Teachers Deserve More Respect!

Darling-Hammond: U.S. vs highest-achieving nations in education

Reflection over recent educational documentaries

I watched these two films back in October and wrote this short piece. I decided to share since the films are becoming more accessible to educators.

How do we get happy, successful, creative people?

            One of the people interviewed in Vicki Abeles’s documentary, “Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture” said that we need to think about how we can create happy, successful, and creative people. Davis Guggenheim’s, “Waiting for Superman” as well as other current literature and media have also caused people, even celebrities as popular as Oprah, to ask similar questions about children in America’s educational system today. 

            Both documentaries call for a change in America’s education system, because put simply, it’s failing our children and the nation.  However, they are delivering quite different messages to the public.  I hope to briefly describe what each documentary envisions as the problem and the solution.  Then I will share some points of consideration.

The Problem:

“Waiting for Superman” which is directed and narrated by Davis Guggenheim, most known for his “Inconvenient Truth,” blames an over large administration and bad teachers for failing students in public schools.  The documentary focuses on elementary age children that live in poverty and rely on the expertise of former teachers but mostly former superintendents.  The audience hears from the parents, but teacher perspective is severely lacking.  Evidence is provided in the form of numbers and statistics with the purpose to stir up fear.

“Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture” claims that schools are failing students because they are lost in the craze of high stakes testing, which has been prevalent for decades but intensified since 2002 with the No Child Left Behind legislation.  The documentary focuses on mostly high school students and heavily relies on feedback from parents, and teachers across all grade levels including graduate professionals and medical professionals.  The documentary is dedicated to a deceased girl, who committed suicide due to school pressure at the age of thirteen.  The audience is told that children are unhealthy from school stress. 

The Solution

            “Waiting for Superman,” tells the audience that we cannot wait for superman or any other miracle and we must act now.  It is unclear how exactly we should act or help to alleviate the problem.  The documentary proposes that private and charter schools such as Kipp are successful and that is the direction we need to go towards.  The message follows the current national trend leaning towards private and charter schools.  It calls for an end of tenure for teachers and paints a very negative picture of their unions. 

The message in “Race to Nowhere” clearly outlined at the end of the documentary calls for students, parents, teachers, and administrators to work together to re-establish what the goals are for students.  It promotes discussion to truly evaluate if robbing our children of their youth and innocence will provide the outcome we desire.

Points of consideration (my opinion):

I tried to present this in an unbiased fashion, but being an educator myself, it is difficult to remove myself.  I thought each documentary had important elements but absolutely favored the latter to the former.  Both films should be viewed and discussion should be encouraged.  Here are just a few things I walked away with and will continue to analyze:

- Why do we continue to use international comparison statistics as scare tactics?  Why do we insist on comparing apples to oranges?  Do we need to scare people and make them sad and cry to get a response?

- Why do we insist on using mundane testing as accountability?  Does this not go against the grain of how every person learns?  Testing really is not measuring intelligence or preparing students with the skills needed for the current job market or even college course work in the slightest.

- Are we losing focus all together?  Does anyone else feel overwhelmed in a sea of mess? Is there hope?

* More to come as I reflect further…

Links for additional information:

http://www.racetonowhere.com/

http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/action/?gclid=CJ-F2o2c5aQCFYft7QodcxwW0w

http://www.kipp.org/

Appropriate Use of Technology in Education?

I think this is amazing! Check it out...

Ted Talk: Kahn Academy - Using Technology to Humanize and Globalize classrooms

The shorter version:

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Follow up on Flipping the Classroom Method:

http://blendedclassroom.blogspot.com/

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