The man who gave us “An Inconvenient Truth” has some more inconvenient
things to tell us
This time, documentarian Davis Guggenheim is targeting the U.S public
school system with his film, currently titled “Waiting for Superman.”
Worldwide rights for the film have been acquired by Paramount Vantage,
the studio announced today.
The news release doesn’t mention a title, which means the name could
change between now and later this year when the documentary will hit
theaters nationwide.
“Superman” is set to bow at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
Liberals embraced “Truth” for its call to arms regarding global
warming, or climate change as it’s now known. Heck, tomorrow it might
be dubbed The Earth is Cooling Slightly But Let’s Panic Anyway.
But conservatives, who often critique the state of the public school
system, might find a new hero in Guggenheim this time around. The film
allegedly places much of the blame on the teachers unions. It remains
to be seen how left-leaning film reviewers will receive a film that
doesn’t echo their principles.
Need help finding a good movie to rent? Unsure which blockbuster is
worth your cold cash? Check out WhatWouldTotoWatch.com
I’m on Twitter, too — twitter.com/totomovies
(ed. post title and pic courtesy of Floyd)
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Considering the leap from inanity to amazing Guggenheim made from “Truth” to It Might Get Loud, optimistic for Waiting for Superman. Cautiously, but optimistic nonetheless.
I married into a family of teacher union members. I don’t know what linguistic link is shared between “teachers union” and “incessant, hurried crying and whining,” but it’s there, I’m sure of it.
They love talking shop with me.
“Super Freakonomics” does some nice work demonstrating the trend towards the lowering of teachers’ I.Q.’s in the 20th century. Many teachers are unhappy about the frank discussion of the cold, hard facts outlined in that book.
By any measure, national statistics on education have steadily declined in direct correlation with President Jimmy Carter’s federalization of education. Correlation is not, necessarily causation, but it would be great to see an honest documentary examine much of the nonsense in the system.
And, in some vindication for home schoolers, Mrs. Firefly was recently talking to family in Germany. For over 4 decades the Germans have been big on lots of hours in the classroom, including Saturdays, and lots of homework. Funny thing was, somebody started looking at the data and it was not doing anything to help students’ intelligence nor preparedness for life and work. Germany now is scaling back mandatory hours of attendance and greatly reducing homework loads.
Rufus, how was “Superfreakanomics?” It keeps staring at me in the local bookstore …
I probably wouldn’t home school my kids, mainly for socialization, but most I’ve met have been very smart and well educated. They didn’t have to sit through the plethora of bullshit I had to contend with in public school. Focus helps. Of course, there are exceptions, and I’ve met a few home school kids I don’t think had ever been out of the house.
JohnFN,
The socialization issue is a distraction; a parent concerned about that aspect can supply far superior socialization opportunities for their child than are provided by the public schools. Church youth groups, local clubs, scouting, home schooling associations are just a few of the options available to home schooling families. The primary problems with public school socialization is that it fails to maintain appropriate behavioural norms (and many of the norms it does maintain are antithetical to parental goals for their children) and falls prey to the problem of socializing children to a narrow age-cohort rather than to the adult world.
I am confident you know better than to form expectations of how you would home school by how others do (those kids you doubt have ever been out of the house.) Socialization is something your children should model from you rather than the class Bart Simpson or Nelson Muntz. Depending on where you live and the time/funds available a home schooling family can utilize area historical sites (battlefields, e.g.) museums and the like, especially if you call for study before and after the visit rather than just going for a tour. Colonial Williamsburg, if convenient, is a site well worth your family’s time and reasonably inexpensive — costing less than any amusement park.
And you are right about home schooled kids not wasting time on BS — an adage amongst home schoolers is “we do it until we get it right, and then move on.” An individual spends only as much time on a topic — be it history or algebra — as they need to grasp it and then moves on; but they don’t move on with concepts only partially grasped. They are not held up by a classroom’s failure to apprehend in 3 days something the individual learned on day one, nor are they forced to move on with a concept only partially understood (say, converting fractions to decimals) because the class has already “spent too much time” on it. Home schools are not tied to a curriculum, scope or sequence dictated by anything other than the aptitudes and interests of individual children.
On the topic of this post, it is important to point out that many teachers are intelligent, caring, competent instructors constrained by their union, which protects incompetence, induces apathy and impedes change. The problem is not the individual members of the profession/union, it is the systemic effects of the union’s existence.
RES, I don’t know who you are, but you are my new best friend.
Rufus, I’m off to the Chicago Public Library website to reserve SuperFreakonomics. I’ve been meaning to anyway; you gave me the final nudge to quit forgetting already.
JohnFN, if ever you find yourself in Chicago, give me a yell. The Urban Kids and I would be more than happy to chat you up about our week — Spanish, soccer, art, piano, swimming, playdates, hanging out on the playground, etc. (lest cyberspace not translate the tone, the offer is meant affectionately, not confrontationally) =-)
Also, Urban Dad has been a Chicago Public Schools teacher for 18 years. If anyone wants an *earful* about the worthlessness of the teachers’ union, pop by some weekend.
Both my grandparents on my mother’s side were teachers. Neither were union members. (Nor are they AARP members).
My union was affiliated with one of the major national teacher’s unions. At a conference in DC I was assigned to talk to Ted Stevens and try to convince him vouchers were a bad thing. He explained in detail why in Alaska, which has a vast rural area, that vouchers were needed. In the end, I thought he had a better argument than I. So much for my lobbying efforts.
UM – Beloved Spouse & I home schooled our daughter after midway through 6th grade — at least in part because she was screaming frustration over her “accelerated” math class spent 3 weeks on negative numbers, which was 2 weeks and 4 days longer than our daughter thought necessary.
The most amazing thing about home schooling is how much you see once you step outside the mainstream.
I find one of the greatest insults paid our teachers is the idea that a slightly higher salary would attract “better” teachers to the field; while I am sure more money would be appreciated my experience is that the best teachers are not doing it for the pay. Suggesting otherwise seems akin to tipping your doctor.
I took a job as a public school teacher some years ago in a poorly performing school. My idealism convinced me I could improve the lives of these kids for the better by being a positive, supportive adult in their lives. My first day, a teacher recommended I join the union so that WHEN a kid “took a swing at me” I’d have somebody in my corner. I broke up a few fights that year, but no one took a swing at me. The unions certainly have their fair share of the blame, but the system itself is hopelessly broken. This should be an interesting film. There’s a woman who blogs about homeschooling her four kids at http://www.pioneerwoman.com.
Karen L., unfortunately it is almost impossible to make up for parents who do not care for their children. Every once in awhile a teacher can reach a kid in that situation, and it’s fantastic that there are teachers willing to put up with all the difficulties and disappointment until they do, but it is so, so hard. Broad, sweeping policies won’t fix problems like these. It takes people like you, working very hard to fix one kid at a time.
Thanks!