Blog post 4: Opinion on "Waiting for Superman".

 

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     In the early 80's Jean Anyon wrote "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work". Jean was concerned for the way children were being educated. Over 30 years have gone by. In 2010 a documentary was created called "Waiting for Superman" about our ever failing school systems. 

     I was disturbed to see that not much has changed. We are still battling issues of a failing education system in the richest country in the world. In this documentary they showed some of the worst reading scores in our country. Our nations own capital was at the top of this list.

  Why has nothing changed? Millions of children are dropping out of school, and the ones who graduate are hardly prepared to go on to a four year college.  Waiting for Superman analyzed these questions and many more, the results were alarming.

     The documentary showed how even though one teacher in a district may not be doing a great job, another may be doing a good job, they are both getting paid the same. The one doing the bad job can not be fired due to tenure. 

     These teachers with poor teaching skills will continue to teach our children.  Maria, the mother of Francisco, only realized that her own education was poor growing up when she went to college. Her college education taught her more about the system. If you are lucky enough to get your child into a charter school, your child may have a chance. The lottery system is used to pick each student.  Most of us send our children to public school and hope our children's teachers are doing a good job.

      I moved my family last year to Bethlehem, not a big city like New York City or Philadelphia, but a city just the same.  Many children that attend my sons school come from a housing project. I bring this fact up because of a struggle I faced last year with a teacher in the district.  My son was barely getting homework and was not feeling challenged enough. When I met with his teacher to ask why, she told me because most of the children come from housing and the parents don't care. The homework wont get done, so why bother.  I made her send home extra work each day for my son and worked with him at home. I also experienced "bad teacher" issues when my children were in a suburban district.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I do feel while the school system does fail at times, so do parents. I can see this as an epidemic we need to handle as leaders, as parents, as teachers,we all must protect are children from falling through the cracks of the system.