I met a group of teaching colleagues for the Sunday afternoon show at the Westhampton. This theater, as you can read on the marquee, has been open since 1938 "meeting your alternative film needs" We went to see Waiting for Superman the documentary which reviews the state of public education in the United States. It follows "a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth" In an audience of what I would guess were mainly teachers, there was not a dry eye in the house and everyone was silent as we filed out. We continued to discuss the state of education over dinner in a nearby restaurant.
Our group all teach at an independent, or private, school so we don't have to deal with the twin demons of tenure and unions. I'd be interested in hearing if any of my 365 teaching friends have seen this powerful movie and, if so, what your reaction was.
What a beautiful theater! I'm not in education, but I'm curious to see this movie because I've always felt that our educational system is extremely broken. I fell into the "gifted" category, and I rarely felt like I was challenged in the classroom. I have a brother who was diagnosed with a learning disability and was put into the special education program, which in our system was little more than glorified babysitting, as everyone was treated the same regardless of their level of ability and function. I guess my point here is that it seems like our system is set up to cater to the middle, and the kids on either end of the spectrum suffer. I know there are a lot of reasons our system works as it does, the biggest being funding, and that most teachers do the best they can within the confines of a broken system, so I'm certainly not placing the blame at their feet. Phew... probably more of my opinion than you were interested in getting there, sorry!
I'm not a teacher but I hope this stays at the Westhampton for at least another week - I'd really like to see it. On Saturday I participated in the "Hands On Richmond" day. I went to Binford Middle School, in the fan, to help work on various projects there. It's a city school and it breaks my heart that these kids are at such a disadvantage because of their school. The library is less than 1/3 full. There isn't a full shelf in there and what is there dates back to the 60's and before. And...that's just the shape of the library. My company had donated computers for classrooms but there is so much that needs to be done.
I can just imagine a kid trying to write a report on France and the outdated Encyclopedia tells them the President is Charles De Gaulle, so that's what they think and that's what they put in the report. This is the middle school - ages 10 to about 14. These kids will probably go on to a city high school which isn't any better. How can they possibly compete with other kids on the SAT - if they even get that far.
I was an education major in college and I'm currently serving with City Year in Detroit Public Schools. I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local premiere of this film and was able to watch it then. The film made me cry, and I see so many of the issues it portrayed on a daily basis in my school. I hope that all of my students will at least graduate from high school, but the sad reality is many of them probably won't. I see 9th graders who don't know their multiplication and division facts, 10th graders in special education who've been stuck in a class with 25-30 other students and no special ed teacher.
Fortunately we're here to provide one-on-one and small group tutoring, and after-school programs. Something definitely needs to be done about the system as a whole, however.
@sytse That is such a sad commentary on the state of Richmond city schools. I know they spend more per student than the surrounding counties but more of the money goes to administrators and you can see how that's working out.
I can just imagine a kid trying to write a report on France and the outdated Encyclopedia tells them the President is Charles De Gaulle, so that's what they think and that's what they put in the report. This is the middle school - ages 10 to about 14. These kids will probably go on to a city high school which isn't any better. How can they possibly compete with other kids on the SAT - if they even get that far.
I was an education major in college and I'm currently serving with City Year in Detroit Public Schools. I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local premiere of this film and was able to watch it then. The film made me cry, and I see so many of the issues it portrayed on a daily basis in my school. I hope that all of my students will at least graduate from high school, but the sad reality is many of them probably won't. I see 9th graders who don't know their multiplication and division facts, 10th graders in special education who've been stuck in a class with 25-30 other students and no special ed teacher.
Fortunately we're here to provide one-on-one and small group tutoring, and after-school programs. Something definitely needs to be done about the system as a whole, however.