A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Waiting For "Superman"

Date Viewed: 10/17/10

Details:

Written & directed by: Davis Guggenheim

Score: 1/2

The Review: A reasonable documentary examining & indicting the US educational system.

A bit sleep-inducing at the beginning, it soon catches a wave and probes several controversial issues: teacher quality, teacher tenure, tracking, admission lotteries. It quite successfully defuses some of the myths -- so much so that I could paraphrase the message of the film and say, "we know how we can do it". We know at least one way to resolve the gap between rich & poor, we can create top charter schools, and we can pipeline kids from birth into excellent programs (and excellent students: see KIPP). So what's the problem?

One of the major themes is the seemingly contradictory and self-destructive behavior of the teacher's unions. I would look at this, and the rest of the litany of problems, and ask: Is it the kids or the adults? My vote comes down on the latter.

(20-Feb-11)

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