The wait is over… Waiting for Superman

This has to be the most important film that I have seen for a long time.  No wonder this has been talked about for months in many different forums.  I had an opportunity to meet and hear Davis Guggenheim and Geoffrey Canada at the Council on Foundations conference in April.  Both were very inspiring.  For weeks this film has been discussed from the President to Oprah.  Finally, this week the film was released nationwide here in the United States and I urge everyone to see it.  The biggest misconception of the film is that it vilifies teachers.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It holds teachers up as the key to quality education.  Teachers in public schools and charter schools alike.  What this film demonstrates, that many have known for a long time, is that our system is broken.  While we have many great teachers and great schools, there are far too many that deserve a failing grade.  The high school dropout rate in the country is obscene.  Many organizations are working hard to help the situation as evidenced by America’s Promise Grad Nation program.  http://www.americaspromise.org/gradnation I am a big believer in the whole child concept which means for a child to be successful you need strong parental involvement (or that of a caring adult), safe places to play, access to good nutrition and healthcare and a sense of community and civic purpose.  Many groups are working on these goals. But our schools face too much bureaucracy at all levels and too many varying opinions on curriculum.  Local school boards, and how they are structured within states, have too much control.  An example is Texas. With one centralized system they can affect text book content for the nation with their singular clout. California, with 500 boards of educations and varying curriculums, does not have that buying clout and therefore is forced to use Texas content.  Teachers unions make it very challenging to dismiss bad teachers and recognize good teachers.  Local funding of schools is inconsistent due to many laws, that while many had good intentions when initiated, they now strangle the ability to properly fund education.  The time has come to completely overhaul the system, taking an approach from what was developed for an agrarian society in the nineteenth century to a pragmatic approach based on the new world order of the 21^st century.  Let’s start with a blank sheet of paper and design a system that makes sense for the United States that will support our competitive position in the world and ensure that every child has the opportunity to be successful.  Let Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee lead this effort.  Not everyone will agree with the content in Superman, but to me the most important attribute of the film is that it is creating a dialog, a dialog that must lead to change as our children and nation cannot continue to thrive with our current system.  http://www.waitingforsuperman.com