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WAITING FOR CHANGE
Their names are Daisy, Anthony, Francisco,
Emily and Bianca. Through the stones of these
five students, viewers of Davis Guggenheim's
Waiting for "Superman" are invited to look
past the statistics and into the heart of the
issue: the "failing" national public school
system.
At a Dec. 2 screening of the film at Cine,
audience-members were given the opportunity
to attend a panel discussion on the subject
after the film. The small theater was packed
when the film began. The opening lines, a
voice-over by Geoffrey Canada, broke the com
plete silence in the room.
“One of the saddest days of my life was
when my mother told me Superman didn't
exist," the educator and activist says. "I was
crying because there was no one coming with
enough power to save us."
Early in the film, Guggenheim tells his
own story, one that establishes his credibility
in the subject at hand. His 2001 television
documentary The First Year followed five
teachers for a year and chronicled the impact
they made on their students. Now, he's follow
ing five current students in different public
schools, each hoping to be selected in a lot
tery for admission to a charter school.
While Guggenheim has experience with the
education system, the extensive research cited
in this film goes beyond the graduation rates
and dismal test scores in each state. Waiting
for “Superman" looks closely at teachers'
unions and the problems they create within
the national public school system, as well.as
the effects of numerous pieces of legislation.
The problem is clear, according to the film:
public schools are failing. Although the focus
is mainly on California and Washington, D.C.,
no state is left out of the overall picture. Big
names added their input on the issue, from
the commentary by Canada, founder of the
Harlem Children's Zone, to Bill Gates weighing
in on the economic future of the country if
few students are truly educated in math and
science.
The most powerful voice in the film, in
both her personality and her plans, is Michelle
Rhee, the now-former chancellor of the
Washington, D.C. public school system. Her
radical ideas sparked controversy as she closed
down over 20 public schools and fired numer
ous principals. Rhee made it clear she needed
no friends in the system, but never won her
fight against the teachers unions.
In the Cin6 screening, Guggenheim's film
was living up to the hype—to a point. The
information he presented was unique and
powerful, and the students he followed had
dramatic stories. Anticipation built in the
audience for some magical answer to the
problem. Some kind of solution, some way
tlie future of American youth would not be
hopeless.
It would be an understatement to say I was
disappointed in Guggenheim's solution: Send
your children to charter schools. Put them
through the lottery and cross your fingers.
This, the only solution given, left me feel
ing more hopeless than before. I have five
more months in our school system, seeing the
issues I know many of my classmates don't.
Guggenheim calls public schools “dropout
factories.” Clarke Central High School, a few
miles from Cine, has a dropout rate of over 30
percent. And that's something the district is
proud of, because it's gone down so much.
After all the hope that was built up by this
film, all of the statistics that made me wonder
if I should feel proud to be on track to gradu
ate, the proposed solution to America's educa
tion challenges felt empty.
Those five children Guggenheim fol
lowed, although struggling in their respective
schools, all had parents who were passionate
about their education. They felt so strongly
about it that they entered their children in
a charter school lottery. They are the minor
ity. They are uncharacteristic examples in
the sense that so many of us are left behind
if it takes a dedicated parent to allow us a
chance at this ideal solution. Before the basic
problems with the lottery system
should even enter one's mind, one
has to consider all the students
they're already turning their back
on. The film ended with calls to
action and messages of change.
The room slowly emptied, and
many quietly left while others
filed into the discussion.
Although the pre-screening
publicity had promised the panel
would include educators from
CCHS and UGA, it was actually
composed of three college stu
dents from Teach for America.
While they were experienced, the only topic
up for discussion seemed to be the faults in
the lottery system; that it could never be all-
inclusive. The solution arrived at was to build
more charter schools, and allow more students
tc enter into the charter school system. This
ideal model of the charter school was becom
ing, according to the discussion, a replace
ment for the public school system, instead of
trying to base improvements to public schools
off of these new ideas.
As people spoke passionately about the
issues they saw in public schools, the idea
became more and more strongly encouraged
that charter schools were the answer.
Guggenheim's vision to stop seeing statis
tics and start, seeing students was turned on
its head. People were seeing the ideas of char
ter schools, the data that they produced, but
not the students beyond their own families.
Students are being forgotten. I see them
in the hallways every day. Students who are
unsure of what to do after high school, or of
whether they can even make it through. As
caring community members turn away from
public schools and the influence they could
have there, they're turning their backs on the
youth in their community.
I'm still there. Thousands are still there,
waiting for change. '
Lauren Pruitt
Lauren Pruitt is a news intern at Flagpole and a senior
at Clarke Central High School, where she is Viewpoints
Editor of the award-winning Odyssey Newsmagazine.
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