Finding Superman: Debating the Future of Public Education in America

Summary (from the publisher): 'This book is an essential supplement for everyone who saw the movie Waiting for Superman. It makes clear that education improvement is more complex, and requires more change in policy and practice, than Superman ever envisioned. It is a roadmap for more comprehensive transformation of education.

 

This collection, drawing on the authors' years of experience in education reform and policy, challenge the ideas highlighted in Waiting for 'Superman' and instead maps out reform strategies that will push our thinking into new realms.

 

Review: I read this book as part of an assignment for a class on public policy in education for my master's degree program. It consists of nine critical responses from various experts in the field of educational reform based on the authors' reactions to the documentary entitled Waiting for 'Superman.' Authors include such well-known names in educational policy as Diane Ravitch (author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System and former assistant secretary of education) and Linda Darling-Hammond.

 

First off, for anyone interested in reading this, it's almost essential that you watch the documentary first. Second, it's remarkable how scathing every single one of the nine responses is towards the documentary. The authors are affronted that Guggenheim (the creator of the documentary) would present such a biased presentation of public education - completely ignoring the many excellent public schools that we do have in this country - and assert that charters are the answer. In fact, I believe that every (or nearly every) essay in this collection cites the study that showed that "only 17% of the country's 5,000 charter schools outperform their public counterparts, while 37% significantly underperform comparable public schools" (93).

 

The authors also criticize the film's lack of involvement of teachers, its jab that teachers are the problem, and its lack of coverage of the role poverty plays in poor school achievement. Several authors argue that the results the film shows are skewed or possibly even false and that Guggenheim offers up examples like Finland, with high educational achievement, while conversely advocating for solutions that directly oppose the methods Finland has employed. Perhaps most shocking was John Merrow's assertion that "it later came out that Guggenheim staged scenes, an absolute no-no in the world of documentary films" (91).

 

While I expected criticism, I was surprised by the vehemence by such a large numbers of authors, however, on the other hand, I think there are two sides to every coin. Ongoing debate and passionate proponents of each side are in part why our educational system is such a tangled web now anyway. Although I find myself siding with the authors of this book, because I find their insistence that building up teachers and focusing on ameliorating the effects of poverty compelling (as well as their concrete data), I do commend the documentary for raising the conversation into the level of public discussion.

 

Stars: 4