Thursday, March 28, 2013
Waiting for Superman
My class has just finished reviewing Waiting for Superman. While this movie is very controversial in terms of how teachers are depicted and their role in educational reform the issue of race are ignored. For this round of posts, please discuss how you see race as relevant to the issues of educational reform in urban areas.
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When it comes to the issues of education reform, the main focus is on minorities. Within the movie “Waiting for Superman”, it was stated that 97 of the worst schools were located in central Harlem, which specifically resides a lot of Spanish and African American people. In addition, a majority of the population was made with of minorities. In this urban space, it’s seen as a jungle in a color blind society because “ many of our policy makers view children in[such] urban areas as unworthy of the right to an education, and ultimately only useful for low wage labor or fueling the prison industrial complex”(Leonardo/Hunter,2007, p.789). Nevertheless, education for minorities was not fully addressed as society like Harlem would want it to be.
ReplyDelete“Educators who deal with [this] urban [space] are constructed as sophisticated, but the urban students and families themselves are not” (Leonardo/Hunter,2007, p.782 ). Because students and families live in these spaces, they’re considered ghetto and a waste of time to put such effort as well as funding into the students. Therefore, the concept of good versus bad teacher comes into play. In my opinion, we can assume from the movie that a good teacher is someone from a similar background of their students. These educators possibly didn’t have the same opportunities and/or want students to get out of the mindset that they can only succeed within the means of their neighborhood. Minorities and urban schools are in a sink or swim situation when it comes to education reforms. However, the foundation of charter schools has gradually changed the perspective for minorities and living beyond the stereotype that their race doesn’t have a chance of educational success.
After watching this video I realized that when it comes to education in America, as a nation we are performing poorly. I believe a lot of children are being cheated out of a well-rounded education no matter the race, however, when it comes to minorities we are not being cheated because we are not even apart of the game we are being blatantly ignored. We tell our children and students that education is the key to success and getting out but we are lying to them especially if they attend a public school. Watching this video made me angry and sad that in order to get a great education for our children we must pay or put ourselves and our children through the uncertainty and pain that comes with entering into a lottery in order to get into these charter schools. Blacks and Latinos are afterthoughts when it comes to funding. I visited an international school in Brooklyn and I could not believe the resources they had. Each child had a Mac laptop, teachers worked together to create lessons and they were engaging. I don’t see that at other schools I visit. The lunches they eat aren’t enticing. Their way of discipline often isolates the child and prevents them from learning and minority children are ignored and labeled as having a disability. There’s this one student I’ve been observing who is Mexican and his father is an alcoholic and hits his children. The principal knows this but the child has been at this school for two years now and he still lives at home. At school he acts out but he is very smart and yet they label him as having mental issues but he hasn’t been diagnosed, yet he is being treated as this dysfunctional child who doesn’t even deserve to eat lunch with the rest of his classmates but with the principal. It really saddens me how quick teachers and school officials tend to label minority children with disabilities because they don’t want to deal with the child and they believe the problem is within the child and not themselves. It amazes me how the government clearly knows the issues of minority communities but yet the problems aren’t being fixed. They see us as a commodity. If they don’t teach us, if they don’t give us other options then we feel our hands are tied and we have to conduct illegal operations in order to survive, yet they provide us with these illegal products and if we get caught we go to jail, while they make a substantial amount of money off of us by having us work for little to nothing for big corporations making their products or we kill each other in the process; eliminating us. While others continue to work hard every day for little pay and struggle to put food on the table. Often times the food that we can put on the table is high in sodium, oily but cheap and so we die from diabetes and clogged arteries because we can’t afford health insurance in order to be educated by our doctors. Either way they win!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Michelle's post. Its quite disgusting to see the treatment of minority students in the education system. They deserve as much rights of an education compared to other students that are not in same position. In addition, I believe the whole role of good versus bad teacher comes into play with the student Michelle mentioned that was supposedly treated as dysfunctional. A good teacher would take the extra mile for the well being of their students because in my opinion what the principal is currently doing with that student doesn't seem like proper protocol. Towards some extent I feel as if teachers don't understand the position they take on as a teacher. It's just not a 8 to 4pm job in which you serve the students specified curriculum and call it a day. However, it seem as if certain teachers, school officials, and the list goes on think in that mindset and that why urban schooling and minorities are in the place they're currently in. As of right now charter schools look like the only type of success and progression for students
DeleteThe push to outsource public education in the form of charter schools in New York City and other urban centers has given rise to corporate charter chains with names that include words like success, academy, prep, and leadership. They promise high test scores in poor neighborhoods of color, where zone public schools are often failing. However, unlike public schools, they have the ability to select only students whose parents can and will attend mandatory school meetings and exclude students with special needs or who are English Language Learners, making it much easier for them to have higher scores than the public schools in the same area. They also have private money in addition to public to fund smaller class sizes and better supplies and are not held to the same curriculum requirements as public schools.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the success preps and leadership academies spend lots of money on ad campaigns targeting poor neighborhoods of color with glossy marketing campaigns showcasing happy, uniform-wearing children with bowties eager to learn and get high marks. Parents are basically told that if they want their child to succeed in life, their only chance is to attend this charter school.
The real problem is that these charter chains, often run by a business person with no ties to the communities that they serve, come into poor, urban black and latino neighborhoods and say they are the only hope; they are the only road to wealth and success. Then, they proceed to dress the children in little uniforms, threaten the parents of underperforming kids and drill the kids with “proven” rote-learning style methods that will ensure better test scores, but they aren’t shaping the curriculum around their students’ cultures or teaching critical thinking or looking at history through the lens of their students’ backgrounds. These corporate charter chains take a deficit approach to education; they come into a neighborhood (often poor and black or latino) and just see a problem. They practice an assimilation, banking education model, where it is about the teacher creating a homogenous classroom and filling it full of the knowledge necessary to get high test scores so the school can claim its success. While there are some charter schools that are the exception, most of them do not honor their students’ cultures and backgrounds or make an effort to find the strengths that exist within the community. Instead, they are isolated from the community and expect their students to reject their backgrounds in favor of the pursuit of a “way out to success.” It plays into the reductive thinking about entire communities that Kelley cautioned against. This does not empower the students or the communities where they the charter schools located. Covello and Michie would both question the kind of school that is exclusive and superior in its attitude toward the community where it is located.
I agree Guin. The Educational System needs to look at the history, cultural backgrounds and use it as a lesson plan in the classroom. By involving cultural backgrounds in the classroom, it provides more interests in students and can improve their thinking skills. Also, teachers would know how to deal with children living in the urban areas.An improvement is definitely needed in learning courses.
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ReplyDeleteChildren in today’s society are at risk if the Educational System doesn’t improve. I would have never imagined the US was at the top bottom if I didn’t watch this video. The video states the US spends more money on prisoners then schools. Instead of spending money on prisoners, what the system needs to do is reform the teacher’s unions rules and provide different routes to teaching. Also children should be the first alternative over teachers.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching the video Waiting for Superman, first question came to mind. How can we as parents, teachers, and the Educational System improve schooling in urban areas? If lower income homes failed to motivate and prepare children for educational success then schools should develop a program for children who parents lack with concern for their child’s education. Even though they developed charter schools however, children are picked by lottery in which parents who are concern about their child’s education are hoping and praying that their child is picked. The statistics states in the US students ranking 25 in math, 21 in reading out of 30 developed nations, and 2,000 American High Schools are listed as drop outs. The educational system is dysfunctional and needs a big improvement. The Educational System needs to examine children’s cultural backgrounds, improve test-prep programs, engage in interesting subjects, and stress academic achievement. Hopefully, No Child Left Behind reaches its goal.
This video does offer shocking results of a system that is failing children. Though public schools were demonized in this film, I am not so sure that the public school System is the only entity at fault here. Just as there are public schools that are failing there are public schools that are thriving. The location and the population of students in these schools says a lot about our system. For instance which children will be successful and which ones will end up in prison. I agree that the school system needs to improve. Creating a system that will educate all children no matter what cultural or economic background they come from is a great start.
DeleteSandy and Latisha, I agree with both of you. It is so frustrating when the problem of failing schools is reduced to the school and there is no consideration given to the historical, social, racial and economic factors that are the root of the problem. Charters tend to focus only on increasing test scores and ignore all of the other issues facing the communities where they are located.
