An individual and the community they live in are both factors that impact individual's education. Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie is an essay published in the Los Angeles Times that describes the impact that reading had on his life and it shows that individuality triumphs community towards the goal to an education. He Named Me Malala is a movie dedicated to Malala Yousafzai's pursuit towards an education and it displays that an individual is responsible for their quest for an education. Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol is a book that discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races, the book showcases that individuals are solely responsible for their pursuit in an education. Individuals are the benefactors
Firefighters, Police officers, and soldiers are all of our heroes today, but the heroes that children are lacking in today’s society are teachers. In the documentary Waiting for Superman, it does a great job of showing many of the flaws in today’s education system. In Waiting for Superman, The music and audio features provide a humorous tone and also, at times, a more serious tone. Ethos is established throughout the Waiting for Superman documentary by having experienced teachers and presidents of well known educational companies give their thought on what needs to happen with the schooling system in the United States. The experts in this topic talked about how many of the public schools in the United States are considered to be dropout factories, which is where more than forty percent of the enrolled students drop out. This means more kids sitting on the street with no jobs or education. Furthermore, crime rates will go up, as well as the poverty level because the children can not get a well paying job. It is made known in Waiting for Superman, that the good schools are very expensive and only have limited spots available. To get into these schools, there are often raffles in which you enter for a chance to get in. This method is unfair because there is no guarantee you will get chosen, therefore you may end up getting a worse education than what you know you can receive.
Waiting for Superman both disgusted me and inspired me. It disgusted me to see our education system in such disarray while no one seems willing to make or allow any changes to occur, yet I was inspired to do my best to be a light in a failing system. From this movie and the readings I have done in this class, I realized that America is never going to have an education system that everyone agrees with, so the only thing we can do as a teacher is to ensure we are preparing young minds for the future as best as we possibly can.
In chapter one of Savage Inequalities, by Jonathan Kozol, he speaks of the disastrous state of East St. Louis. He describes in horrific detail, the condition that many school children from grades K-12 are forced to learn in. East St. Louis is one of the worst ghettos in Illinois, and Kozol goes into great detail about the multitude of problems facing the city and more importantly, the school children living there. The economy is too weak to pay for any type of necessity for the schools. Therefore, the school system is compromised. There is absolutely no money for proper
When the word school is mentioned, often, we first think about students and teachers. These two groups roughly describe the educational system. This assignment will focus on teachers as stakeholders in public school districts.
As a parent, you want the best for your child in life. What would you do if their entire future was decided on one lottery that was out of your control? Waiting for Superman is a documentary that was made in 2010 and created controversy among educators and parents everywhere. The director focuses on 5 students that go through the process of trying to find a better education. In Waiting for Superman, Davis Guggenheim (the director) investigates and uncovers the downfall of American education over the years informing people the truth of what is truly going on.
In Waiting for Superman, David Guggenheim’s documentary about America's school systems, he asks a multitude of very important questions that many people have been asking for a while now. Such as the question of if our teachers are essential to the well performance of a school, how can we, the everyday people, resolve poor performance within the school systems with an oftentimes uncritical view of teachers? In addition to that it raises the question on whether bad schools only exist in slums or other places as well. It also brings up the question can children excel in school if they are brought up in poverty.
The documentary Waiting for Superman uses several rhetorical strategies and appeals in order to effectively get its purpose across to the audience. The purpose of the documentary is to persuade people that public schools must be changed drastically for the better. Which would ensure that a multitude of students, if not all students, would be given better chances to succeed in life at the correct and required academic levels. This message is efficaciously relayed to the audience, which is comprised of anyone who is part of the school system, whether that be parents, students, principals, superintendents, presidents, or anyone else who can and is willing to make an effective change to the school system. The message delivered in the film is very
The political documentary, Waiting for Superman investigates and criticizes the American public education system. Directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott in 2010, the goal of this artifact is to look at the role of charter schools in comparison to different educational reforms. The film connects how these factors are producing results that may change the future of education for students within the United States. The plot of this documentary focuses in on the stories of 5 regular public education students Bianca, Emily, Anthony, Daisy, and Francisco who are from across the country and all strive to be accepted into a charter school system. Through the perspectives of the 5 children and their families, the audience observes how they each individually struggle to succeed under various circumstances. Guggenheim introduces the different and difficult options that he believes contains the hope to change the American education system and its repercussions.
