Review of Waiting for "Superman" (2010) by David G — 12 Mar 2011

This documentary about the current state of education in America is interesting and makes you think. Unfortunately, it misses the boat in many areas. The only problem it covers thoroughly is bad teaching.

While I agree with the unflattering picture it paints of national teacher unions, it's misleading and uninformed to direct most of the blame towards teachers. Nowhere in the movie does it mention the erosion of teacher and administrator right to discipline misbehaving students, lack of parental support, moral decline of society, decrease in two parent families, rampant attention disorders, increase in litigation, and the fact that over 50% of the best and brightest teachers leave the field within the first 5 years due to burnout.

The only solution the movie seems to champion is to effectively institutionalize children by lengthening the school day and the school year. We've reached a sad state in society if our childrens' last hope is to be taken away from their families more than they already are.

I would recommend watching this movie with a grain of salt on your popcorn.