DeleteThere is an article in the New York Times today about Tennessee's approach to failing schools in poor, black areas, mostly in Memphis: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/education/crucible-of-change-in-memphis-as-state-takes-on-failing-schools.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp.
They are outsourcing the management of several failing schools to charter corporations like Kipp and Aspire Charter Academies. Most of the teachers in these schools that they seek to turn around are new, white teachers from Teach for America who will get performance pay and no tenure. The article briefly mentions criticism that the state is not considering black teachers who have more experience teaching in the communities where these changes are being implemented. However, criticism of the charter school, testing focused approach is frequently dismissed as teachers union members who are just trying to make sure teachers don't have to work hard or parents in communities that don't know any better. When you criticize these charter corporations, you are often represented as someone who doesn't have the students' best interests at heart. The "whatever it takes" approach that charter corporations capitalize implies that if you don't support charters, then you are not willing to do "whatever it takes" to see poor children of color succeed - that you don't care about them. It is hard to argue against a system that is set up to succeed through circular logic - these schools will get higher test scores (but not as high as they promise) if they focus only on test scores. What they can't and aren't measuring is if they are preparing students to think critically, affect change in their communities and develop a love of learning independently. Schools in rich, white communities focus do focus on critical thinking, cultural studies and developing students who can become global leaders and agents of change. Students develop their own interests and love of learning and are encouraged to construct projects around their own thoughts and ideas. Their points of view are valued and there is a place for them to contribute their own ideas and shape their own learning. The charter schools that target poor kids of color would never fly in wealthy white neighborhood. Charter corporations are shorting the students in communities of color and their approach is praised by the media and policy makers. If we are going to put all this money and energy into failing schools - shouldn't we seek to make them really great educational institutions? How can show in this data-driven, test-score focused educational system that critical thinking skills, community building and developing confident, independent learners has the greatest impact on students and communities?
In spite of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Ed. the struggle still goes on. Go into any urban school and it is clear that 59 years later, the schools have remained segregated and Unequal. We hear over and over again that incompetent teachers cause students to fail But in Waiting for Superman David Gugenheim states that its economic disparity that causes him to pass by 3 public schools while driving his children to their private school. If those private school teachers we're moved to the public school, the students staying the same, would he have his children follow their teachers? I doubt it. Economic disparity trumps teacher ability. An urban teachers day involves trying to juggle the one-on-one attention needs of too many at risk children while trying to teach all the children the skills required for academic success. This explains why so many effective urban teachers burn out and head to the suburbs as soon as they can.
ReplyDeleteFive kids had to depend on a lottery system to see if they're picked to attend a much higher performing charter schools and all but of the students are from racial minorities. That basically speaks for itself. I feel race should not matter and that achievement problems stem from poverty and students who move often from school to school. The focus should not be on race but on teaching students core subjects , especially reading. What will make one school a good school and another a good school are different however much of solution in my opinion comes down to identifying, preparing and SUPPORTING good teachers. Also we must rely on what the research tells us about the importance of preschool and listen to what it tells us. As in the movie, many charter schools and voucher programs we're grassroots movements that did start with minority communities that were fed up with the education system. So people need to demand it. I think teachers also need to support parents as well especially white teachers /minority parents thinking they aren't educated or cant read. or who don't focus on the importance of schools. Chilldren come from a wide variety of situations, the districts must engage those parents, I have yet to meet a parent that doesn't think education is important.
As I watched the movie superman, I came to realized that students from the urban society are being treated lesser throughout their education. Whereas, other students with better opportunities has a different education compared to the lower class. In the United States, the education system is not equal like other countries such as London were everyone obtains the same education. Our education system is all about social class and economic groups, the better taxes your community pays the greater resources that community will receives for their peers. To my knowledge, even though, they tried to create charter school to provide a better education than public school. I feel that it’s not being equalized because their ways of choosing students to enroll in their school, do not provide everyone within that community the same opportunities to obtain a superior education or that success they portrayed themselves to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I feel that the question of why these school were low performing and how that could be changed was never really answered. Rather the focus was on the lottery for the kids to get into a good school. Also the problem is that the kids have been a educated in a bad system all of their lives and so the issue needs to be addressed from when they start kindergarten and what resources do those institutions have or don't have to truly help these kids.
