Labor & Employment Law

?Superman? Documentary Ignores Good Public Schools

By James Parks

The new documentary, ?Waiting for Superman,? powerfully portrays the pain of children and parents struggling in an education system that isn’t meeting their needs.  But it doesn’t tell the real story about public schools, and it doesn’t offer real solutions. 

The stories depicted in the documentary show that the opportunity for a great education should be a right, not come by chance or choice, according to the AFT. By focusing on a few bad schools, the film overlooks the millions of good public school teachers who are on the front lines every day and working hard to meet the needs of children in public schools. Despite his good intentions, director Davis Guggenheim has made a movie that is selective and incomplete, says AFT President Randi Weingarten.

 In an interview with Lloyd Grove on The Daily Beast, Weingarten says:

There are lots of incredibly good public schools around this country, and there are incredibly great teachers and there are more and more really interested, solution-driven contracts. And I think the fact that none of that is represented in the film is a problem with the film. 

At AFT?s convention in July 2010, Weingarten outlined a vision to ?build a system of public education as it ought to be.? She said real changes could be made by focusing on good teaching, creating a curriculum that provides opportunity for students to learn and sharing responsibility and accountability with parents and administrators.

Charter schools are not the silver bullet to save American education, either, Weingarten says:

The fact is, only 17 percent of charter schools are better than public schools and 38 percent are much worse. The film could have looked at different schools and investigated why they worked or didn?t work, but that probably wouldn?t have made great theater.

Weingarten says she hopes the film does motivate people to support real solutions to help all children get the education they deserve. You can read Grove?s interview with Weingarten here and her plan for our public schools here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 21, 2010 (boomark / email).