Well, that is a difficult movie/documentary to review. I cant say this is a masterpiece but it is not as bad as some people claim. Lets start with the positive things. There is a concrete idea about the US education system problem (I am not saying the idea is right or wrong. There is an idea). The presentation of the idea is fine but for something to be called "documentary", I would expect more evidence about the proposed claims. Some potential solutions are also presented and they sound like there is a way to fix the problem. Looking at the negative things, the list is longer I am afraid. First of all, I was confused about the status of the private education (as someone not living in US). At the beginning, I felt like the whole movie will be about how great the private schools are and how bad the public education is. It didn't go in that direction but the target was certainly the public schools. The attack on the unions just doesn't feel right. If your system does not let you show the stick, you can encourage people with carrots. Instead of trying to force teachers out of the unions by offering more money, it is possible to offer more money for better performance. Therefore, the proposition "we were going to fix everything but the unions didn't let us do" sounds childish and blaming unions for the performance of teachers is quite one-sided (as most reviewers point out). I agree with the "better teacher for better education" idea but the proper way to have better teachers is not bribing them to leave unions. Instead, one can offer performance based promotions and better education for teachers (yes, education of the educator). Anyways, the last ten to twenty minutes were really pointless as well. To sum up, the movie is pointing a problem but the way they try to propose potential solutions is somehow problematic.

"No child left behind" is a line that many have heard constantly when referring to public education. However, when looking at the failure rates in many inner-city schools, it is visible that many children are being left behind. In the documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim , "Waiting For Superman," the question who is to blame and what can be done is raised as they follow the course of a couple of children who are trying to enter a charter school via a lottery. Although he failed to show the public school teachers side of the story, the director made a very strong and effective argument against the public schools system through the use of statistics, appeal to emotion, and call for action, but not so much for charter schools.According to Guggenheim, a part of the issue is the public school system itself and its web of "power". Every district has its own set of rules and standard apart from the ones nationally enforced. In the film this was explain quite simply. If a student fails a test in one district's school, that same test may still be a passing grade in another district. Every school district can have different standards and that can really cause problems. If all schools do not have the same standards then that only leaves gaps in the children's education when the move on into higher education such as high school and college. Equal education for everybody is one of the main points of the film. Children in low income communities are not receive equal education when compared to children in wealthier places, such as the suburbs. By following this handful of low-income students in the road to attempting to escape this system and move into a charter school, the director appeals the audience's emotion. They are showing small, innocent children who have big hopes and dreams for the future go through the struggle of having to attend "failure factories", as they are referred to in the film, and face the inequality of education. Additionally, Guggenheim goes on to blame teachers and the teacher unions as the biggest reasons to the failure of public schools. It is stated in the film that there are great teacher, but there are also some very terrible ones and unfortunately these bad teacher cannot be fired as easily. According to statistics given in the documentary, some teacher are covering only 50% of the required material while other teachers covering up to 150% of the material and yet they get paid the same. The reason is simple: the teacher union. According to the contracts in the union, schools are not allowed to make pay distinctions among the teachers for being "better" teachers. What is even worst is the fact that due to the tenure teachers have the terrible teachers cannot be fired. Teachers who are failing to do their jobs correctly are being kept in these schools and continue to take opportunities away from their students. Charter schools are in a way offered by the director as a type of solution to the flaws in the education system. All throughout the film, charter schools are spoken pretty highly of and the whole film revolves around a group of children who are so desperately attempting to be enrolled into a charter school through a random selection. Slowly but surely, charter school are getting more attention do their "high success rate" more parents want their children enrolled. The director makes sure to put these types of public schools that are independently run as great institutions where there are greater success rates and where children are coming out better prepared for what lies ahead, but, and here is the huge but, it was mentioned in the documentary that only 1 out of 5 charter schools are producing these outstanding results. It was mentioned so fast in the film that people could have easily missed it. Four fifths of charter schools are also not providing the results that are needed for change. The director failed to acknowledge the reasons as to why these independently run schools are failing and that is a tremendous flaw in his argument pro charter schools. If these charter schools were really the solution then why are only very few of them actually succeeding?The documentary itself is a demand for action.There is a particular quote in the film that states that great school will not come from lotteries done by charter schools are by Superman. Great schools will come from us, the people. If the people are willing to voice their opinion on the terrible education the children are receiving then there can be changes to the system. People need to voice their opinion against the unequal power web and the inability to fire teachers who are not doing their jobs. The power for the change lies in the hands of the community, they need to make their voices heard for the greater good. The solution may not be charter schools, but there is still hope. According the film, in order to begin the process of restoring the public education system there is a need for, "quality teacher, more class time, world class standards, high expectations, real accountability…" (Guggenheim, "Waiting for 'Superman' (2010)") It all boils down to teacher have to be the very best, people have to be willing for change, communities have to commit to the schools, and the people must be willing to act.The documentary, "Waiting For Superman," told a very the very compelling stories of a group of students attempting to escape the flawed public education system while also underlining the issues in the system and why it is not succeeding. The director blames the different standard in every district and also the teachers. Through the use of data, emotion, and a call for action, the documentary "Waiting For Superman" had a powerful and effective message.Work cited Waiting for 'Superman' (2010) (Motion picture). (2011). Paramount Pictures.

