"Either the kids are getting stupider every year, or there is something wrong with the education system." Quoted in the trailer for "Waiting for Superman", Geoffrey Canada relates what we know as a society all too well: our country's school system is failing many of our childrens' present and future. The fundamental discussion, of course, is not the "what", because this is evident in drop-out and HS graduation rates, standardized testing scores, and countless anecdotal accounts from teachers in countless regions across America.
I would like to argue that the current question isn't even the "how"; we are exploring countless options, from charter schools to lottery systems, from national standards to teacher programs such as Teach for America and Baltimore City Teaching Residency. The current question is the "what trajectory are we currently on?" We can't examine how to best go about solving this multi-faceted, mind-boggling epidemic when we are still trying a plethora of options, few of which are unequivocally 'successful'. In this way, we haven't gotten to the point yet where we as educators, policy makers, and stakeholders (that's everyone) can say that we have a plan but just not the resources or the manpower.
No, what I think we need to do now is examine what kind of path this current "experimental" stage of reform is taking us on--we are really still in its infant state. What is the current state of school reform with respect to charter schools? Are charter schools that are essentially independent from the public school system the most effective? Will national standards help ease the stress from state or local school districts and allow resources to flow better elsewhere? What can attempting to seed clones of Harlem Children's Zone in other cities do there?
There are many questions, and of course I don't have many (or most) of the answers. These answers are also on the huge scale, when we have so much more to worry about on the micro (school/district/classroom) level. I am excited to see Waiting for Superman to see if it asks some of these questions in a way that makes it unavoidable for us as a country not to discuss them. We know the flame is lit and the discussion has started. I hope we are asking the right questions and not trying to accomplish everything as individuals, on small scales, in ways that are difficult to replicate or analyze. Mostly I hope that we can be glad that so many people care but realize that intentions don't get a student to achieve what they really need.
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I am so excited to see this! Although I do not expect a documentary to have all of the answers, but rather be what movies often are - an emotional appeal, and a way to get conversation started around the issue - some believe that Waiting For Superman should have created more substance in arguing how to fix education in our country (http://www.good.is/post/i-waiting-for-superman-i-a-mishmash-of-contradictions).
Let's leave the data and the details to the education reformers, and the narrative to the filmmaker. It's an unfair expectation to say that this film should propose an answer.
I'm more interested in how it does in the box office. A few years ago, when I was applying to Teach For America, education reform ranked 14th on America's priority list, under almost every other national issue: economy, jobs, immigration, religion, technology, etc.
Will this film be a box office sensation? I hope it is. Perhaps high box office profits would indicate a new type of energy (that accessible, feel-good energy one can only get from coming out of a movie instead of hearing about it in newspapers or on the news) among our nation to fix public education.
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