standards, it is closed. When a “regular” school does not meet expectations, it goets more funds (usually Title I monies), new administration (sometimes multiple layers for “accountability”), and additional time to underserve its students.
I attended a parochial school for the first eight years of my education career. There I imbibed the three “R’s.” Then I was sent to what was billed as one of the best public high schools in western Pennsylvania. I was bored out of my skull. Most of the teachers were charlatans or downright frauds. What’s more, they had the power to punish students who called them out on their ignorance or displayed more knowledge of the subjects than the teachers, whether it was math, history, geography, and even science. This was in the mid 1960′s! I shudder to think of how bad it is now. What the NEA has done since then is establish not so much an educational policy as a policy of indoctrination to turn children from K1 up through college into unthinking cabbages. I did not attend college, other than audit some courses in literature, which was also a waste of time and money. I thank myself for being so “ill-educated”; I still have all my marbles and an independent mind. I did not “wait for Superman.” No one should wait for him.
Eliot Cutler, a life-long liberal Democrat activist running for governor of Maine as an independent launched his campaign with an attack on the Maine Educational Association. Since Libby Mitchell won the Democratic primary and received the endorsement of the MEA, he has regularly attacked her as their faithful servant.
This is widely dismissed by Republicans as tactical. The documentary, however, shows that some liberals have become very critical of the teachers unions.
After all, it is quite possible for a liberal worshiper of Der Staat, to resent its subordination to interest groups.
I started my career as a classroom teacher. I left for the corporate life because teacher excellence wasn’t even recognized…much less rewarded. The problem starts in our universities! I was always AMAZED at how many TERRIBLE potential teachers were allowed to continue on towards their teaching degrees…altho they were OBVIOUSLY lousy lousy lousy teachers. Does a teacher have to have an exciting natural personality that makes kids WANT to learn? YES!!!
It’s not hard to know which teachers are the good ones…or the bad ones. Just ask the kids. They know. Why don’t the “professional” evaluators know?
Wouldn’t you just LOVE a job that would allow you to stay until retirement w/o extraordinary performance???? A job that didn’t require you to CONSTANTLY think about how to improve that performance! A job that even paid you an increasingly higher salary, regardless of your “just get by” performance.
The ENTIRE education system is to blame! Run it like a real NON-GOVT business and watch performances improve! Make the grade as an EXCELLENT teacher or move on…Next!
Stuff like that is why I changed my major to flee the education establishment. Every good teacher I had in high school has been fired for caring too much, my teachers have called me a racist over and again in class for not subscribing to the notion that color determines thinking, and everywhere I look the folk graduating out of the program and getting teaching jobs are the ones who care least about their fields. I’m opting to join the military and shake the dust off my feet on the way out of this liberal arts school.
Education majors really don’t have a degree in anything… just “teaching” (a capability which people with Master’s and PhDs are just presumed and expected to pick-up along the way).
Our education system is broken,not only due to the predatorial natures of Teachers Unions,but other villians that are not just destroying the future of America’s Children,And the Determination,Values,Independence,truths, Facts and Character building structure necessary,for them to even have Hope an Opportunity,For a future. The Scope of those villians are wide spread,from Politicians,Board of Education,Media,Entertainment,Junk(Politically,and Economically Motivated)Science,and Irresponsible Parents.But the main reason is society standards,as a whole.We as a Society no longer have Dedicated, Honorable,Responsible,Positive,and Productive Standards,and Expectations,that molds the Character of our Children.The message being sent to our children,has been to “Decieve to Achieve”Dependency, not Independence.Immoral Values, not Moral Values.Selfishness and Pride, not Self-Sacrifice,and Humility.Involuntary Servitude,not Charity.Obsessions,and Addictions,And the ways of Foreign Governments/Cultures,Materialism,Fashion Statements,Popularity,Fads,Icons/Idol Worship,and Celebrities.Not Admiration,and Love for that and those,whose personal sacrifices,and Exceptionalism,Made,and Still make life,and Liberty,better for all who appreciate,and practice the same.Bible