Thursday, July 28, 2011

#616 - Waiting for Superman

Have you seen Waiting for Superman?  It's about how our school systems in America are failing the kids.   After seeing this, I think we really need to rethink tenure and teachers' unions.

For the most part, I had some pretty good teachers in school (elementary, middle school, high school).

I do remember one teacher who did not teach us anything and didn't really care because he had tenure...what a waste of my time and his.  They need to pay teachers more, but they also need to get rid of the bad ones.

Have you seen this movie?  What did you think?  I highly recommend it.

6 comments:

Pedaling said...

I saw the movie and loved it.
The schools and teachers will naturally step it up, care, and tow the line so much better with a little competition, free enterprise in place and more choices for the parents.
I believe in a free society and choices for parents regarding their children's schooling. Where I live there are more and more charter schools every year and it has proven to be a very positive thing for the entire community.
I was pleasantly surprised by the message of this film.

Bardsleyland said...

I saw this movie and, yes, I agree it's very moving, but there was something about it that felt manipulative. Embarrassing as it may sound, it kept me up at night thinking about it, so I started reading up on a lot of education reform issues and in the end, I think that movie is doing a huge disservice by over simplifying an extremely complex issue, and unfortunately the media is taking it and running with it, with hardly any serious investigation (was Michelle Rhee not last year's media darling?).

It's really easy to make bad teachers a scapegoat (and I'm not letting really poor teachers off the hook, nor teacher's unions that abuse their power), when things like standardized testing and poverty are much bigger problems with no easy solutions.

tvmom said...

Pedaling - I agree with you! Also, I'd love to send my kids to a charter school.

tvmom said...

Donna - I see your point too! It did feel a bit one sided and the director also directed inconvenient truth, so that got me.

It is a complex issue. I think that parents need to stand up for (help educate) their kids, but the parents of the kids' that need help the most are (usually) the ones that are MIA.

Brandon and Lindsay said...

Wanted to see it... I'll have to find it at Redbox? I started reading the book version (about the making of the documentary...) and couldn't get through it. I think the movie would be easier

Brandon and Lindsay said...

I'll let you know after I've seen it!

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