“School is the path, not the point” (Will Richardson) . The documentary “Waiting for Superman” was directed by Davis Guggenheim, released on September 24,2010. In this documentary they investigate the school system and how they uncover how education in America was being declined. Also how charter schools have a exact amount of students that they can accept. The three most important understandings I gained from watching this documentary include how a lot of students start dropping out in high school and don’t graduate, also how tenure makes some teachers lazy, and how charter schools can’t accept every student. One issue in education that I learned from this documentary was that a large amount of students start dropping out once they get to high school. I believe that every student that has the chance to go to school and learn for free should take the chance and get educated. Instead of doing bad things and getting locked up they should go to school and get educated while they have the chance. “Sixty percent of inmates in pennsylvania are high school dropouts”
Tenure is when a teacher has a permanent spot at the job and no matter what they do they have the job guaranteed. I expect teachers to give students a good education and have a good lesson planned for every day and not just get lazy after they get tenure and not care about the education of their students. “Money, passing laws, latest reforms but you can’t have a great school without great teachers” (Waiting for Superman). This quote is on point, why keep spending money and passing laws if the schools don’t have good teachers. I think that teachers should get tenure after more than just three years. I don’t think that they show how good or bad they are in just three years. In conclusion, people shouldn’t be teachers if they are just going to stop teaching and get lazy after they get
Educational systems in America are impaired, and the very educators that are meant to teach are the one’s pulling it down. That is the apparent message that Davis Guggenheim attempts to convey in his documentary “Waiting for Superman”. He uses many strategies to get his message across. Some of these include cartoons, children, and those reformers that are attempting to pull the system out of the ditch that it has found its way into. He makes his point very well, and uses facts and figures correctly. He does leave out some of the opinions of the opposing views, but it does not take away from his point that the educational system in America is in need of repair.
These programs as well as the many after-school and enrichment programs offer some desperately needed assistance. Although this is a good beginning, a lot more needs to be done before real improvement is made. The educational systems in America have many faults, but if more people become aware, things can only improve. I believe that we can change things, and with time maybe equal education for everyone won’t be just a far away dream.
Additionally, many students enter high school three to five school years behind. This is common in urban communities where schools are not only called dropout factories, but also “academic sinkholes.” As the name suggests, students are flushed down the toilet bowl of public schooling and only those who can hang on will maybe graduate prepared for life. Those ‘flushed out’ end up on the streets and then in prison, like mentioned earlier. By appropriately utilizing logos, Guggenheim leads to the overall success of the documentary.
Webber, Karl. “A Nation Still At Risk.” Waiting for Superman: How We Can Save Save America’s Failing Public Schools. Ed. Carl Weber. New York: PublicAffairs. 2010. 3-10. Print.
I found this film to be a good tool for people going into the criminal justice field. I think it is important for people going into this field or already in it to understand the importance of racial biasing. The exercise in the video that was used where they changed what the juvenile was wearing was very eye opening. Trained professionals were drastically characterizing the same person differently based on their appearance. I found this to be the most powerful part of the video and gave me a better understand how important it is to not judge someone based on his or her appearance. It is defiantly not only relevant in the juvenile system. People in the adult system are also characterized on how they look. I think the exercise they used in the film for juveniles would also be helpful for people dealing with adult
From the reading “Ethical and Legal Issues in U.S. Education”, there were three points that that surprised me. One point was that it is so surprising to me that there are so many steps that a teacher, on tenure, must go through before they get fired. It makes it so difficult to be fired and such a long process that they will never be fired unless they commit a major crime and I believe that this should change. As a teacher, we need to be at the top of our game at all times, and teachers with tenure seem like they do not always have to in order to keep their job. It is also surprising to me that student teachers do not receive the same rights as normal teachers in some states. Student teachers are practicing to become a teacher one day, and
Somewhere in America a parent is asking their child what they learned at school today, the child will most likely say that they didn’t learn much. It is sad to say that with today’s education system, this is true. The K-12 school system has oppressed students far more than it has liberated them, and this must change if America wants to produce members of society that actually have something to contribute. Students graduate high school having learned how to play the “game” of school leaving them grossly unprepared for college. Students should leave high school with a base of knowledge and strategies they can employ to succeed in college if that is where they wish to go, but instead they come to college knowing how to line up quietly and copy
Teacher tenure. What does this word mean? In many's eyes, tenure is seen as an unfair advantage to teachers and a cruel rule to students. However, according to teacherunion.com, “tenure is the practice of guaranteeing a teacher their job.” Typically, all teachers earn this privilege through quantity, and not by quality. Just a few years after starting to teach, they are granted tenure. And because of Teacher’s Union, it is almost impossible to break a teacher (i.e. a bad teacher) from this rule.