DeleteWaiting for Superman, is a touching documentary regarding and connecting viewers to the problems and challenges within the schooling system of our country. The ineffective and destructive methods are emphasized and introduced in the documentary and primarily placed on inadequate teachers, failing policies, limited resources, as well as ongoing blame thrown around resulting in a standstill associated with bad education practices and limited successful student outcome.
ReplyDeleteAs it comes to race educational reform was ignored concerning academic performance and academic inequality in this documentary. Educational reforms and a range of politicized academic policies and programs such as NCLB do not directly deal with the difficulties minority groups or low-income families face on the daily basis attempting to provide better education for the children. Unfortunately, when it comes to developing an understanding of the paths educators, parents, and policy makers need to take very insignificant actions are taken to promote better education for all children. What tends to happen is criticizing and pointing fingers trying to figure out the responsible party for educational unavailability to specific groups in the absence of competent leaders.
Districts play significant role in success of the academic institutions. Urban schools are often stuck with limited resources, under-funding, and unqualified staff to which educational reform has not found an answer, instead more and more assessments are developed and applied to measure students’ progress in this dysfunctional schooling system. Charter schools as alternative to public education would most likely be pursued by parents who do not want to give up on American dream for their children. These schools and therefore enhanced education are however also unavailable to all, leaving majority of population in failing or under-performed schools trusting lottery as a system to get into desired school, which some could find unfair and heartbreaking for those students who were not chosen.
It's intersesting that so much attention is paid to charter schools when so many of them fail as well and only the really really great ones like mr Canada make the headlines. He works his teachers above and beyond the call and you see the results. The American dream is there and just wish less public schools were being closed and labeled failures but really analyzed to what's working I stead of just opening up another charter. Public schools can be amazing too!
DeleteThe film, “Waiting for superman”, documents the lives of five children who in their quest for quality education see charter schools as an alternative to public schools. This mode of thinking is further reinforced by David Gugenheim who bypasses three public schools every day in favor of a private school for his kids. All this solidifies one premise that our schools are failing and that there is a dire need for education reform. But what is the most effective education model to mimic? Many are of the view that any attempt in radically revolutionizing education must have charter schools at the helm of their pursuits for excellence.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, the charters’ non discriminatory selection of the candidates by lottery seems on the surface to erode the barriers of race and other social injustices but when placed under a microscope many disturbing issues come to the fore. Notably, many charter schools are located in urban spaces and serve mainly African Americans and Latinos, areas where racial issues have been contentious and highly tensed. Given the location of the aforementioned schools, the excessive transportation cost levied at parents to commute to ensure punctuality and regularity of their kids is a racial issue. As I drop off my son daily the most conspicuous races on the public buses are American African and Latinos. How can a black parent more often than not, unemployed, pay daily commute fares? What about access to disabled black kids who may live in close proximity to the school’s compound?
Another area which screams out racism is that while charters are physically close to the community, there are not enough outreach events which would create a bond between child and community to allow the carry his/her culture into the classroom. Additionally, the option to exclude or push out a child because of disciplinary problem is an ever ending reality that faces the family and their kids daily. Does this atmosphere of fear not inhibit learning? In conclusion, in light of the call for education reform, it is worth mentioning that not all charters are perfect fits for all kids and not every child can perform effectively at public schools. I think that policy makers should draw from the successes of both kinds of schools to create learning environments that would finally work in tandem with the “no child is left behind” rhetoric.
After I watched the "Waiting for Superman" movie, I realized the importance of
ReplyDeletethe problems that related to the educational system in America. Also , the huge gab
between public schools and private schools . This movie shows the worst schools all
over USA , but the common denominator between these schools is students who come
from poor neighborhoods . The majority of people who live in these neighborhoods
are African American or Latinos . As a result , the reasons of why these schools did
not improve the educational system are related to race issue .
