Currently, there are two documentaries out that focus on the problems in today’s educational system: “Race to Nowhere” and “Waiting for Superman.” Both movies are poignant and emotional. Both make a strong case for why the system is failing and offer solutions for improvement. That is where the similarities end.
“Race to Nowhere” focuses on how children, starting from kindergarten, are facing tremendous pressure to excel in school and extra-curricular activities in order to get into a good college–told by society that if they don’t, they won’t be able to get a high paying job and thus their entire lives will be ruined.
Of course, no one can be the best at everything all the time, and the film interview several children who have developed emotional problems or are physically ill from the pressure. They also interview children who have become despondent and just given up trying because they can’t live up to the expectations.
“Nowhere” doesn’t blame teachers or parents, it blames society at large: Americans obsession with the “best” and the fact that Americans tend to confuse wealth with happiness and quantity with quality. “Nowhere” is also highly critical of the notion that all kids must be college bound, and all kids must excel in math or science in order to get a good job when they grow up.
“Nowhere’s” solution is for schools to give less quantity of school work/homework and instead focus on meaningful quality assignments. The belief is that the only way for children to be emotionally and physically healthy is to have a balanced life, with plenty of time for family and fun. By having a more balanced life, kids will then enjoy school more and thus do better.
“Waiting for Superman” plays exactly into what “Race to Nowhere” is critical of. “Superman” focuses primarily on poor, urban communities, but mentions that upper middle class areas face the same problems. It maintains that if children don’t get into good charter schools, then go onto college, they will wind up criminals with no hope for a good life. The film interviews several very small children (1st, 2nd and 3rd graders) who are devastated because they didn’t get into a charter school and now think their lives are forever ruined.
“Superman” stresses that without a college education, and without being good in math and science, there is no hope for a job since currently most new U.S. jobs are being developed in the technology sector.
A big portion of “Superman” is spent blaming the bloated bureaucratic government system and teachers unions for all of the problems in education. The solution Superman lays out is eliminating teacher’s unions and making all schools charter schools, with longer school days and more homework.
Both movies may be a little extreme in their biases. In the movie review I did of “Race to Nowhere” last week, I said that I whole heartedly agree with the movie’s premise of failure and solutions. But, the movie does turn a blind eye to the fact that there are some issues with poor teachers who cannot be fired. It also ignore the fact that most American middle class jobs are being outsourced these days, leaving few job options for the up and coming generation.
“Waiting for Superman” totally ignores why children become despondent and uninterested in education. It assumes the problems lie in poor teaching quality and doesn’t take into account that it could be the children’s inability to cope with social pressure to perform.
I strongly disagree with “Superman’s” solutions. Statistically speaking, charter schools are no better than regular public schools. Yes, there are some excellent charters, as well as some terrible charters, but most are in the middle—just like regular public school. The schools that consistently outperform both charters and regular public schools are magnet schools.
And magnet schools have teacher’s unions, so unions are clearly not the evil culprit the movie makes them out to be. Yes, the teacher unions are indeed protecting a handful of bad teachers, but the unions do more good than bad and should not be dismantled. The ideal solution would be for the unions to develop a fair teacher review system and to give principals discretion to fire the lowest performing educators.
While “Superman” talks a lot about the highly competitive 21st century job market, it doesn’t address the elephant in the room: job outsourcing. Maybe parents and educators should consider pressuring the government to change the laws/tax codes in ways that discourage job outsourcing. After all, don’t we have a duty to our children to make sure there are jobs for them when they grow up? To guarantee that artistic kids or kids who are not college bound can also find work as adults?
Images: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/upload/2009/12/new_documentary_race_to_nowher/rl_postcard_webrd1.jpg and http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTI3ODUxODE0M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODM0NzU0Mw@@._V1._SX214_CR0,0,214,314_.jpg
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Christi Grab is Parentella’s Editorial Director and author of The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People Part 1 – San Diego to Australia. She is currently working on book two of the series.
Related posts:
- Waiting for Superman: A Convenient Truth?
- “Race to Nowhere” Movie Review
- Race to the Top Round 2 Winners Announced
- Is A Charter School The Right School For Your Child?
