Still Waiting For Superman

 Waiting For Superman, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim left me a bit disappointed. Guggenheim presents many appalling statistics highlighting the inadequacies in American public schools, particularly those in the inner cities. What makes these schools so horrible? I surmised from the film: poverty, bad teachers, and teachers’ unions.

The film is most compelling when it lets us hear from a few young students and their families as they speak of their hopes for a better education.  To achieve this, the families must rely on the randomness of lotteries. The lucky winners get to attend charter schools where teachers are good not bad. I could feel their desperation and held my breath as we witnessed the choosing.  Of course, not all the featured students were lucky; their fates remain intertwined with failing schools and bad teachers.

I don’t doubt Guggenheim’s statistics or his assertion that there are many inadequate teachers employed in our country’s public schools.  I take issue with his narrow and simplistic solutions.  I don’t believe that charter schools will solve the complex problems facing our public schools.  Yes, some work well and there are heroes like Geoffrey Canada. But many charter schools don’t work.

What else should be explored in fixing public schools?  Geoffrey Canada’s schools seem to succeed by embracing and guiding the family from the time of birth. Guggenheim presents teachers as good or bad.  Canada says seeing a great teacher is like watching a great athlete. But, what makes a teacher good? Guggenheim left much to be examined.