Our Children Shouldn't Have to be "Waiting for Superman"

As DC students get ready to head back to school, and many schools across the country have already started, I can't help but think about a movie I saw a preview viewing of a few weeks ago - "Waiting for Superman". This documentary could rock the education world - and I hope it does.

I spend a lot of time thinking about early childhood education. Not only is it near and dear to my heart because of my own children, but I am constantly trying to reconcile my belief in public education with the fact that I am choosing not to send Connor to a public school next year, though he is eligible to attend. I am a product of public education, as are nearly all of my friends, and I have many fond memories of it. But when I was thinking about what Connor would do in the Fall, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to keep him at his Waldorf school. Sending him somewhere else was more than my psyche could manage.
When I checked out the trailer to "Waiting for Superman", I knew I was going to love it. What I didn't know is that more than once, I'd find myself in tears (and no, I am NOT pregnant!) over the children in the film. These are real people facing terrible schooling situations. They rely on lotteries to get out of their inadequate neighborhood school, and the odds of getting out are slim.These kids are going to schools where one-third of the students will leave proficient in Math and Reading. ONE-THIRD. Or less.

This film makes a fantastic case for the need to improve our public schools. There are some truly awful ones out there; a lot of them. Michelle Rhee, chancellor of DC public schools, is featured in the film. And if you have a child that will attend a DC public school, you should definitely go see this film to see what Rhee has to say about the school system. She's clearly working hard to make big changes, and she's been successful at some key reforms. These include trimming the bureaucracy so she can spend more money on students and revising the pay system and tenure system for DC teachers. I believe she cares, and I believe she's doing her best, but while parents wait for results and reform, more and more children are getting what she terms "a crappy education". At some point, it has to stop. Or at least I hope it does. Education reformer Geoffrey Canada points out both in the film and after the film as he led a discussion, giving principals the ability to get rid of ineffective teachers is essential to the success of our schools. In the case of children, we just can't afford the dead weight. Eric Hanushek makes the same point based on research he's doing. In fact, Professor Hanushek's research shows that if we got rid of the worst 10 percent of our teachers, our students would rank amonst the best in the world, rather than falling embarrassingly below averages in other countries. My friend Marya is an absolute expert in this stuff, but I can never get her to indulge me as much as I want because um, it's her job, and when she goes out to dinner, she is a normal person who likes to talk about things other than her job. But I've learned A LOT from her. She should've been in the movie. And that's my only criticism of the film.

So why did I cry? I cried because I cannot believe that in this country we are allowing children to attend subpar schools. We know that these children may never learn to read. We know that they may come out of high school without the skills to succeed in college. We are, in effect, deciding that some kids just aren't worth a decent education. And I think that's sad. The problem is, we know the answer is to get good teachers in every classroom, but as a society, we just can't seem to get that done.

It's time to redouble efforts and figure it out. And in the meantime, our failure to make change effects real people who will ultimately have a very small shot at a good education. Let's stop spending time dickering about curriculums and whether they should contain teachings on evolution. Let's spend that energy getting good bodies into these important jobs. But don't believe me on this one. Go see the film. And take a look at test scores from public schools near you.

Honesty Clause: I received a free ticket to attend a preview showing of this movie. I was not asked, nor required, to write about the film. The opinions expressed here are my own. Many thanks for the ticket. It was an evening well spent.