Waiting for Superman, my notes

This piece comes off primarily as a hit piece on teacher's unions and the concept of tenure.

It follows some individual students in difficult situations and displays the reality of the "lottery" that high performing schools hold. In essence, this lottery means that open spots in charter schools and excellent schools must be assigned randomly.

The problem is that the film shows current problems but glosses over their sources. It proposes a villain.

Tenure comes from a number of sources
1. Teachers are tasked with teaching the most up to date information available about a given subject. This, quite naturally, contradicts the ideas of some parents. When the latest and best information contradicts a belief that people feel strongly about, a la evolution, ignorant people try to get the teacher fired.
2. Teachers are tasked with teaching all children. This, quite naturally, means that teachers frequently teach one or two children who are difficult to handle. Some of these children resent the teacher and try to hurt him/her by making false statements about the teacher.
3. Teachers are tasked with communicating with every child's parent. This, quite naturally means teachers frequently must communicate with one or more parents who are difficult to handle. These parents believe that educating a child is the teacher's responsibility, not a shared one. Some of these parents try to get a teacher fired if a child fails, even if the child only showed for school one of every three days.
4. Without video cameras running in classrooms, no objective data about a teacher's classroom performance is available.

To sum up
1. Teachers must sometimes teach facts that contradict popular beliefs.
2. Teachers must sometimes deal with difficult children, who lie to try to get a teacher fired.
3. Teachers must sometimes deal with difficult parents, who refuse to take responsibility for their child's learning. These parents also attempt to get a teacher fired.
4. There is no objective data available about how teachers teach.


Here is an excellent criticism of the movie: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/wfsm-o07.shtml