Waiting For Superman Analysis

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Waiting for “Superman”, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim is a reminder to all of just how important the American education system is and most importantly how flawed it is. By taking a look into the lives of different children and their families Guggenheim shows how then current system inhibits their academic growth and the day to day obstacles they face in pursuit of a promising education. The film gives great emphasis on teachers Unions and politics being the main reasons for the issues faced today. While shedding light on how the system is failing our children, Guggenheim gives an idea of how to make it better. Charter Schools. Since Charter Schools have been authorized to operate in the U.S. in 1998, their popularity has grown rapidly. Unlike public schools charter schools are not run by the NYC Department of Education. Charter schools operate independently and commit to meeting …show more content…

Guggenheim believes that unions are one of the reason why public schools are failing. He believes that with a lot of connection to the political world many are doing what’s best for them and their pockets as opposed to what’s best for children and their education. Unions also allow teachers to gain tenure which then makes it difficult or almost impossible to fire a teacher even if she seems to be lacking the ability to successfully teach children. Under the unions rules a teacher is a teacher for life.
Standardized has become a major issue in the United States. The No Child Left behind Act made it so that regardless of reading, math, and English proficiency all children would be pushed to the next grade. The documentary showed that children across the fifty states only about 30 percent of the children were actually on grade level. Guggenheim blames teachers, but the blame truly falls on policy makers. Even though a teachers main goal is to prepare children for standardized tests it is impossible if the proper resources aren’t

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