The American Public School System is broken. This is according to documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim who has his astonishing new film, Waiting for “Superman,” to offer as glaring evidence. The film points to the many core reasons the system is failing our children, from terrible teachers hiding behind their tenure to a bureaucratic structure that doesn’t allow for change or demand any accountability. Then the film takes the next step, like any successful documentary must, and offers ideas to change the dysfunction and showcases people who are fighting to make things right.
This eye-opening account takes us into the life of a group of children, all from different cities and circumstances, and paints a vivid picture of their surroundings and issues. What they all have in common is a need for a better education that seems to be out of their reach. Most of the kids attend decimated inner city schools. We meet Anthony who lives with his grandmother in Washington D.C., one of the nation’s worst school districts, and wants to attend a boarding school. There is Daisy, a young Latino girl from Los Angeles who dreams of becoming a veterinarian. There is Bianca from Harlem and little Francisco from the Bronx. Both have mothers that believe in the importance of a good education but neither have the means to obtain (purchase) it. Emily is the only kid living in an upper middle class neighborhood were the problems aren’t as noticeable (just look at the giant football stadium!) but are still very substantial and complex.
The real stars of the Waiting for “Superman” are the adults who have the ideas and methods to begin repairing the hobbled machine. Geoffrey Canada is a teacher who has started a charter school smack in the middle of the worst part of Harlem and is seeing wonderful results. Michelle Rhee is the superintendent of education in Washington D.C. who tries to right the ship but finds opposition from the unions behind every turn. David Levin and Mike Feinberg are the founders of the KIPP schools, which are free charter schools that have an amazing track record for preparing students for college.
Guggenheim presents these people as saviors that possess the ability to change the entire system. The answer seems to be these charter schools that are staffed with excellent teachers and structured differently than the schools of the past. These establishments do away with a tracking system that pigeon holes children and limits their opportunities and offers a curriculum that both challenges and rewards. The problem is that charter schools are few and the demand is high. The only way to remedy the problem is to admit the students through a lottery that consists of tumbling balls dropped from a cage. If your number is called, you are saved and if not then the dream of a bright future is all but lost. It’s a gamble that shouldn’t be allowed and what Waiting for “Superman” makes clear is that something has to change.
The film isn’t without flaws. By focusing on the problems of the inner cities to such a great extent, Guggenheim makes it seem as if the problems are centralized there. While he does give us Emily’s story set in the suburbs, all the other children are from underprivileged homes located in bad neighborhoods. These kids are important and their stories are heart wrenching and infuriating but the canvas should have been much larger. The woes of the middle class are not presented making the issues seem not as wide spread as they truly are. Also, while placing much of the blame on the convoluted ways of the unions, the film skims over the role the government has played. While touching on George W. Bush and Ted Kennedy’s false promise of “no child left behind” and the millions of dollars that change hands between lobbyists and campaign managers, Guggenheim skirts a major aspect of the entire messy complication.
The film is meant to be a starting point in the conversation on what to do next and in that, Waiting for “Superman” is a major success. The subject is confusing and the system is deeply damaged and the film works in placing many of the problems in front of you with paths and actions that we can take. The fact that there is much work to do is more than apparent and there is no Superman in sight to come and save us. Hope you have comfortable shoes because it looks as if you will still be waiting for a long time to come.
