Thursday, March 3, 2011

Waiting for Superman - DVD Review


lll 1/2

Directed by Davis Guggenheim.

This piercing examination of the US public school system is not a cut-and-dried look at heroes and villains. It's an in-depth examination of our declining education system, and I get the feeling the makers came to some conclusions they didn't anticipate or desired.

What it boils down to is that most teachers are trying and working hard, but because with the strength of the unions, there is no way to fire the worst 5% of teachers, and those 5% are dragging the whole system down.

The movie follows four or five kids, and the ending comes down to a lottery in each area for them to be admitted to these brighter, better charter schools. For the ones that don't get in, it feels like their entire future is doomed.

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