Probable Outcomes

We'd heard a lot about the movie (docu-something), Waiting for Superman, and last night sat down to watch it for the first time.  It was not what I expected. Not even close.

This is the intro description: 'Documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim explores the tragic ways in which the American public education system is failing our nation's children, and explores the roles that charter schools and education reformers could play in offering hope for the future. We see the statistics every day -- students dropping out, science and math scores falling, and schools closing due to lack of funding. What we don't see are the names and faces of the children whose entire futures are at stake due to our own inability to enact change. There was a time when the American public education system was a model admired by the entire world. Today other countries are surpassing us in every respect, and the slogan "No Child Left Behind" has become a cynical punch line. By investigating how the current system is actually obstructing their education instead of bolstering it, Guggenheim opens the door to considering possible options for transformation and improvement.'

Bunk.

I was surprised and interested to learn that even modest educational reform in DC had to begin with a woman who had no stake in the process other than as a parent, and had no direct experience or credentials to be Chancellor and no desire to continue.  It reminds me of the Bob Dylan lyrics, 'When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.'

I was drawn to and repelled by the fact that the US Department of Education carefully tracks failing schools, which they refer to  by a grim nickname and with full awareness continue to let them 'serve' the community without providing a public school alternative.  The impression was left was that there are just too many issues to address, and we all heard loud and clear that failing schools were predominantly in socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Oh woe is me, the movie implied, that these children are essentially loss-leaders. 

Charter schools took up a large segment of the movie, and I've worked in a Charter in a disadvantaged community, and I know what a breath of fresh air it can be. I've worked in a public school as well, and the difference is shockingly apparent. The Charter has less regulation and so can operate based on a series of expectations they establish for a proper learning environment. They can require personal accountability, higher academic standards as terms of attendance, even uniforms. They can teach meaningful material in a meaningful way, and manipulate the time into segments where study skills and senior project periods are built in. And the reason there is less flexibility and adaptability in the public schools, 100% of the cause, rests on the shoulders of the State/US Departments of Education and the Unions.

The movie really nailed teachers to the wall.  I was not surprised by that; in fact teachers always have everything dumped on them whether it is deserving or not. They get up every day and face children out of control who may live in unstable environments. They teach what they are told to teach and not what they need to teach to make a difference in these kids' lives. Sometimes they work in dangerous places where they invest 12 hours a days, six days a week, plus adjunct duties and weekend supervision for sports events and parent nights. And for all of that, they get yelled at and cursed at, by parents and kids, and often the administration doesn't have the backbone to back them up when they are in the right.

We've got some nasty societal problems, that is true, but the teachers in failing schools can't fix them. They can't make their administration, the communities, or the state and federal bodies that are supposed to serve children unilaterally give a damn. To blame a teacher for the meltdown of the educational system is like telling a homeowner that although the roof is caving in, if they roll up their sleeves and do their part the rest will magically become structurally sound. 

Teacher's unions do contribute to the complacency that has crusted around meaningful changes to public schools, and it's easy for the Fed and State educational bodies to use that blockade as an excuse for not being more aggressive and solutions-oriented. I think the problem lies as much as with the over regulating and limitations on how and what is taught and the seven different assessment tools taking precious class time.  The face of this tragedy is in the infrastructure, and ramming the students through a system that treats them like a hot potato and allows promotions with absolutely no skill sets to succeed.
Mediocre is the new pink, and not just in the schools. 

Waiting for Superman, at least for me, gave parents everywhere a free pass, and the crux of the matter rests with them. Are parents, grandparents, or community leaders vested in this? It doesn't seem like we are. A lot of homes still don't model how to approach school, the importance of it, and what a game changer it is.  Children learn what they live.

If a good education is not a guarantee, then we must win the day. Where is the national movement to demand change that is powered by every citizen from every state for every child? Nothing less will do.