Scripture made it clear.”Teach the children in the way they should go,and they will not depart from it.”We are born into sin.Which means;We are born rebellious to Atthority,or Higher power.We were created to serve others,and find a purpose more important,or Higher than ourselves.Even Progressives Liberals,Dictators,Totalitarians,Pedophiles,And Sponsors of Terrorist.Know,Understand,Believe,Practice,Expect,And Demand that Children are taught in the way they want them to go,So they won’t depart from it.Yet for over a Generation now.those of us most concerned,About the Molested Hearts,Minds,and Spirits,of these Innocent,and Vulnerable Children.Have either been too Busy,Self-Absorbed,or intimidated,by Political Correctness;Which is Progressive Liberals version of Shari’a Law;Which is Do what i say not what i do,Agree with,or Submit to my Will,or Beliefs,or any that are inconvenient to my life,beliefs,will,wants,needs,or self-serving agenda’s.Does not have the right to exist.Bottom line is;Our education system has been,and still is, being run by,nothing less than Government sponsored,and licensed,”Park Bench,Perverts,Deadbeats,and Activist,personal agenda driven Predators;”Harsh but true.Unless these things, beliefs,and people,are removed,and These truths are self-evident,are re-installed,Back into our Education system.”Teach the children in the way they should go so they will not depart from it;”That is the Question?”Now,We the People,must decide,Expect and demand,Which way that will be?and if our children’s future,hope’s,promise’s,for the American Dream,are better off than,the American Dream,our forefathers,and foremothers,Passed-on to us.For me,Educational Social Engineering Divides,Children,Against their parents,or legal guardian.That right,and responsibility,Belongs only to the parents,or guardian of that child.Unless,or Until,said parents,or guardians,have been proven beyond reasonable doubt,Unfit to serve the necessary needs,or is a threat,or proven harmful to said childs safety,or security;Has no place,in the Education System,At all.Jimmy Joe;”The Liarfryer”
Oh Irony, thou art a run-on sentence with many mis-capitalised words!!
The teacher’s unions are just doing what unions do in the modern era, that is, use the top performers as a shield for the duds. Why so many duds? Unions tend to concentrate duds! Standards at colleges of education are so low, is any wonder there are so many duds. With opportunities for the best and the brightest women expanding why would the enlist in a system that rewards duds at the expense of the stars? It’s amazing we have so may are entering a system so badly broken! God Bless’em (the stars that is)! The Federal Government’s involvement in local school business accelerated in the 1960′s. In the mid 60′s SAT and ACT scores started dropping, but, instead of looking at what had been done to the schools they blamed the tests. The disaster that was busing for racial balance insulated schools from parents, while isolating parents. Learning is often hard work and it is human nature to avoid hard work. Schools need parents to encourage and sometimes push children to do the work. At times, it seems, to parents they have the task of carrying a whale to the top of a mountain, without the support, of just minimally competent, teachers.
What’s the fix? There many fixes required. The first is to decide if we need a Federal Department of Education. I don’t Know. However, at a minimum, we must do away with the one we have. I mean fire them all. The focus needs to be on improving education if that does not happen, do away with it permanently! Parents of children who arrive in the classroom unprepared for class need to be held accountable, the charge of unfit parent applies! This list is certainly nowhere all inclusive.
I have yet to see the film but, I suspect it will tell me nothing that I do not already know, by experience.
“Parents of children who arrive in the classroom unprepared for class need to be held accountable, the charge of unfit parent applies!”
OK, but then what? Take them away from the parents?
One would think that in a crummy economy, better people would opt for teaching. They are still likely to want whatever benefits a union can bring them (who wouldn’t?). Reform of the salaries and benefits of public employees does have to get done, and Christie (from the little I know) appears to be a good man for the job.
Don’t be a chump. The public school system is for the adults. Teachers, administrators, unions, politicians, and contractors are all dependent on an efficient bureaucracy smoothly delivering public money to fulfill their every desire. Students are a necessary evil to be tolerated at best or ignored at worst.
This is one of my real hot button issues and I just cringe when I see the atrocity that is being perpetrated on the children of this nation, who are the future of our land.