Davis Guggenheim, documentary filmmaker analysis the disturbing truth in which the American Public Education system harms our children because of their lack of attention and care for the children who attend public schools. He also explores the roles that education reformers and charter schools could play in offering a better and hopeful future by bettering the public school systems. In the beginning Guggenheim thought that the idea of a public school would work. In 1999 he made a documentary about teachers. He watched them dedicate their time to make public schools work. Ten years later it was his time to choose which schools his children were attending, believing and living by the ideas of public school he took his children to a private school. He was frightened to take his children to a failing school, a public school.Guggenheim states, "No matter who we are and what neighborhood we live in wanting to believe in our schools is like taking a leap of faith." He knew that his family was privileged enough to bypass the troubled, poorly performing public schools but he was concerned about all those other children who didn't have the same privilege. Guggenheim was concerned and struck by many questions he could not find the answer to: What about the children who don't have a choice? What type of education are they receiving? Where is their assurance that they would have the chance to live out their dream, to fulfill their vast potential? How worried are the children's parents when they drop off their kids at school in the morning? These questions are what made Guggenheim explore the different schooling systems and the different teaching methods that brought successful and which ones were hurting the students. We constantly see statistics about students dropping out, science and math scores falling, and schools closing due to lack of funding. What we refuse to see are the names and faces of the children whose entire futures are at stake because change isn't being made. At some point in time the American public education system was a model admired by everyone. Today other countries are surpassing us in every respect. The public schools systems were made with a purpose back in the industrial times. That purpose being that some students would graduate to become lawyers, doctors, accountants and the rest of the students who weren't as advanced as those who graduated would end up in factories. But times have changed and the schooling system needs to change as well. The slogan "No Child Left Behind" has become a cynical punch line. Bianca, Emily, Anthony, Daisy, and Francisco are five students who deserve better. By investigating how the current system is actually obstructing their education instead of bolstering it, Guggenheim opens the door to considering possible options for transformation and improvement. Though Guggenheim gives out these possible solutions to improve the education of those students who aren't as privileged as those who can afford private schooling, his solutions lack the fact that societal inequities are more powerful than any force teachers can bring to bear in schools. In his film Guggenheim mentions that maybe the neighborhoods aren't what makes the school bad, but its the schools that make the neighborhood bad. Guggenheim bashes many public school teachers in his film, but I feel that he doesn't give enough credit to them. Many public schools teachers have to be more than just a teacher, they have to deal with the problems kids have outside of school as well. He shows us five different students who are trying to get out of the public school system but all of these students have parents or guardians who care about them and their future. But what happens to all those kids who don't have someone to push them forward are they just forgotten in the public school system? Guggenheim's idea of creating more charter school and magnet school is a start but it shouldn't be the only thing that should be changed. Children should be able to attend any school in any neighborhood and receive the same education that another child is receiving in a private school. Money and poverty is a huge disadvantage for these kids when it shouldn't be. A students knowledge shouldn't be measured by how much money they have but how badly they want to succeed. Davis Guggenheim documentary Waiting for "Superman" is a good film that informs you about the differences and unfairness of the public schooling system but I don't completely agree with his solution because there is more education than just the school you attend.

Waiting for Superman is a documentary that lets us follow the struggles of visionaries trying to create a good school environment for kids, and parents that seek for ways to see to it that their kids get a good education. In the documentary we get to see the problems with the US education system, and how many public schools are failing to give children a proper education. For example, there are many problems with teacher unions that make it almost impossible to fire a teacher. A lot of attention is given to charter schools, and how many of them are solving the problems that the public schools have, giving the kids who attend them a proper education. Here is where the parents come in. We get to see how some dedicated parents try to get their children into charter schools, so that they might escape an education system that would probably lead them to a very dark future.I think that the movie mostly remains unbiased, giving you statistics and facts to support all claims and opinions, which makes it a very good learning experience. The movie really managed to capture me emotionally, and it was both a heart-breaking and a heart-warming watch. I would recommend that anyone who wants to enlighten themselves and learn more about the US education system should watch this movie.