Waiting for Superman (2010) Film - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The director of the movie is Davis Guggenheim, and the producer is Lesley Chilcott. Several students are used to reflect as they struggle to be accepted in the charter school. The Audience Award honored the film in 2010 as one of the best documentary. This paper seeks to focus on ‘Waiting for Superman’ (2010) film. In the film waiting for the superman (2010), several problems are identified as an impediment to quality education standards. One of the problems is the tiresome process one is supposed to undergo in order to get a place in the schools thought to be best performing. Those schools that are best, and have spaces depend on lottery for enrollment, hence denying chance to many students. Consequently, they are forced to go through schools whose performances rank low in all aspects of academics. The other significant policy problem identified in this issue is bureaucracy employed by the teachers union. Most of the teachers are unable to inject their knowledge to support students to achieve satisfactory grades. Furthermore, those teachers identified to contribute to poor performance of the student are not fired. They are protected by security of tenure, which is easily acquired after two years of teaching. The other problem identified by the movie is the issue of perception that individual background determines the level of performance. He disputes this fact and notes if such individual are exposed to formal education standards, and have exceptional teachers they are more likely to make it to the college. There is also lack of motivation of exceptional performing teachers as their payments are standardized (Participant Media and Weber 17-22). Many causes have led to various policy problems as identified by the film. The most notable is the bureaucracy of the teacher union. Even after identification of poorly performing teacher, it takes a long time, for such teacher to be expelled. In addition, the union contract is a source of impediment to school reforms. Such a teacher also continues receiving money from the exchequer. The other challenge is the issue of United States standardized test scores. This score continues to fall since the early seventies affecting performance significantly. Moreover, charter schools enjoy certain provisions that are not in public schools. They have the rights to have longer school days and schools years while this is reduced in public schools. He also identifies failure in public schools because of strict mechanism that are applied to the students. Some rules in public according to the film are conservative and retrogressive (Participant Media and Weber 17-22). According to Guggenheim film, quality education is composed of great teachers, prepared students, excellent schools and an increased level of literacy (Film). Furthermore, it claims such quality education produces outstanding graduate. There are several proposed policy instruments to quality education performance. The most important is the motivation of teachers based on their performance. He proposes such teachers should be given some form of incentives such as salary increase. The other important step is to raise education status to international standards. He also proposes that there should be an increase in literary rates. The film also calls for providing a successful school experience for all students. The movie also supports the establishment of more charter schools to increase enrollment. He also advocates getting rid of teachers union as a ...Download file to see next pagesRead More