I have a simple suggestion that 1) is possible 2) is sensible 3) would have an immediate impact. Let me explain. I think that there are many good teachers in the system today, and there are many who are tolerated because they have a place in a firmly founded bureaucratic structure. In my experience, that structure is owned by the principle of the school. The only change that is permitted is the change that the principle permits.
The principles own the power, because they also own the responsibility to operate their school. They maintain a cadre of trusted helpers to do the job… it’s a natural condition.
I suggest that the principle’ role should not be changed, but, the cadre of helpers (the teachers) should be assigned within the school district by lottery, if the principle needs 6 first grade teachers, they should be drawn from the pool. Likewise all of the other teachers. They would be re-assigned each year. The poor teachers would be identified in no time. The good teachers could be compensated fairly and “one small step” would be completed. No extra funds, No changes in the rules, No reason for the union to be concerned. Win! Win! Win!
I have a friend who is a teacher. He said the problem is parents who don’t discipline their children for performing poorly in school, and making them study. Also, he states teachers can not punish the kids with corporal punishment which spoils the child, and helps instill disrespect for elders in children.
Spare the rod, spoil the child. Oh, that’s right, we can’t have anything from G-d in our society, just secular humanism hate for G-d.
Perhaps, that is why our country is going down hill so fast. That, and the government plantation. Which brings us to another statement from G-d. You don’t work, you don’t eat.
“He said the problem is parents who don’t discipline their children for performing poorly in school, and making them study.”
That is a problem, and a minor one.
“Also, he states teachers can not punish the kids with corporal punishment which spoils the child, and helps instill disrespect for elders in children.”
That is not a problem, because it is no solution to substitute der Staat for parents who won’t discipline children. Also, do you really think these teachers generally are worthy of respect? Many are not.
I must disagree.
I agree something needs to be done, but education is a two-way street. What good is a successful school without successful parenting? Throughout my education I’ve witnessed the vast majority of kids and their respective families behaving as if they were entitled to pass. Colleges are somewhat more hard-nosed on this issue and generally fails them when they warrant it, K-12 does not as they simply lower the standard. If students are not held accountable at home, what makes people think they will be held accountable at school? Education reform helps but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. We are a society that rewards laziness.
Government-run (public) education is a bad idea for the same reason every other government-run enterprise (save for law enforcement, the courts, and the military) is: it forces private enterprise out of the market. No private enterprise means no competing ideas, no incentive to improve, and no response to customer demands. Not to mention the fact that those who oppose the state-dictated curriculum or have no children enrolled in public schools are forced to support the system anyway.
I am opposed to public sector unions in general because of the obvious conflict of interest, and outlawing teachers unions is a good idea. However, a better idea is to remove the government from education altogether. Privatize all schools, kindergarten through college. Recognize that an education, like health care, a job, or a home, is not a right but something that must be earned. We take free choice when shopping for groceries as a given — why shouldn’t education be treated the same way?
The idea of public education started with such luminaries as Thomas Jeffeerson and George Washington. If we don’t educate the electorate, we are headed for a situation of a disappearing middle class, and it is a terrible waste of human potential not to recognize and develop smart kids from poor homes.
Now, I am with you about all schools being private, and I think they should also be for-profit. Just as the government contracts for goods and services from the private sector for the military, so also should they contract for education. We need big changes in the way we carry out education, and we must also bring back the technical and vocational schools.
Where the idea of public education started doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bad idea. “We” have no obligation to educate anyone. I have an obligation to educate my children, you have an obligation to educate yours. Those unable to meet their obligation must rely on charity, or better yet, defer having children until they are in a position to afford the costs of doing so.
The government outsourcing education to the private sector is still government involvement, with funding, curriculum, and a host of other decisions that should be determined by the market, instead subject to bureaucratic decree.
If you want to educate poor but talented kids, open a private school and use part of the profits to fund scholarships for them. Don’t use the government to extort money from the taxpayers.
But in the days of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, education was not as much of a requirement for success. One person could get by nearly as well as the next with a minimal anount of formal education. Today this is not the case. Very little education today almost ensures failure – or at least… a much more difficult life. As much of a requirement as education is in our time, it falls in the category of: a highly sought after commodity. Demand seeks out supply, and looky there – free enterpise lives.
