By now I am sure all of you have seen the trailers for Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere. In case you haven’t, you can view both of them below.
Waiting for Superman official website
Race to Nowhere official website
While I applaud these film makers for producing & distributing movies that address some of the issues surrounding the state of education in our country, I also have some concerns about these two films. To be fair, I have not seen either film in its entirety — but from the trailers and the information contained at each website, I do have a general idea about what each film is addressing.
Here are my two biggest concerns/questions:
Who is the intended audience for each film? How do the producers intend to expose the intended audience to the films? I am concerned, as I always am about documentaries about political/policy issues, that the films may only be seen by people who already understand and “believe.” In other words, if the films are created in order to affect change, how do the producers plan to ensure that the films are seen by people who don’t yet understand the problem addressed in the film?
How well does either film address the “outside of school” issues? It’s wonderful to be concerned about inequality in our schools and the issues related to an overemphasis on testing, accountability, and high achievement — but what about the issues related to the impact of poverty and lack of parental involvement/engagement. Before anyone starts giving me statistics on how “good teachers” can overcome those “out of school” factors let me say that I have heard those arguments many times before and I don’t completely agree. Nearly all of the charter schools given as examples for this are schools that have high parental involvement. I know that KIPP and YES achieve good results with students from low-income homes — but they also have parents who care enough to get their kids out of the public schools and into KIPP and YES. What about the kids who are left to fend for themselves because mom/dad/caregiver is absent and/or doesn’t care or support academic achievement?
I want to say again that I am supportive of efforts to document some of the major issues in education and to find ways to increase awareness and concern. However, I do have concerns about intentions, choices of which issues are addressed, and plans for distribution/viewing. I’m also a little burned out on the demonizing of teachers that seems to be the “in” platform for policy-makers, government officials, district administrations, and the general public. Maybe I’m completely wrong and perhaps my concerns are premature. Maybe the films will bring more awareness to some education issues and have a positive impact on efforts to improve our education system at all levels. I certainly hope so.
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