The other night I watched this film on DVD. At the end it asks you to help spread the word...so I am doing exactly that.
"Waiting for Superman" is a documentary that is a searing indictment of our failed educational policies here in America. Some of the statistics they throw out at you give you a foreboding sense of doom about our country and its future. We cannot be a successful country if our kids can't read and write. The term "dropout factories" should never have been invented, but yet it is accurate.
The destruction that Teachers Unions have delivered is unreal. Education is no longer about success or about the kids. It is now about union contracts and sky high benefits that are undeserved. One stunning fact that jumps out is that a teacher in America only has a 1 in 2,500 chance of being fired. (If you think that is realistic, then you are crazy.) They mention in the film how 1 in every 100 lawyers and doctors gets fired for not doing their job.
The last 20 minutes of the film is one of the most difficult things I've ever had to watch. Parents attending these education "lotteries" where their kids have a slim chance of getting into the "good" schools in their area. Most of them do not get in. Most of their kids will go to failing public schools, with union teachers who are not interested in doing their jobs.
This is why I support the complete privatization of schools. It would lead to an economic burst of growth in parochial schools, and an increase in our nations talent years down the road.
