Waiting for Superman, Fabulous Wake up Call!

Have you read Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol??

Waiting for Superman presents nothing new... education has long had its problems, especially inner city schools.

I wonder how many people who have gone to see the movie have been inside an inner city school. I teach in one. It isn't pretty. But, there are many, many teachers & administrators working very hard to help children.

Now, if only the people who've seen the movie would be so implored to make a difference...

I haven't seen it, but I do want to stick up for teachers just a little bit! I'm a public school teacher, and I feel like I am doing a great job and trying my best. We have some excellent teachers in our school that work as hard as we can with what we have. Please don't let the school system scare you. I plan on sending my children to public school, especially after working in one.

I'm excited to read the responses. I haven't seen the movie, but really want to. I made my decision to homeschool my son, based on my school experience. He would be in the same district I was and schools have only been getting worse. The school system in America scares and saddens me,

I just wanted to comment that my son was DX as having high functioning Autisum when he was 3 years old. He has been in the public school system since he started at the age of three. When my son first started school he could barely speak. He is now in kindergartin and reading on 3rd grade level math at 1st grade.
I feel that if I had placed my son in private school he would not have access the the talented Social workers, speech therapists, or the resource room teacher that he has in the public schools. 1st of all private insitutions don't have the money to pay these professionals like the public schools systems (despite all the short comings) Also, Private schools don't have many of these resources.
I don't know if we have just been lucky or what but so far, in public school, I have come in contact with nothing but smart, talented and dedicated individuals who have given me great advice. They also seem to have the best intentions and I hope I continue to have the experience as my son gets older.
With that said, my 6 year old had 32 kids in his class at the beginning of the school year. It has since been reduced to 25 kids. I'm not happy about this fact because my son's issues are mostly sensory we made the decision to keep him in Kindergarten another year (social reasons) and he would be too overwhelmed with all the kids in 1st grade to concentrate despite the fact that he is at least two grades ahead in language arts.
I think its a combination of parents and teacher working together. Parents need to educate there kids at home as well and not depend totally on the school system to teach your kids. I don't think teachers can do it all.

I would like to see this film because I want to know what is going on in the public school system today. I went to public schools and didn't have a problem (I was a tough kid anyhow) but my son (who has aspergers & feeding issues) goes to a private school, Frankly I don't think he would be functioning as well if he was in the public school system. I also know that not every school district is the same there is talent everywhere with great school teachers as well as brilliant students. I am interested if the film addresses how do we retain the best teachers and help those brilliant students continue to succeed.

If you liked or are interested in the movie, I recommend reading "How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance." It is a real world example of what can happen when a community makes an effort to improve one school.
C.