Waiting For Superman intricately articulates the struggles of children in public education, and in doing that persuades parents to take a stand against the system. When the movie opens, Geoffrey Canada describes his fascination with Superman as a child, the thought that someone could save him from his horrible childhood. The analogy that Superman could save his education, just as he had saved multitudes of towns in movies and comics demonstrates the desperation these children are facing. Along with this analogy comes the constant use of pathos throughout the movie. When the narrator introduces Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Emily, Daisy, the audience is able to more realistically connect with the purpose. As these children are followed throughout their school days, the overall sense of childhood innocence and the unrelenting hope in their education. As Daisy talks about her dream of being a doctor just like her mom, who is a nurse, how could the audience not want the best opportunities possible for these children? Furthermore, as each of the children’s parents are interviewed, the desperation of their voices is heard as well. The use of capturing emotion, as some of the parents cry because they are unable to give their children the absolute best, any negative views the audience may have are
All things considered, in Waiting for Superman, Davis Guggenheim executes an outstanding documentary achieving the message of the need for an immediate change in the school system by displaying facts supported by the sorrowful soundtrack and proper pace. Just like how there is “an app for everything”, the same could be applied to music. Guggenheim explored a topic that is genuinely upsetting, so an upbeat soundtrack would not get the message to the audience for the desperate need of change in the educational system. The pace puts everything together so the audience could fully apprehend the content with a leisurely pace or keep the audience interested with swift clips.
The many reasons in certain places, a child cannot receive a proper education is due to the public schools in the area, not being up to standards. A majority of the documentary is in regards to Washington D.C., the capital of the country, using it as the prime example. Only twelve percent of students in D.C. are even average in reading, eight hundred students from ninth to tenth grade leave, and the students that remain, have a reading capability of almost two years younger than their actual age. These statistics are used as pure logic to convey the audience how many systems are failing and the need to improve them.
In 2010, Davis Guggenheim released one of the years most talked about documentaries, Waiting for Superman. His film was an eye opening, to many, look at the failings of the U.S. school system. The film follows five students across the U.S., who range in grade level from kindergarten to eighth grade, as they try and escape the public school system through a lottery for a chance admission to a charter school. Guggenheim lays the blame for the failing public education system at the feet of the various teachers unions, and makes a plea for the public in general to get involved in reforming the system. By analyzing Waiting for Superman through a sociological perspective, issues of inequality will be explained using the theoretical approach
In the article entitled, A Tale of Two Schools: How Poor Children Are Lost to the World, by Jonathan Kozol, the writer is comparing the differences between New Trier High School, a school in Illinois that’s nestled in an affluent neighborhood against Du Sable High School, a school situated in an impoverished neighborhood that has 100% African American student in attendance. The article sadden and confirms things that myself and many others are already aware of, but has not been able to change. Schools located within the poor communities are
One of the greatest differences among public schools is the funding they receive. Public schools across the country have incredibly varied amounts of capital dedicated to them which in turn leads to a disparity in the quality of education a student will receive at these schools. The race of a student, the location they live in, and the wealth of their family greatly correlate to the level of education they will receive. As Harvard professor Jennifer L. Hochschild notes, “Districts with a lot of poor students have lower average test scores and higher dropout rates...The highest spending districts report high test scores, and some of the lowest spending districts report the lowest test scores” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). The students who attend schools that receive less funding typically obtain an education that is lesser in comparison to schools that receive more money. The inequality in funding within a state has a severe impact on the variation of education quality. In the case of Connecticut, “The district that spends the most provides almost twice as much per student as the district that spends the least” (“Social Class in Public Schools.”). As a result, the schools that receive less funding work with more outdated textbooks and equipment, while schools with more funding can afford to buy new equipment and provide a better environment for the