F is for Failure... in Education

            I recently stumbled upon an interesting film, titled Waiting for Superman.  This documentary style film looks at the school system in America, and in essence how they are setting up children for failure.  The film has won several awards and accolades for its’ raw and unfeigned account of public education and the ineffectiveness it is producing for children. 

            A section of the film talks about how the United States has gone from ranking very highly on a global scale for academic proficiency, but has slipped on the scale and is ranked much lower.  As I was watching the video and hearing this, I could not help thinking about the RSA Animate video we watched in class and specifically, the explanation that schools are structured today as they were years ago.  Specifically, in a way that limits children’s creativity and their ability to perform to their full potential.  The structure of the public education system proved to be effective decades ago, but the reality is that this structure is no longer producing the greatest results in students and we are now being faced with an academic and educational epidemic. 

            In the film, it follows several children who do well academically and who want to pursue their education further.  The children desire to attend a charter school as the education and academics offered in these institutions help pave the way for the children to continue onto university or college.  They are entered into a lottery style admission draw to enroll at a charter school, and if they are successful they will secure a seat in the charter school.  If they are unsuccessful in beating the odds of winning this lottery, they will be forced to continue in the public school system. 

            Waiting for Superman talks about some of the bureaucracy found in the school system, but there is an interesting section that talks about “tenure” being built into teacher’s contracts, which essentially provides them with a job as a teacher for as long as they want.  Their contract is unamendable, despite being a poor performing teacher and not educating students to the best of their ability.  What is seen, is that in some schools there are teachers who are not truly passionate or dedicated to teaching students in a way that inspires knowledge growth. 

            To peel this back a layer, if a teacher does not instill confidence in his/her teaching, this will reflect in the student’s desire to learn.  I see this as another form of oppression wherein lies the teacher’s ability to limit and weaken a student’s desire to achieve greatness.  This summarizes some of Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed.

            This is quite an interesting documentary and I highly suggest you take a look.  I found there to be some interesting linkages to what we’ve studied in class, and would be interested in hearing your thoughts.  You can watch the video (in 11 sections) in its’ entirety on youtube.