The social work program had a great outing to see the controversial film, “Waiting for Superman” on Sunday. Over 25 students and faculty attended and engaged in a lively conversation over dinner afterward. Conversations have continued on campus regarding this film. The film was so thought-provoking that instructor Marius Dancea has decided to take his entire research class to see the film.
So what is all the hype about? The film, through the personal stories of five children trying to gain admittance to charter schools, highlights the difficulties that public schools have had educating children in the U.S. We learn from the film that the United States ranks low among industrialized nations in terms of its test scores, with only a minority of students scoring at the highest levels of proficiency. We also learn that teachers’ unions sometimes make it difficult to hold teachers accountable for their classroom performance; we are told that this is important because teacher quality is the largest in-school factor determining student academic outcomes. We see that hundreds of families have tried to flee the traditional public schools to charter school, which often do not have to follow the rules of unions and the school districts, yet are still publicly funded. By removing some of the union and district restrictions, the movie argues that charter schools are able to better educate students by hiring and keeping only the best teachers and by instituting innovative yet common sense practices, such as a longer school day for students in areas where they behind academically, or by eliminating tracking, or in the most extreme cases, by providing a boarding school. We finally see that these innovative practices are only offered to a few students, thus leaving many people behind to languish in the public school system, which as the film presents, is failing horribly. Seeing some of the failures of public schools surely creates ire to those who have seen it, which is likely the reason for the strong feelings.
Some have argued that the film presents quite a biased story however. Diane Ravitch, an educational researcher at New York University and a one-time advocate of charter schools, has noted that the film leaves out quite a bit. For example, the film glosses over the fact that only 17% of charter schools are actually better than the local public schools they compete with. Thirty-seven percent are actually worse! Yet, the film provides these schools as a panacea for social ills. Richard Rothstein, an economist and educational researcher at Columbia University in New York notes that many of the issues that face public school students have nothing to do with the schools, but rather poverty, parental education, and racial inequalities. While the film notes that the largest in-school factor affecting student success is teacher quality, it fails to mention that researchers have found that over 60% of what predicts a student’s success occurs OUTSIDE of school. He also notes that the Harvard educated Geoffrey Canada is held up as a hero for what he has done in his charter schools in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City; what the film does not note is that he supports his students not only in the school, but also with 200 MILLION dollars worth of private donations to fund health and dental care, parenting classes, and other social services, all things that surely affect his outcomes just as much, if not more than the teachers in the classroom. Finally, Gail Collins of the New York Times notes that public schools are about the public good. Also, the NINETY PERCENT of Americans attend public schools and the majority of college graduates also had a public K-12 education. If they are failing so horribly how are we able to function as a society? The schools are not as bad as this alarmist movie argues, she contends. What Collins claims is truly lamentable is the way we subject poor minority families to the public humiliation of a lottery that the odds dictate that they are likely to lose. Why do we choose this cutthroat method rather than just providing a good public education (and health care, and jobs, and safe neighborhoods with services) for all Americans?
What I think is especially pathetic is that as a “free” country we boast about the amounts of freedoms we provide to our inhabitants, yet more and more information about education keeps coming up about how UNequal our society really is. Education is a PERFECT example of how we subliminally discriminate against the poverty-stricken communities. Schools are based on tax dollars. The more income in the community, the more tax dollars. The more tax dollars, the better funding. The better the funding, the better and more able education will be to help the individuals succeed. Yet in these poor communities, the education is horrendous because people are hired in poor conditions; we see these “employment” experiences come from under the table, or some times they are legally hired but they work several jobs and still cannot make ends meet–the list goes on and on. The point, however, is that those communities are EXTREMELY poorly funded, resulting in a poor education for those who care to have one. So, even though we provide many scholarships for college to different classes of people from different walks of life, we repress them to the point where they cannot dream of even getting past high school. My opinionated suggested reform has a hint of socialism to it, but I digress…. why not collect our tax dollars into either the state–or even the country if you want to go that big–and then redistribute that money EVENLY to each school? Only then can we really say that every child is given the opportunity, an EQUAL opportunity to education just the same as everyone else. Then the choice is theirs whether or not they want to succeed; HOWEVER, we must also realize that issues in the community need to be better addressed and worked out so that the students are not distracted by those communal issues. If we eliminate discriminatory setbacks to help immigrants become citizens, if we eliminate crime, abuse, and several other community issues, we give our society back the dignity they have been praying, begging, and fighting for all along. If we provide such a safe and effective environment for our children, they are more able to focus on their education and make their future successful. Perhaps I am dreaming of a perfect and unattainable world–but isn’t it worth advocating for?? Everyone has the potential to become independent and successful individuals, but they certainly do not have an equal opportunity to do so. Until they do, I do not personally think that America has the right to boast it’s freedom.
By: Cat S. on October 21, 2010
at 1:18 am
I was looking through this blog as I am interested in NEIU’s undergraduate social work program. This particular post piqued my interest, as the state of our current public education system stupefies many that take a step back to examine it. Government tapered school funding and public students’ were first to go with budget cuts (while any excuse will be made to pay for more bullets… but that’s a whole other debate) but that only scratches the surface. Apathetic teachers, indifferent students and misguided administration are also a part of the problem that drove the American education system into the ground.
I will definitely check out this movie as research on our schools and teachers. I also must recommend reading some of John Taylor Gatto’s work – especially “Dumbing Us Down,” which exposes the negative outcomes of compulsory schooling. He is a retired veteran teacher with almost three decades of experience, and his work inspires me to uproot the problem instead of trimming it like a weed and not expecting it to grow back and plague the stability of affordable education. I agree social factors play a large role – money cannot simply be pumped into schools but in teacher training, parent counseling, and after-school programs for students. I believe a real difference can be made with support of gov’t funding but with a humanistic interest of the individual.
By: Natalija on March 11, 2011
at 9:41 pm
Correction: Government tapered school funding and public students’ futures were first to go with budget cuts…
By: Natalija on March 11, 2011
at 9:43 pm