The nationwide buzz is starting for the upcoming movie Waiting for Superman. The documentary, by director Davis Guggenheim, also of An Inconvenient Truth, follows five kids and their families as they struggle to get a quality education.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about the movie today. Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say:
It is intolerable that in America today a bouncing bingo ball should determine a kid’s educational future, especially when there are plenty of schools that work and even more that are getting better. This movie is about the people trying to change that. The film’s core thesis is that for too long our public school system was built to serve adults, not kids. For too long we underpaid and undervalued our teachers and compensated them instead by giving them union perks. Over decades, though, those perks accumulated to prevent reform in too many districts. The best ones are now reforming, and the worst are facing challenges from charters.
Although the movie makes the claim that the key to student achievement is putting a great teacher in every classroom, and it is critical of the teachers’ unions and supportive of charters, it challenges all the adults who run our schools — teachers, union leaders, principals, parents, school boards, charter-founders, politicians — with one question: Are you putting kids and their education first?
The movie will open in select theaters starting Sept. 24. View the film trailer and read more about the movie.