In fact, those poor families do not have choices for educate their children except
public schools which have bad educational system. In other word, as said in the movie
" no great schools without great teachers" ; some teachers do not care about teaching
students in public schools and some of them read newspaper or playing card . This is
disaster! . Let say one doctor made a mistake with a patient and he died, it is big
problem, but in fact the doctor killed one person. While the bad teacher when he did
not teach the students he killed the future of the whole class, but nobody think it is
big problem! . In my opinion, these students who come from poor families deserve
better education because they are poor, and good education is the only way to
improve their families' life in the future.
I am bowled over by Abdullah's analogy of the medical malpractice scenario (which would send shivers up the nation's spine) contrasted with the more pervasive threat of uncaring or lackadaisical teachers blighting the future possibilities for countless children over the years. Yet our governmental policies and the failure to provide fair education lead me to question our collective morality and even sanity. The annual lemon dance comes to mind, or whatever principals call it when they try to rotate out the really awful teachers who basically cannot be fired. Just the cost of this dead weight, let alone the cost of supporting all the rubber room teachers on disciplinary furlough, could be put toward treating this, that, or the other hemorrhage in the educational system. I suppose there is some hope that, properly supported, some teachers who are failing their students could make their teaching practice more relevant to their students and supportive of academic success. Anyway, I can see how such a policy of outreach and amelioration on the part of the school administrations would be political necessary.
DeleteOne of the things that really stands out to me in the various student exchanges in many TAL classes is the rich trove of anecdotal information that has been building up. This is a vetted process, which makes it hard to imagine that anyone would be making up any of the stories they tell in blogs, in class, or in discussion posts. So when I hear about teachers being habitually mean to students, or teachers not calling back concerned parents (like in the movie), or just coasting by on drill and kill, or despondency among students being widely accepted and racist stereotypes being reinforced, I feel that my own horizon as an educator is being expanded, and that I can take the experience of colleagues as a personal call to action. This of course does not change the fact that in my fieldwork observations I have also seen lots of great teaching and learning, for the record.
I agree with your analogy as to mistakes made by doctors and mistakes made by teachers. You stress the importance of long-term effects on human life, future possibilities and perspectives as a result. It is brilliant, patients have an opportunity to sue the doctor or the hospital for malpractice however, a poorly educated, uninspired, set for failure student can’t ask for compensation for being less knowledgeable or not having opportunity to work at a high-paid job. Come to think of it, it is just as crucial to produce high-quality skilled and educated contributors to society as properly cater to needs of patients.
DeleteThe analysis of the movie is interesting because when you are watching the movie they avoid all of those specifics. Rather they try to capture the heart of the audience by making them sympathetic to the students need to find a great school and a "superman Teacher" to rescue them from generational poverty and misfortune. It is also interesting how those at the top trying to change things are the dominant race (white). Even though they don't literally know the culture or daily lives of the people they are trying to serve. With that out of the equation no one can effectively help someone that they have no real knowledge of or someone you look down upon as inferior. The main point of the analysis was that instead of trying to understand the other race the dominant one only wants to change them or assimilate them into the dominant culture.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an enormously important question, and it touches on issues that are obscured by the emotion and pathos that fills the audience (as I suggested in my post). In your cutting against the grain critique, you suggest that even those people who, by "winning" one of the school admissions lotteries, are thought to be "escaping" terrible schools and blighted future prospects may IN FACT be hopping out of the frying pan into the fire. In what ways does winning the lottery really get you to the promised land?
DeleteOne point that comes to mind is that charter schools can bump up their overall academic performance and ability to meet targets (such as the target that all graduates go to college) by expelling students who pose more of a challenge. Also, it is not entirely clear that the charter and independent schools avoid the traps and pitfalls of "banking education" and drill and kill approaches to learning. Certainly there seems to be a lot of regimentation on display in the movie, and everyone is so desperate that the bigger questions about how the current system of education supports an undemocratic dominant culture don't get sufficient attention.
