THE DEBATE OVER ‘SUPERMAN’
DOCUMENTARY TAKES ON TEACHERS UNIONS, BUT FILM’S CRITICS DEFEND PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The documentary “Waiting for Superman” doesn’t open in the Detroit area until Friday, but it’s already generating national buzz, even as it kindles debate about how to improve public schools.
The movie, by director and co-writer Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for “An Inconvenient Truth,” argues that union politics and teacher tenure issues plague public schools while charter schools can focus on student achievement.
“This is a film that screams for education reform,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm said after viewing the film during a preview Monday evening at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak. “It’s no longer a mystery what works; there are schools like the Harlem Children’s Zone (a high-performing charter school portrayed in the movie) that have figured out how to ensure that every child goes to college, no matter what their circumstances.”
Proponents of traditional public schools say the movie offers a one-sided view.
“The movie says charter schools are the answer, but studies show there are excellent charters; there are charters that are OK, and there are bad charters,” said David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan, which includes teachers in Detroit’s struggling public schools. The same is true of traditional public schools, Hecker said.
The debate aside, the movie’s message is that we are all waiting for an educational Superman, a hero with a silver bullet to fix what’s ailing public education.
Superman was, of course, fiction. The question the movie leaves hanging is whether we’ll continue to wait, or get serious about improving the future for all American children.
Francisco and his mom in “Waiting for Superman,” a movie that argues charter schools are better than public schools. “This movie, from everyone who’s seen it, sends a compelling case for education reform,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm said.
Film looks at ways to reform schools
Unions call movie unfair; others hope that it spurs fixes
Do education superheroes wear charter school hats, or can they be found among union-card-carrying traditional public school teachers? That’s the question coming out of “Waiting for Superman,” opening Friday at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak.
The better question is whether, after years of education reform that has wrought few changes in America’s public schools, the movie will lead to serious education fixes for struggling public schools.
So far, the movie has helped to broaden national discussion on education reform as it portrays the desperation of parents and students stuck in low-performing schools, waiting to see whether they win a lottery space in a high-performing charter school. It prefaces the tearful lottery scene with interviews and data pointing to a dismal state in U.S. schools in general, and schools in high poverty urban areas in particular .
Sandra York of Detroit, the executive director of the Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association, said the movie made many valid points.
“The one thing we all know is that children can be educated,” York said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
But not all viewers gave the movie high marks. Shomari Johnson of Detroit, an educational consultant and retired Detroit Public Schools math and science teacher, said the movie did not bring out the importance of family involvement, “and it demonized the teachers unions without showing the good stuff that they do.”.
“Superman” offers a damning indictment of teachers unions, which it portrays as more interested in preserving tenure than in removing bad teachers from the classroom.
Whether that’s a fair portrayal or not is open to debate. Even charter proponents point out that the charter schools championed in the movie are among the best the charter movement has to offer.
Still, “it portrays very high-performing charter schools as making a difference,” said Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, which advocates for charters. “What it’s really about in that sense is that we want more high-quality schools that parents have access to.”
Quisenberry said education can be improved by turning a failing traditional public school into a charter school.
“A charter school gives you a brand new opportunity, when you start out new,” he said. “I think we’re a key component” of education reform.
Detroit Public Schools emergency financial manager Robert Bobb said at Monday’s preview that he hopes “Superman” elevates the national dialogue on school reform and reinforces his drive for teacher accountability. “A lot of it has to do with the rigor we’ve introduced into our schools,” he said.
But defenders of traditional public schools say the movie presents a one-sided view of charter schools and, by extension, education reform.
David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan, which represents teachers in Detroit Public Schools, said “Superman” is based on inaccurate or incomplete assumptions.
Hecker and others point out national studies showing mixed results for charters. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, for instance, reported last year that only 17% of charter schools reported academic gains significantly better than traditional public schools.
Hecker said the movie portrays traditional public school teachers as incompetent, which Hecker said is not only untrue, but unfair. He argues that tenure does not confer a job for life, but merely ensures due process for teachers. He said the movie holds out teacher merit pay as a viable reform, when a study released last month by Vanderbilt University showed merit pay is not an effective motivator for teachers.
The attention given the movie before it even opens nationally has led some public school officials to send messages to parents about the movie’s unflattering portrayal of traditional public schools, and pointing out the good things in their district.
“We’re reacting to the buzz surrounding ‘Waiting for Superman,’ ” said Shira Good, communications supervisor for Berkley Public Schools, which sent such a letter to parents.
The letter outlines strides Berkley is taking to improve student achievement, including eliminating lower-track classes and setting high expectations, along with increasing ACT scores for Berkley students.
“We didn’t want any of our parents walking out of the movie and wondering what their son or daughter’s school is achieving,” Good said.
The one thing both sides of the charter-traditional school debate can agree on is that the attention the movie is generating about education reform is in everyone’s best interests.
“I think it’s going to be important in the sense that we are at a crossroads with our education system, especially Detroit Public Schools,” Virdell Thomas, an operations manager with Family Services in Detroit, said before Monday’s preview.
“I think all education systems are facing big challenges now,” she said, “so I’m looking for some sort of hope.”
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