I posted a version of this comment yesterday, but it disappeared into the ether. If it reappears sometime, I’m sorry that you heard it twice.
Despite the fact that I am a politically conservative teacher (there are more of us than you might think, but not by much), and a rabidly free-market economics teacher, I am deeply suspicious of “merit pay” schemes.
The reason is simple. As a public school teacher (I am now at a private school), I was given very little control over the variables that would have affected my “merit”. Major determinants of student success were completely outside of my control. I had little power over disciplinary infractions, and none over attendence enforcement. School administrators keep kids in your class no matter how often they are absent.
I would never accept a job in which my pay was based on factors that were held out of my control. A structured salary schedule shelters mediocrity, but it also protects you from the whims and weaknesses of bad policies and poor administrators.
If I were ever cornered into a merit pay scheme without being given true power over the variables that determined my success (such as the simple authority to permanently remove a disruptive student), I would quit that job on the spot.
Good point. My school system had merit pay (a fairly small stipend) forty years ago. One vet teacher admitted to me that he did his worse teaching, the year he got merit pay, as he got it for other extra things he did in and for the school, that took his time away from his classes. Merit pay is only as good as the people who are making the decisions to administer it.
“As a public school teacher (I am now at a private school), I was given very little control over the variables that would have affected my “merit”.”
Funny. You have already stumbled on the solution to your objection.
A proper goal, I think, is for that solution to be funded more widely.
Vouchers.
Vouchers!
VOUCHERS!
We have vouchers instituted universally, and there will be enough private schools for the cream to be separated and rise.
Oh, I’m not suggesting that there aren’t solutions, only that the solutions aren’t really on the table these days. Vouchers wouldn’t fix the whole problem. I can’t imagine any of the school districts I worked for ever letting go of enough power to truly let teachers control their own destinies. As I said, I have no intention of ever accepting a job in which I can’t control the factors on which my salary is based.
There are plenty of weak teachers out there in the world. However, bad administrators are a bigger problem. The former can’t be fixed before the latter.
“I can’t imagine any of the school districts I worked for ever letting go of enough power to truly let teachers control their own destinies.”
When vouchers are implemented, then where they are implemented, parents and not teachesr or administrators will ultimately be in control of the destiny of a school and it’s employees.
That is how the relationship in the balance of power between suppliers and consumers should be–there are no government commanded monopolies.
It may be that the disintermediation which the rise of the Tea Parties represents will augur the arrival of widespread vouchers–at least I can hope.
AzA,
I too am a teacher, although not a conservative. You have stated my concerns about Merit pay beautifully. Before I ramble on with my thoughts, I want to say that I wish there was a bigger conservative voice in education. Touchy, feely liberals like me need a healthy dose of pragmatism to balance us out.
When I first started my teaching career, I made $19,000 that year. In 1994, making $19,000 a year in the Denver area was not a lot of money. My wife and I struggled to pay the bills and meet our basic needs. I stuck with it even though I could have moved on to something more lucrative because I love what I do. To make ends meet, I worked as a sales associate over the weekends and over the summer I taught summer school. Now that I have been in the profession for a while, I am in a position of being able to concentrate on teaching. I am comfortable but not rich. I will not get into the overpaid teacher debate other than saying that I am contracted 30 minutes a day for planning and grading outside of school. On the average day, I spend 1 – 2 hours planning a grading at home and on Saturday morning, I am up at 6:00 a.m. so I can get in 3 hours of work before my family is up and about.
If my pay were to be linked to my “success” I too would want more control over the variables that affect my ability to do my job. Here is an idea. Provide teachers with clearly written standards and give the teacher ultimate control over how to best teach those standards, measure success, and meet the needs of their students. Require all stakeholders to sign contracts in which each agrees to do his or her job (this includes the students when they are old enough to understand). Allow the teacher to gather evidence and evaluate said data and determine whether or not the student moves on to the next level. If a student does not meet standard because the parents or the students does not live up to their responsibilities, the teacher would not be held accountable. If a student is passed on and is not ready or fails due to the inadequacies of the teacher, then the teacher is held accountable and subject to disciplinary action. Finally, we need to re-evaluate the idea of grade levels. Student can be grouped by ability and readiness. This might mean mixed classes in which 5-year-olds are in the same classroom with 7-year olds, so long as their ability and maturity levels coincide. Promotion to the next level would mean more challenging material, not moving with your age group.
