Essay on An Analysis of Waiting for Superman

Many children will be born in poor regions and low income areas around the world and may not ever be presented with the opportunity for a decent education. Sherman Alexie brings this fact to the reader’s attention on a personal level in his short story “Superman and Me”. This story follows a young Indian boy into his struggle of illiteracy and acceptance from his peers and friends. Alexie was able to focus the reader’s attention and convey much of his feelings into his written words because the story was about him and his own personal experiences. “Superman and Me” projects a message to the reader, that when faced with adversity, and when all odds are against you, willpower and determination can overcome even the toughest of obstacles.

It has become common today to dismiss the lack of education coming from our impoverished public schools. Jonathan Kozol an award winning social injustice writer, trying to bring to light how our school system talks to their students. In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal," Kozol visits many public high schools as well as public elementary schools across the country, realizing the outrageous truth about segregating in our public education system. Kozol, cross-examining children describing their feelings as being put away where no one desires your presence. Children feeling diminished for being a minority; attending a school that does not take into consideration at the least the child’s well being. Showing clear signs of segregation in the education system.

     In Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol documents the devastating inequalities in American schools, focusing on public education’s “savage inequalities” between affluent districts and poor districts. From 1988 till 1990, Kozol visited schools in over thirty neighborhoods, including East St. Louis, the Bronx, Chicago, Harlem, Jersey City, and San Antonio. Kozol describes horrifying conditions in these schools. He spends a chapter on each area, and provides a description of the city and a historical basis for the impoverished state of its school. These schools, usually in high crime areas, lack the most basic needs. Kozol creates a scene of rooms without heat, few supplies or text, labs with no

In Jonathan Kozol’s essay, “Savage Inequalities” Kozol explains what he has learned from visiting three different district ten schools in New York. Kozol ultimately argues that students from low economic classes are being pushed aside and not given an equal education like the kids from high economic class schools. Looking at Kozol’s essay through a postcolonial scope the low class students can easily be seen as the subaltern and the high class students can be seen as the fortunate who benefit from the hegemonic power. Kozol describes the lower class school situation as if it weren't even school. Public School 261 is at a roller rink not even a formal built school. Some rhetoric devices that Kozol employs in his essay are artistic along with

Education and economic justice were two forms of systemic inequalities that make inequality difficult to talk about. Education is a requirement if someone wishes to have a better life, but not everyone has access to quality education. In the U.S there has always been a battle, people of color have fought to be able to access quality education, (Philips, 2016: 130) they are constantly attending inferior and ineffective school where there are many distractions for students to be fully successful in the classrooms. Often these schools where children of color attend lack quality facilities, educational resources, and qualified teachers. Someone can’t help to notice that in general such unqualified schools are mostly in color people’s neighborhoods.

Over the last few years public school systems have been slowly decreasing in their effectiveness, causing there to be many students, especially those whose families are struggling financially, to be left behind; while others, who have the ability to enter charter schools, are receiving a better education and are succeeding. The documentary Waiting for Superman, directed by David Guggenheim, is focused on this disheartening truth about the American Education System. Through the use of rhetorical strategies such as pathos, logos, and music, it attracts the audience to the plot and leaves them with an unsettling feeling about schooling that will hopefully cause them to want to take

“One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman didn’t exist... I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.” Just as many children look up to fictional characters such as Superman, parents rich or poor, look up to our school system to educate their children. However, too many of these parents are beginning to realize that proper education, like Superman, is nonexistent. In Waiting for “Superman,” Davis Guggenheim addresses the teachers union about the failing public school system in America. Through the use of ethos, anecdotes, statistics and visual and audio elements, Guggenheim attacks a problem too precious to let slip through our fingers.

Public education is a fundamental part of society and the responsibility of our communities, local and state governments, to invest in the education of our youth. Yet, the contrasts between a child’s education is greatly dependent on the wealth of the family and neighborhood. Kozol said,

Educational systems in America are impaired, and the very educators that are meant to teach are the one’s pulling it down. That is the apparent message that Davis Guggenheim attempts to convey in his documentary “Waiting for Superman”. He uses many strategies to get his message across. Some of these include cartoons, children, and those reformers that are attempting to pull the system out of the ditch that it has found its way into. He makes his point very well, and uses facts and figures correctly. He does leave out some of the opinions of the opposing views, but it does not take away from his point that the educational system in America is in need of repair.

Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol explains the inequalities of school systems in different poor neighborhoods. Kozol was originally a teacher in a public school in Boston. This school didn’t have very many resources and was unable to keep teachers for very long. After pursuing other interests, Kozol took the time from 1988-1990 to meet with children and teachers in several different neighborhoods to better understand issues relating to the inequality and segregation in the school systems. Kozol writes from his own perspective as he visits six different cities and the poorest schools in those cities. These cities consist of East St. Louis in Illinois, the South Side of Chicago in Illinois, New York City, Camden in New Jersey, Washington

“Windowless and nasty classrooms, retarded courses, no air conditioning and can we talk bathrooms?” As citizens, the conflicts and the issues that our society deals with every day should bring awareness and a call to take action. For instance, Jonathan Kozol came up with a plan to bring consciousness to his readers by writing an article about the struggles of the Fremont High School students, in which problems such as overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortage, lack of bathroom supplies, unsanitary kitchen, basic academic courses and inequality. In order to write and put together his article, he took a tour in person and found his way to successfully achieve his goal by documenting students, teachers, and other staff members’ testimonies in which one of his main focuses was Mireya. Furthermore, Kozol’s real facts on the matter successfully make a statement on social and racial inequalities, in which the main purpose of his article was to capture the attention of his audience to resolve on the matters that affects a child’s future.

Societal issues have plagued humanity since the beginning of society’s existence, yet few efforts seem to be made to stop the root of the issues. The first step to solving the major issues of society is educating the general public and having an understanding of what is happening. Literature provides an insight into the ways in which people are marginalized, silenced, and oppressed and by reading these texts people gain knowledge that allows them to do something about the problem. Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools details the situations and circumstances that the author, Jonathan Kozol, experienced during the time he spent traveling through struggling schools in some of the poorest areas of the United States of America.

Waiting for "Superman" was filmed by Davis Guggenheim. It was released back in 2009. It talks about the education system in different neighborhoods around the United States of America. It also shows the corruption in the education system. This movie shows how the bad the public education is, and how many people are struggling on a daily basis to get a great education no matter the sacrifices.

Waiting for Superman: Who will save education? Writing a letter to a college admissions office can be daunting for any student. This was not the case for Daisy Esparza. At the time Waiting for Superman was filmed, Daisy was in the fifth grade. At this time in Daisy’s life, she already knew she wanted to go to medical school or a veterinarian college so she could study humans or animals and eventually become a surgeon.

Ramon Menendez’s true-story based film Stand and Deliver is a moving and inspirational narrative of The American School System crises of an inner-city school in East Los Angeles. In contrast to the pessimistic outlook of Garfield High’s administration, Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos), a calculus high school teacher, transforms the lives of unprivileged Hispanic students. The film presents the extensive barriers Escalante and his students face by the social and economic forces that hinder education in the inner-city of East Los Angeles. I will apply the criteria of the film’s plot, characters and technical aspects to validating the success of Mr. Escalante’s motivational skills, the student’s endeavor, and the extensive conflict of the