Directed by An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim, Waiting for Superman, aired in the Student Union Wednesday night, follows a set of children and their parents who are trying to get accepted into prestigious local charter schools.
In the process, Guggenheim brings to light interesting—and even shocking—factoids regarding the state of American public education, enlightening viewers on everything from the drawbacks of tenure (which makes it extremely difficult—if not impossible—to fire underperforming teachers) to the dance of the lemons .
The film received an 89% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes , and won the Audience Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival .
The event attracted a good number of students for its early evening Wednesday showing; while the auditorium was far from sold out, many of the middle section seats were taken and a few more were filled as the credits started to roll.
The movie presented the information in an interesting light, using cartoon-like sketches, graphs, charts and illustrated maps of the United States.
There were also some very touching moments as well, especially the closing scene, which shows one of the students in the film in his new charter school dorm room—which he was able to get into after getting off the school’s waiting list—looking at a picture he taped on the wall of his deceased dad.
After the film, COURSE Co-Chairperson Nina Brashears asked the a panel of educational figures from UNC and elsewhere in North Carolina what their thoughts were on the film, as well as other topics ranging from the absence of teacher’s unions in North Carolina to Senate Bill Eight, which deals with charter schools.
“There were some places in the film where I had major problems with the data, said Dr. Bill McDiarmid , dean of UNC School of Education. “The data wasn’t wrong, but it was presented in a way to further [the film’s] argument.”
Leanne Winner , director of governmental relations for the North Carolina School Boards Association , also said that charter schools, which are heavily featured in the film, are not all successful and that a number of the things they do for students don’t exist anymore.
“The successful charter schools featured are not representative of the charter school movement,” she said during the panel.
“It got a lot of people not usually talking about education interested, and that’s a good start,” said panel member Alexandra Zagbayou, director of operations at Student U.
Have you seen Waiting for Superman? What are your thoughts about the state of public education in the United States? Post your thoughts below.
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