There is another concern I have as well; I currently teach 9th graders who have 3rd grade reading levels and I am expected to get these kids ready for state assessments that are written five grade levels above their reading ability, and to make matters more complicated, these kids are in the same class with kids who read on and above grade level. In a year, it is virtually impossible to get these kids ready. The way the system is designed, when the kids who come to me behind fail, I would be held accountable for their failure. What is not taken into account is how much these kids move in a year. I have students who have started with 3rd grade reading levels and improved to a 5th grade reading levels. The system does not care that these kids have made this progress, it only cares that they are below grade level. This is not fair to the kids.
In the end, I agree that there are significant problems with the education system in this country, but I would like everyone to keep a couple of thoughts in mind. Ours is one of the only systems that tries to address the needs of every student. Ours is one of the only systems that allows second chances for students who mess up to get back into the system. Our is one of the only systems that does not pigeon hole students in to particular tracks with little chance of moving out. Before we throw the baby out with the bath water, we need to examine what works about US education and build from there.
Thanks for the bipartisan support!
Like most conservatives, I tend to see the problems you list as being primarily caused by the left. Victimology, general touchy-feeliness, latent Marxism, moral relativism, union shenanigans, litigiousness, etc. etc.
Grist for the debate, I suppose…
Having with “but a cursitory eye o’erlooked” the comments here, I’m struck with the absence of any mention of home schooling.
I put in the last years of my professional career as a public school teacher. The steps to acquire certification to teach were neither onerous nor (to my surprise) a waste of my time.
Aza’s commentary resonated with my experience in the public schools (My district is midwestern, suburban, and probably among the better public school districts–but most of the progress I observed was downward.)
From what I have observed, the best educated kids in America today are those whose parents have taken their education into their own hands–if a family is considering home-schooling their children, we need to encourage and support them.
Sure, if you have reasonably smart parents devoting/donating all that time for the education of a few children, there should be good results; that’s a damned good teacher student ratio! How that in any way helps the kids in the seventh grade with the third grade reading level, or addresses the parents who Robert says should be charged with child neglect is unclear. Such things get left to the government schools.
Once one declares “not my problem” one can simplify life greatly, but whose problem is it?
“Lord, who is my brother?”
Dwight–
Your point is well taken; I was not intending to say home schooling is the answer for everyone, nor that we should not all be very concerned about the state of public education.
Those who home school, however, DO deserve a great deal more respect than they receive. Like those mothers who are fortunate enough to be able to devote themselves to home and family–and find their intelligence and ability called into question because of it. A mom who stays home with her children, and who adds the responsiblity for their education should be honored.
Maybe her children will be the ones to fix the mess the public schools are in.
p.s. We need to do away with the federal Department of Education. It was a bad idea, Mr. Carter.
The Education Dept. wasn’t just a bad idea, it was a sinister one — Carter’s political payoff to the No Education Assn. (NEA). May Ronald Reagan receive another century in purgatory for reneging on his 1980 campaign promise to abolish that abomination. The same fate awaits the GOP class of 1994 for the same reason.
Homeschooling is a wonderful option if the parent’s have the time, money, and willingness to put in the effort to prepare their kids. I myself have never traditionally taught but for a number of summers did part time work with a national tutoring service while living for a short time in Texas. I ended up trying to help a lot of kids who were home schooled with little usable math and science skills. I’m talking about 18 year old’s without the ability to do their multiplication tables, understand basic trigonometry, etc. I basically dealt with the kids whose parents took it on themselves to teach and they did nothing to prepare their kids. Homeschooling can fail kids just as much as public schools…it just doesn’t cost us as much in the end I guess. With homeschooling, you really only hear about the positives like the kids winning the national spelling bee, not the kids getting the short change from their own parents.
