As far into my college career as I am, I would have thought that I would have learned much more about our education system and its underlying dysfunction. Nevertheless, until now, I have not gotten the opportunity to delve into this subject to such an extent. I have not yet had the chance to start working with the students at the I Have a Dream Foundation, so I have not yet had the opportunity to relate my class experiences thus far with the children at the school. What I can say though is that even previous work I did with the children at the Builders Club in Polk County revealed problems in our current education system. My experience working there was incredibly educational. It made me recognize my initial arrogance that I was part of a more privileged class and consequently was truly a humbling experience.
Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim opens his film Waiting for Superman with a few lines that are enough to remind us each of our own childhood. “Every morning it's the same. Juice. Shoes. Backpack. The morning ritual, and with it comes the uneasy feeling no matter who we are, or what neighborhood we live in. Each morning wanting to believe in our schools, we take a leap of faith.” The routine is broken down to the basics and one that many of us can in fact relate to. In this powerful film, Guggenheim interviews several students and their families to give faces to the issues at hand. It makes it more personal, which I appreciate.
Too often, society avoids education related problems. We simply throw up our hands, overwhelmed and unwilling to take action. People tend to see the system as impossible to fix. I think part of the issue is us as individuals. Problems are avoided. Everyone assumes it’s up to someone else to come up with a solution or that their individual action will not be enough to make a significant difference. However, I don’t agree with this at all. Helping others seems to be an innate characteristic in most humans. Morals and ethics shape people’s actions and people want there to be equality in educational opportunities. However, they don’t always follow up.
Geoffrey Canada’s recollection of his childhood in the film was poignant as he explained that one of the saddest days of his life was when his own mother told him superman did not exist. He thought that even in the depths of the ghetto superman was going to come and save them. His mom thought he was crying at the shock of the truth as a child would when they first found out Santa didn’t exist. Rather, it was more than simply a feeling of disappointment. He felt crushed and cried because there was no one coming with enough power to save them. From the perspective of many of the disadvantaged children, the world seems like a cold, heartless place. They feel as though they have been given the short end of the stick, yet they do not understand why. Honestly, why should they? At their ages, it is surprising to me that they have experienced such extremes of the harsh reality we have come to accept as life. For example, one young boy, Anthony, had his own father die from a drug overdose and never got the chance to know his own mother. He, along with the other children, comes from a family that lacks educational accomplishment. All the parents in Waiting for Superman want the best for their children and are willing to undergo sacrifices in their own life in order to help their children do better for themselves. Though, many of them are struggling to keep their jobs and do not have a strong educational background. For example, in the film, the parents of one of the children, Daisy, both admitted to having to drop out of school for money issues along with having to help their parents by joining the work force. Many schools have become drop out factories and the parents and grandparents of these children that the film followed are scared that they will be influenced to become involved in things they should not.
Many people simply choose to “wait for superman” because the education system is so complicated. Parents feel stuck and despite the consensus that it is unfair, they seemed to agree that it is a consequence of their social status and where they live. As the video explained, there are both federal and state funding and laws regarding education. The mess of conflicting standards and mixed agendas leaves us with a tangled mess where many of the steps taken to improve schools have consequently impeded beneficial progress. Guggenheim suggests that the biggest obstacle to real reform is that according to the contract, because of unions, they can’t pay teachers based on their performance. I agree that this needs to be changed. I understand tenure was put in place to protect teachers, but it seems to be reducing their motivation to teach. Without good teachers, the school as a whole will suffer. Children tend to view education as a way to escape their circumstances, so isn’t keeping poorly performing teachers around failing the children? Personally, I feel like though our intentions are good and we want the children to do well, our regulations and tracking of the children don’t really enforce that train of thought. It’s simple. We aren’t doing enough.
Where I think programs such as the I Have a Dream Foundation succeed is in their presentation of learning. They find different ways to make learning fun. Also, they make it interesting and relate it to other areas of the child’s life, so that learning does not only take place within the classroom.
This summer, I traveled abroad and in Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, and Panama I was lucky enough to assist in some of their educational programs. Once I arrived, I was surprised and impressed by their integrated learning system. That is not to say that all the schools there are designed in exactly that fashion. However, it did impress me that in some of these less developed countries there was so much learning both in and outside of the classroom. I think this experience is why I found Bill Gate’s comments particularly interesting in the film. In a nutshell, his point was that “we cannot sustain an economy based on innovation unless we have citizens well educated in math, science, and engineering, and if we fail at this we will not be able to compete in the global economy.”
This picture resonated with me and I couldn’t help but add it to my blog. Guggenheim pointed out that based on statistics, the U.S. has fallen behind many of the developed countries. Yet, there is one category where many U.S. students fall into the number one position and that is their ego and confidence. Despite having some of the poorest scores on their standardized testing, when asked how their performance was they respond with unmatched positivity and confidence that they did exceptionally well. So, what does this say? Personally, I believe that it just proves even further that education in the U.S. needs much more attention and support. Despite the complexity of some of the larger issues regarding system redesign, progress can be made in other ways, as is seen through organizations such as the I Have a Dream Foundation and Builders Club.
Simply stated, I believe we have to stop waiting for that heroic figure (Superman) to arrive, and local communities have to become active. As the old saying goes, as long as there is will, there is a way.
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