A Failing Educational System

By Rexford Bloxsom-Carter, Winter 2010

The film, Waiting for Superman, presents a harrowing look at the public education system in the United States. Filmmakers David Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott, who also worked together on the Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, have made a film in Superman that depicts what they see as the country’s broken education system that fails to give students a chance.

According to 2009’s national education achievement report (the nation’s “Report Card”), 25% of 8th grade students performed below a basic level of reading. This statistic jumps to 41% when you look at the performance of students in California. Nationally, 27% of students are scored below a basic level of math performance. This statistic leaps to 50% when Black students are looked at specifically.

Guggenheim and Chilcott challenge the status quo and make the courageous claim, which they back up with numerous examples, that every single student is capable of learning and that it is criminal to turn our backs on these students.

The film follows the lives of five children, and their families, who are desperately trying get the best education they can. All but one of these kids’ lives in an urban setting: Los Angeles, Washington D.C., South Bronx, and Harlem. The other student is from Redwood City, California. Viewers of the film watch the process of trying to get a spot in a lottery admission for a high-achieving charter school, which are sometimes miles out of the neighborhood in which they live.

Essentially, charter schools are public schools that choose to operate outside the standard jurisdiction that typical public schools follow. Through an approval process, the school obtains a charter from the government and in order for renewal, which happens every 3-5 years, the school must demonstrate positive academic results by its students.

These new types of public schools are being held accountable for the academic development of their children. Great teachers get rewarded and poor teachers get fired. Teachers’ unions don’t allow for this to happen in traditional public school settings, and according to the principals and superintendents in the film, firing a public school teacher is next to impossible. The whole notion of accountability gets ignored because these teachers get paid equally whether or not their students fail or succeed.

Why is this film important for psychologists? First and foremost, it demonstrates how public schools are failing to adequately teach children. Psychology has a vested interest this reform and can offer incredible insight into the process of making teachers, principals, and parents more effective in working with children. I recommend this film for all CSPP students because at some point we will all likely have to work clinically with a child or family and awareness of these education issues will be relevant.

Finally, as agents of change, psychologists have a unique opportunity to contribute to the film’s call for social justice. The lack of education these students face, which is often based on race and economic status, is criminal. Psychologists need to stand up and become the advocates for students’ social, emotional, and cognitive development in failing schools.