A documentary being shown at the Sundance Film Festival is getting some attention, and a recent blog from well known (and well respected) critic Roger Ebert caught our attention, mostly because he makes some statements that can be difficult to digest. In “Waiting for Superman,” the filmmakers look at America’s failing educational system and blame many of our woes on America’s teachers’ unions. Ebert points out that Davis Guggenheim, who made the documentary, is the same man who brought us “An Inconvenient Truth,” so he’s not exactly what many would call a right-wing conspiracy theorist.
What struck us at BoardBuzz wasn’t so much the review of the film, which is getting a fair bit of press in the edu-circles on the web, but some of Mr. Ebert’s commentary on education as a whole. He brings into the argument the chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools, Michelle Rhee, who made her own headlines over the weekend pitting herself against teacher’s unions after accusing many dismissed teachers of having sex with and hitting students in the D.C. schools. While we would like to put these issues aside, is she the solution? Is this Super(wo)man?
The truth is it’s not one entity’s fault, it’s a combination of factors and to over-simplify the argument can be scary. Of course there are good and great teachers who belong to teachers’ unions, mostly due to the coverage they get for legal reasons if they are accused of something they didn’t do. Of course there are principals and administators that work hard to make their school and district a success. And of course there are bad educational workers out there doing harm. Teacher quality is an issue that is too important to over-simplify, and as BoardBuzz has pointed out in the past, giving teachers incentives like national board certification to be better can be worth the extra money. We look forward to seeing the film when it is released. Stay tuned.