So while it is bad enough, as you suggest, that schools tend to ignore Covello's wisdom about teachers meeting students on their own terrain and supporting student development through empathy, cultural relevancy, and community knowledge and outreach, the situation is far worse when seen through the lens of Paolo Freire and his insistence that education all too easily becomes a prop for socio-economic oppression and indoctrination into a parasitical dominant culture. I run out of fingers when I think of teachers who seem to mean well but are clearly invested in the banking model of education. How many teachers (especially those with advanced degrees) are more titillated by the boost to their own ego and sense of self-worth than they are by serving their students' needs and abilities in light of a fully informed understanding of the myriad material and conceptual mechanisms of oppression, illusion, and powerlessness that modulate and reproduce the world?
I like the way Abdullah compares the education system with the medical pathology, but the question that comes to mind is, is it the school or the teacher who made the school bad? Or the students perform lesser in their education. To me, I believe that it takes both candidates to make such improvement. In the United States, educations do not value and it is in other places. The living condition a teacher face in school is really disturbing, if a students do not carries and behave properly in a classroom system, how does that teacher will teach them when they do not want to learn. In my point of view, if a teacher acts a certain ways towards their students i feel that most of the time the students are responsible for such act. For instance, i attended Erasmus Hall Campus in Brooklyn compares to other school it was a great school where the professors cares for their students but most the time the student would not comprehend to learn, they were always misbehave and engage in conversation about sport with the professor which encourage him to not teach the class. Therefore, we cannot all blame the teachers for the students’ academic performances; it’s also the students’ duty to encourage the professor to teach them the value of education.
DeleteWaiting for Superman raised so many emotions and presented a lot of statistics. This is one of the movie's strengths as well as its limitations: with so much emotion, disgust, pathos, fear and anxiety rolled into the mix, a sober assessment of objective data relating to urban education and its inequities becomes difficult. I end up feeling all the more that one cannot take statistics and supposedly objective data at face value (in general, and especially when it comes to the high stakes of education and the future of our children). For instance, a recent article I was reading cited the wide disparity in amounts of money spent on the education of each child in predominantly White neighborhoods (approx. 90%) and in predominantly non-White neighborhoods. I immediately found myself wondering whether the figures included PTA spending, and if not, would this widen the disparity or narrow the gap in aggregate spending.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the movie, it's hard to know what to make of a person like Michelle Rhee. I have heard many harsh words about her, and I would have to say the word-of-mouth led me to doubt her motives and tools as an education reformer in the nation's capital. But the movie made me question in the extreme the aims and interests of the teacher lobby in the nation at large. The movie gives the very distinct impression that, in the guise of union solidarity, a bunch of entitled adults are putting their own interests above those of children, families, and the nation's future. I find this compelling argumentation, and while I tend to want to marshall more facts and figures in sorting out the issues and blames, for the present I am pretty disgusted and disheartened.
Actually I agree with Guin Ellsworth about how important to create the curriculum around stusents' culture
ReplyDeleteand background. In this way, the class will be very interesting for students to learn well. However, in my
opinion teaching multicultural class is more difficult than teaching mono-cultural class. In fact, teaching
multicultural classes need a huge effort to prepare the curriculum with students' culture and interests, but
students and teachers will have a great experience from these classes because they will learn from each
other .
How race is relevant to the issues of educational reform in urban areas? The movie “Waiting For Superman” primarily focuses on students and families not only those that are classified as minorities but also those who are also of a lower economic status. The charter school in “Waiting For Superman” was reported to be located in an area of Harlem where it was thought the students could not do well in school. This area is populated with African-Americans, Latinos and other black and brown families. The public schools in this particular community are failing. As included in the name of the charter school they make of promise of success to the families they service however, the schools are not open to all. Although these charter schools receive funding from taxpayer dollars they also receive a great deal of funding from private corporations. These charter schools are often ran by businessmen and women with little or no educational background.
ReplyDeleteWe can all agree that there are problems with the education children of color receive however; a new business (charter school) does not appear to be the solution. The public school system that our children are a part of has been in place since the 1820s and it has not changed much since. Our children are growing up in a time where they are not only competing against their fellow Americas but they are also competing internationally. Our children are also growing up in an era of technology. Contrary to popular beliefs parents need to still fight for equality for their children to receive the best education possible.
Guin I agree with you. Charter Schools often have words in their name, which suggest more than they truly are. In the charter school setting students may do well however the school is not open to all. In addition, they tend to have a cookie cutter curriculum.
ReplyDelete