Waiting For Superman: A Brief Analysis

                Last Friday I watched the documentary “Waiting for Superman.”  The documentary is credited as the spark which has ignited the current debate on education.  The documentary material reminded me of a cinematic version of Jonathan Kozol’s (1992) book, “Savage Inequalities”, which chronicled some of the worst cases of inequality in schools across the country. 

                The recurrent theme of the documentary was there are not enough quality public schools in districts across the country for low income children.  Therefore, parents have to rely on the few quality charter schools that have a limited number of seats.

The documentary claims the reason why there are not enough quality schools is due to barriers such as: 1) an outdated bureaucratic system based on an industrialized model and 2) a powerful Teacher Union that has the ability to impede reform efforts such as teacher accountability, merit pay, and changes to the tenure process.  However, the documentary oversimplifies the systemic issues imbedded in public education and leads the audience to believe that if these barriers are removed, public education will improve, but that may not be the case. Missing from the documentary are two glaring factors that were downplayed: 1) the role of the parent and 2) the economic devastation of job loss in urban communities.  These factors are contributing to the lack of school preparedness and lack of positive attitudes towards learning among many youth in urban communities.

The documentary failed to directly address the vital role parent (s)(or guardian) play in the development of positive attitudes towards learning.  A child’s first teacher is their parent.  This was evident in the portrayal of the parent(s)/guardians the documentary followed.  However, the documentary downplayed the struggles families (single & nuclear) and guardians face raising young children and keeping them educationally motivated.  The documentary provided a glimpse of the struggles (paying tuition, keeping informed on progress, etc), but failed to address issues such as the lack of education of the parent/guardian, and the inability to move to a neighborhood with a better school system.

Finally, the documentary failed to address the loss of jobs in urban communities and the devastating impact this has had on families.  The loss of jobs in urban communities has been responsible for the erosion of the tax base which funds local districts.  The loss of jobs in urban communities has also impacted the family unit, and the loss of jobs has led to the increase in crime, delinquency, and poverty.  When the documentary discussed failing high schools and how many can be considered “drop out factories,” the documentary failed to address how the exorbitant unemployment rate in these communities contributes to the hopelessness and apathy towards education many youth in these so called drop out factories feel. 

“Waiting for Superman” can be commended for bringing the plight of youth in urban public schools to the forefront of the national education debate.  Unfortunately, the documentary failed to provide the audience with a true picture of the systemic barriers in public education and in the urban communities where a majority of failing districts reside.