Waiting for Superman

On a whim I bought the tickets. I was looking through my personal e-mail account (this only happens about once a week) and "accidentally" clicked on an e-mail. On my screen appeared an advertisement for the showing of Waiting for Superman at the Nickelodeon Theater. There was a convenient link that let me buy tickets. My eyes happened to fall upon information about a talk back session with Jim Rex following the Tuesday night showing. Why not? I thought to myself. Without pausing to think I grabbed my debit card and bought two tickets.

The school day rushed past on Tuesday with all of the nervous and excited energy of expectations for the upcoming Thanksgiving break. By 5:30 my dear friend and colleague and I found ourselves comfortably in our seats, popcorn and soda in hand, awaiting the start of the show. Voices around us mingled along with the clink of beer bottles and the rustling of buckets of ice. The manager announced the beginning and thanked us for our patronage. The lights turned low, and the harsh reality of the state of America's schools began to flash across the screen.

The documentary certainly has it's own motives as any work of art does. But as the camera panned across the faces of the unknowing children, getting up and going to school each day tears began to welled up in my eyes. These children, I realized, are under the assumption that their community and the adults in power know what they are doing. They assume we know what is best and that we are giving them our best--and if we aren't then there is some reason for that too. If we allow them to fail then they "realize" that since we know best, then they are in fact failures.

The film continues to follow these children and their families on their quest to get into the only shining beacons of light in their communities--the proven charter schools of their community. This is their big chance to escape the "failure factories" of the big box schools. They apply, wait, and pray to win the admission lottery that could promise them a future and gain them entrance into a successful life. Sometimes over 700 people vie for 40 or so spots. It's the experience of a lifetime if the student makes it in and tears of joy speckle their faces. Those who are not excepted have tears too. They have run into another brick wall...another failure.

The film ends with one of the little boys making into the boarding school that will most-likely change his life. He lays on the top-bunk of his new bed staring at a Polaroid he has just stuck to his wall...a trinket from home. It is a photo of his now-deceased father, dead from a drug overdose. His heart is full of hope for the future, a future that will escape the past of a community failing him and his family, a past of pain.

Jim Rex stood against the black screen, the white lights dancing on his face as the credits rolled on. He began explaining that as this was his first time seeing the film he was still "drying his eyes" along with us. He highlighted his attempt to pass the school choice bill, a bill that found its demise in 2007 when vetoed by Gov. Sanford because it did not include vouchers. Since that year it has been unable to get out of committee. Rex explained that we are making progress in our schools but it is "too slow and too little." He stated his fears about the stigma of teaching and that it will most likely deter many great professionals from our fields and as the baby boomers begin to retire we will have many necessary spots to fill. He called for a need for high expectations and support and also held that charter schools and magnet programs are important pieces to provide choice and push reform. Looping with kids, spending more then 9 months and then "passing them on" and working as "a team of teachers" were two key points in his discussion as needs for providing excellent education.

For America to remain the power it is and continue to uphold the principals that we were established upon we must give an equal and excellent education to ALL!  We must look to the charter schools, magnet schools, and public schools that work!  How do they get their learning community to thrive?  What do we need?  We must continue to build, grow, and foster these communities that do not allow any child fail!