What Does Waiting For Superman Mean

Improved Essays
I thought the documentary “Waiting for Superman” was informative and also sad. Informative because we get a real idea about how schools are In the inner cities, and also how poor test scores are and how horribly we rank as a nation regarding school. Also, the method of “Tracking” which prior to this documentary I have never heard before, nor have I heard from the track being scores of obedience and appearance of neatness? What does that even mean?

It also goes into how it’s nearly impossible to fire any teacher because of poor test scores from their students, which I think is really unfair. At any other job in the world, if you cannot perform a job, or you do badly, you can get fired. So, you have a teacher that’s not doing their job,

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Keith M. Parsons, a philosopher, historian and author at the University of Houston-Clear Lake is teaching incoming college freshman in their late teens for his first time. He describes the challenges higher education professors are facing from new millennial generations who have distant priorities about college. Professor Parsons indicates they do not know how to behave because they are accustom to not working hard. Does Parsons have a particular type of favorite student? Consequently, their output is low from habits of “passive” learning.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1989, Principal Joe Clark takes over East Side High School; a school with low standardized test scores, and students who are far from eager to learn. Motivated to reform the school, Joe eliminates the students who have no desire to be there and helping the students who wish to succeed. Several weeks after his arrival, Joe expels students who are active in gangs, drugs, and who do not follow the guidelines of his school. Nevertheless, parents become angry and declare that the students be re enrolled in the school. Joe, eager to inform the parents of his plan to keep the school open, announces a meeting to discuss his reasoning for the expulsion of several students.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter 2: Are We Responsible For Others? “Waiting for Superman” is a bright illustration of young kids that are struggling through the American public education system. Throughout the movie, diverse moments of the American public education system are being tested. Facts were shown such as passive reaction in order to fire a teacher which is overusing his teacher’s rights. The documentary clearly shows that teachers have a huge impact on the educational system, which limits the student’s options.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Structure and Content As a companion to the film, Waiting for Superman, by Davis Guggenheim (2010), the book, edited by Karl Weber, (2010) is comprised of essays from people who are at the leading edge of educational reformation which are; Davis Guggenheim, Lesley Chilcott, Bill Strickland, Eric Hanushek, Eric Schwarz, Michelle Rhee, Randi Weingarten, Jay Mathews, Geoffrey Canada, and Bill and Melinda Gates. Each essay brings to light their own success story and possible solutions to the problems facing the American education system that has less than half of the students finishing college. Weber (2010) introduces first how the United States was ahead of other countries in the 1950s but lagged and then fell behind during the next few decades. Weber (2010) highlights the problems of our education system and how it does not compare to foreign schools and fails to…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Countless students and teachers go to school every day and work very hard to meet what is asked of each of them. Teachers work more than 40 hours a week, especially when there are events going on throughout the school year. Students go to class to earn an “A,” not to learn what the teacher is teaching the class due to the fact that students were taught to contently earn a letter grade in that class. However, teachers are not at fault either because the school board and administrators give the teachers a timeline of all the curriculum the students must learn to a certain point in time of each marking period. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, he describes how numerous students and teachers go to school and they are just dullness is so…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For this discussionn board I chose the article on CNN called Cheating in Atlanta Public Schools: it is not what you think. In this article the issues regarding pressure placed on teachers to perform is discussed along with the disadvantages of standardized tests in school environments. The incentive provided by students scoring high on the Criterion Reference Compentency Test (CRCT) urges teachers to strive towards better test results in their classrooms without having regard to specific student educational needs. As far as economics is concerned, the issues teachers faced in their demographic location along with statistics of local social classes showed many red flags that were never researched fast enough. As this specific article explains, the area in Atlanta where the school was located in was a lower income area where 90% of children qualify for free or reduced lunches.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Steal This Movie, Too

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Waiting for Superman” got its title by Geoffrey Canada, creator of Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada’s main idea is that schools are not fixed by Superman; they’re…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although there are many problems in this case, the main problem is lack of student learning, which needs to be the top priority of a free and appropriate public education, aside from safety, which is always at the forefront. As the principal, I need to reflect on my last 2 years of making an attempt to develop positive and trusting relationships, and my own growth as an educational leader. The problem here is that Principal Hulbert is still at a Level 1 leadership role; where people follow you simply because of your title. This was demonstrated when Bill Osborne, the employee spokesperson, told the principal, “You are the boss and you can force us to revise the lesson plans. Just tell us what you want in the lesson plans, we’ll copy it, and we can go on to more important issues,” (Kowalski, 2012, p.5).…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was 4:30 when Bobby was walking through the hallway, excited he made it on our school sports team. Bobby rushed into the room and swung the door open, right when he arrived, he heard something on the loudspeaker, ”Bobby Mires please return home you have been terminated from after school sports because of a failing grade.” Bobby was lost in thought. He tried so hard to get onto this team and he got ripped away from it the second he got in. That's a little unfair don't you think.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My heart pounded. My knees shook. I feared the other twenty students sitting around me could hear my heart leaping out of my chest as I read each question on the SAT. When I looked around the room, I realized they all had the same look of terror on their faces as I did. This test determined the rest of our futures; whether we’d get into the college of our dreams or not.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is the purpose of taking standardized tests? Or if the test are harmful to some students of other race, or ones that have learning disabilities? Many parents and teachers have objected to the idea of making their children and students take a standardized test, although 75% of parents say that it is a good step for their child. Being a student that has had to take the standardized tests, it is a very waring task. The stress about wanting to know if secondary students will pass or fail, and if young adults fail then we are not good enough for the careers we would like to pursue in our futures.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The concept of acquiring knowledge of a subject is usually reflected on a test; however, it goes beyond. What is most important is what we learn and what stays in our mind. “Wrong Answer,” a 2014 New Yorker article, tells the story of a middle school math teacher named Damany Lewis who decided to cheat to help his students do well on a state standardized test. The most important concern for Lewis was to see the school progress and his students improve; however, his decision didn’t work well. He met with a few other teachers to correct answers from the students’ exams.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Freedom Summer Reflection

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While watching the documentary I think of my nieces who are half African American. I could not imagine them growing up and not receiving the same rights that I have been given. Sending little children who one day are the face of our country being sent to poorly funded schools is not fair and every child deserves the same education. The project had also established Freedom Schools. Establishing a solid education system is crucial for children at young ages.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Both the student and teacher are at fault in situations as such. Students should be respecting the teacher’s lesson plans and the teachers should be enforcing those plans and not allowing students to make the decisions. When teachers become too involved in their student’s lives, the students start to see them as friends instead of…

    • 1620 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This event was very eye opening. It made me realize how institutional racism has been prominent for years. It is an entity that all minorities are fighting against. Yes, it was a very educational film. This would be a good film to show on other channels besides PBS.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays