@katiecouric: "Waiting for 'Superman'"
September 23, 2010 4:34 PM
Katie talks to Davis Guggenheim, director and producer of the provocative new documentary about education in America, "Waiting for 'Superman.'"
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When a critical mass of kids develop a burning personal desire and excitement about vocation and studying the sciences, the whole issue changes. But the change must be made at a different level. And when it goes viral, everything changes. It works!
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As a 20 year teacher, I know there are issues. Many problems come from inept parents who teach their children no manners or respect and allow them unlimited indulgences (video games, nights out, movies, etc...) rather than encouraging LEARNING at home. I don't have my head in a hole, I am a mother of 4 & I know the world we live in. But kids, especially teens DON'T VALUE being educated as much as they value FACE TIME (look at me aren't I wonderful? don't you love me?) Our society doesn't value TRUE INTELLIGENCE either, we worship all that is tack, fast, cheap. It is any wonder that some of our children are without soul, respect & curiousity. Teachers work overtime trying to counter today's culture and fearing NCLB (the insane national standard which says ALL children will pass ALL subjects at 100%) or your school FAILS. By the way, failure in this case means the feds 'take over' your school, rearrange the personnal, and give you millions to 'reform'. But I rant, honest tracking of abilities in our schools (like in France) would have an IMMEDIATE positive impact. Not every child is college bound nor can every child learn higher level Algebra. We owe our children an HONEST educational reform. I'd also like to see our RICH teacher's unions GIVE $$ BACK to struggling schools rather than line their own pockets.
While I've got some ideas about what that looks like, I really don't know. But try this exercise:
Block from your mind as much as possible what you know about schools, but remember what you understand about kids and about how you've learned the things that you truly understand deeply.
Now, imagine someone, let's call him Fred, suggesting to you that we put a couple of thousand teenagers in a building everyday and have them sit for 45 minutes or an hour at a time, listening to someone talk about the pythagorean theorem, then move down the hall and listen to someone else talk for another 45 minutes or an hour about the Battle of Hastings. "Now," Fred goes on, "they do this hour after hour after hour, day after day after day, for years on end. Isn't that a great idea?"
Of course schools do work for certain things. But surely we can come up with something better than schools.
Apparently rdm1046 subscribes to states' rights to segregate schools, which was overruled by the Supreme Court in "Brown vs Board of Education", 1954.
- by f3licia September 24, 2010 12:16 PM EDT
- I completely agree with the premise that we need to change the compensation package for teachers in order to attract the top graduates with the great ideas, and the passion for education to the profession. I would love to see the Federal Government create a program for low interest / low downpayment mortgages for teachers, or tax breaks for teachers -- so it would raise teachers' effective take home pay and quality of life without just throwing more money at them.
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