- What, Exactly, Is A Charter School?
Tags: Education Reform, extra curricular activities, Homework, Mental Health, movie reviews, physical health, quality of education, Race to Nowhere, Standardized testing, stress, Teachers Unions, Waiting for Superman
Wow, you got right on that! I agree with your assessment of both movies, and while I’m a bit more hesitant to jump on any charter v. magnet bandwagon, I love your solution to the teachers union issues.
Question: do magnets allow for the same sort of blind acceptance that a charter lottery does?
Some magnet schools have an application system, but most are a blind lottery system. The original purpose of magnet schools was to integrate different races/culture, so in the old days there were X slots for each race and there were separate lotteries by race. A couple years ago, the supreme court ruled this practice illegal, so race is no longer a factor. However, some have replaced race with socio-economic neighborhoods. So, they take X number of kids from each neighborhoods and have separate lotteries based on neighborhood. I go into detail about all this in my magnet school post. http://blog.parentella.com/2009/magnet-school-right-school-your-child/
RT @ShellTerrell: “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/96PPXD via @parentella
RT @ShellTerrell “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/96PPXD via @parentella
RT @WeAreTeachers: RT @ShellTerrell: “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/96PPXD via @parentella
RT @WeAreTeachers: RT @ShellTerrell: “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/96PPXD via @parentella
RT @WeAreTeachers: RT @ShellTerrell: “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/96PPXD via @parentella
A look at the movies “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/bRLKAI
RT @Parentella: A look at the movies “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/bRLKAI
now i have to see RTN RT @Parentella: A look at the movies “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/bRLKAI
RT @akilbello: now i have to see RTN RT @Parentella: A look at the movies “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/bRLKAI
RT @Parentella: A look at the movies “Race to Nowhere” vs. “Waiting for Superman” http://bit.ly/bRLKAI
[...] seen both movies, I loved Christi’s comparison of Race to Nowhere vs. Waiting for “Superman.” It wasn’t so much the statistics or the message of “Superman” that [...]
The “solution” or problem description for “Race to Nowhere” seems off base and geared almost exclusively to white, upper middleclass performance values, and isn’t relevant for innercity children and schools. In those locations, it’s not about going to college, but about becoming a functioning member of society.
While I don’t agree with the premise that all kids belong in charter schools, which by the way is a misstatement of the message in Superman, I don’t think you can conclusively argue against teacher’s unions being a significant part of the problem in public school education. If removing 6% to 10% of the teachers who are not producing results in the classroom exponentially improves the education system in the United States, there is no justification for the unions to force the continuation of those teacher’s contracts.
It’s not about the teachers. It’s about the children. If we can keep that in perspective, everything comes into focus.
Mark:
First, thank you for stopping by and I agree. We have to make it about the children and keeping that focus is critical for any “meaningful” change in Education.
Aparna
Well, I’ve seen Superman and next week I’ll see Race to Nowhere. I’ll let you know what I think afterwards – but I must say, the system is a mess the way it is.
States with teacher unions are much more successful academically, those contoversial test scores prove this. The unions have their place at the table. Ask the teachers in non-union states about their achievement. Charter school also have their place for specialized instruction. However, when there are too many charter schools and all the “ggod” students flock to these, our public education system will be decimated. If this happens, we will regret it.
Thank you for an insightful comparison and reasonable balanced solutions.
I just wanted to mention that outsourcing of functions does not reduce employment. When a company outsources its Human Resources to ADP or Administaff, it is freed to work on its core competencies. The jobs at these outsource vendors are as good or better than those within the HR departments of companies who do not outsource.
Many product companies have only one mechanical engineer. It makes more sense for companies to outsource mechanical design to an outsource vendor. The mechanical engineers working for the specialized vendor have peers with whom s/he can collaborate. Ideo here in Palo Alto CA is an outstanding outsource design vendor with an international reputation for innovative designs.
Companies have long outsourced legal and accounting work; the people who find jobs in law and accounting firms have excellent careers.
There are many problems with the economy, jobs, and education. Outsourcing is NOT one of them.
Regards,
Jacky Hood
Director, College Open Textbooks
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