Living in Baltimore now, I have witnessed the entire mess that was the DC school system first hand and it was quite sad to see Rhee leave. It was quite hilarious hearing Teacher’s Union members trying to throw her under the bus in the news yet coming off like complete idiots in the process. Only in DC, could an official get such positive results and thrown out of office, and yet Marion Barry, the notorious crack user, is still in DC politics (I am not sure as his current position but I think it is some kind of council member). DC is one of the few places, as a Baltimore resident, I feel comfortable for mocking.
You don’t see a rush to charter schools in small town America because the failure of big city public schools is not a failure of the system but of the culture’s that send their children into that system.
While I agree that costs are getting out of hand, an individual’s solution is to stay are far away as possible from urban schools and it is as simple as that. High schools in Minnesota suburbs are thriving because of the students and not the system. It is the students who are the failures here where failure is present and the success where success is present.
If you send a bunch of kids to school who think book lovers are morons while knuckle-rings reign supreme you will have garbage in and garbage out. It’s the big elephant in the politically correct room no one wants to talk about or consider as a solution because the solution is unpleasant to contemplate and doesn’t jibe with cultural relativism or current trends.
Failure breeds failure and celebrities across this land could do a world of good by showing up to inner city high schools with a book in their hand and saying, “This is cool. All the rest is smoke and mirrors. Enjoy it but don’t ever believe it means anything.”
From a strictly fiscal point of view, the Dept. of Education should be abolished as a black hole for funds with no results other than the creation of a monstrous bureaucracy.
This is the simple solution: love a book, believe in education. Those who can’t or won’t will suffer.
Waiting for Superman is on my list when it comes out in DVD. One copy for a lib relative schoolteacher in one part of the country and another more conservative schoolteacher on the left coast. You should here them rant about the faults in teaching. NOT ENOUGH CASH! Tell that to Utah that has the lowest cost per student and the highest college entry scores. It is obvious in everything we do that money can’t buy happiness.
I am a home school gradate but I attend a public university. Most studies show homeschooled students due significantly better regardless of income, race, states regulation of homeschooling, or a parent having a teaching certification. There is a slight diffrence in test performance across all grades were both parents have a college degree, verse neither having a degree (84% verse 90%). I have stated before, homeschooling research prove that the college certification industry is a scam, but try telling that to teachers. My sister was homeschooled for 12 years, has a master in education and thinks an education degree has value and the clases not a joke when it comes to expectations (that is it is at difficult has business and science gradute degrees). This is typical, at lest I know my MBA from an average program is next to worthless and was only for certification purposes when changing jobs.
Vouchers are the way to go as Sweden and Netherlands currently due. The problem is the court interfering in addition to the teacher unions dictating education policy to state legislators. In Florida our supreme court called it unconstitutional for kids to get vouchers if their school got failing grade for a few years. The recent bill to remove tenure in Florida was vetod by our Governor trying to get votes for his senatorial bid. He claimed it was because he did not want to hurt special needs kids due to the test bonus provision. I wish the legislator had separated the tenure and merit based section in separate bills. I personal thought the merit system was worthless one the best teach on average would get a 5% bonus on test scores, the worse would get a 2%. The real problem was the system thou would be different in each county (which are the school districts), but appeared it would be based on an annual test. One yearly test when a teach only has a kid for one year in no way to measure teacher performance. Although I am not a testing expert, I think one need at lest four test to have any worthwhile teacher/student performance date.
So our governors argument that it would hurt special needs was absolute nonsense. The law (or my understanding of it) gave the school districts the power to set up the details of the program. The districts could of made exceptions for special needs teachers. I think part of the problem is the communist laws in many states who require teachers to pay dues to the union (amoung all others). Changing that law alone alone would break much of the power of the unions in the north. If a teacher did not like what the union was doing they could opt out. Remove tenure would be the next step. To me the elimination of tenure would have significantly decreased the unions power in Florida.
Please ignore the bad grammer, the preview was not working:) That and writing is not one of my strong suties, I am a bean counter.
How did your parents (or whoever home-schooled you) respond to your writing?
“A Nation At Risk” was a stunning indictment on the state of public education in America 25 years ago. In “Waiting for Superman,” it appears little has changed in 25 years other than the excuses have gotten more creative.