Tenure is a type of job security that professors earn once they reach an exact level of expertise. Once a college professor has earned tenure, they need to be able to follow the teaching contract as long as they abide by the rules set forth in their contracts. It's believed that students are able to gain help from the expertise and skill of an untenured teacher. A number of the protections are extended to an irremovable teacher so that they can't be discriminated against their personal views, temperament conflicts, or any space that's not instructional. The statutes for academic tenure in higher education and dismissal vary from state to state, however altogether all are smart in standing and should be offered employment. This therefore will make sure professors won’t be fired for unnecessary issues. Tenure won't shield professors, but will help with those whom are ineffective or incapable.
Based on my research on New Orleans and this documentary I think as one solution the teachers and communities should have control over the policies for education reform because no one knows better than the teachers what is effective and what is not. I also feel that all students should have equal opportunities in education no matter their socio-economic status, race or special needs, every child should be receiving the same level of education. I also strongly disagree with testing being the determining factor of funding and teachers jobs being at stake because many students are not good test takers. This documentary and my research on New Orleans have definitely changed my views on the education system and opened my eyes as a future education to the issues that are currently being faced as an educator.
In the year 2012- 2013, though several 3.1 public high school students or 81 percent, graduated on time (Public High School Graduation Rates), how many students in that number truly gain the full education. Nowadays, education is necessary, which becomes a controversial issue between parents and the school. Either Charter or Public school encourages the development or improvement of the educational system to our young, beloved children. There are further charters out there which children can stay home, however, still learn enormous things. “Lottery” documentary film is about the controversy between public and charter schools, which tells the stories of four families who tried to find a better educational
As long as government keeps people busy with something productive in life, there'll be an understanding that a life of a crime is not the right path. Starting an education programs in prisons won’t hit U.S budget since it’s so tiny compared to other national spending’s. As Education Secretary Arne Duncan stated: “investing in these education programs helps released prisoners get back on their feet and stay on their feet when they return to communities across the country.” Government of this country together with citizens should start supporting the idea of prison education to help inmates get back on their feet and stay on their feet, because education is the key to
From the reading “Ethical and Legal Issues in U.S. Education”, there were three points that that surprised me. One point was that it is surprising to me all that there are steps that a teacher on tenure must go through before they get fired. It seems as though they are set up never to be fired unless the commit a major crime and I think that is completely crazy. As a teacher, we need to be at the top of our game at all times, and teachers on tenure seem like they can do anything they want and still keep their job. It is also surprising to me that student teachers do not get the same rights as normal teachers in some states. Student teachers are practicing to become a teacher one day, and they are only a few years away from doing so, how could
Public School Systems are cheating American kids out of an education. A high school diploma indicates what students learn in achieving it, but in reality students have been learning and earning greatly less as the years have gone by. As a former public school student myself, I know we are not given the same opportunities are students in private schools. Public school students have been told that the reason our education is limited is because of funding but in the video it states that public school spend more money than private schools and still not have a better outcome. More money hasn’t improved schools. So, what’s the real problem?
A controversial issue in the criminal justice field is whether or not educational programs should be offered to inmates in jail while they are incarcerated. While some might argue that taxpayers should not be forced to fund these types of programs, others agree that it is extremely beneficial to not only the inmates but also the taxpayers. Not only are the inmates the people in society who need education the most, but studies have shown a significant decrease in the recidivism rate of inmates who participated in educational programs while incarcerated. Jails and prisons should increase educational programs to inmates because inmates need education more than ever, it is more financially efficient to provide educational programs and it significantly reduces the recidivism rate.