Delayed Reaction: Waiting for "Superman"

Premise: A documentary examining the assorted challenges of the American public educational system.

 

Fixing education is hard. That's the big takeaway from this movie. Apparently, this movie took a lot of criticism from assorted educators due to all the things that it left out or oversimplified. To me, the fact that anyone involved in education could "what about..." this movie to death for all the things it leaves out or oversimplifies is evidence of the complexity of the issue, not a failure of the movie. There's no way a 100-minute documentary can capture it all. And that's the point of the movie.

 

Waiting for "Superman" is my favorite execution of this kind of documentary, even though it ends in a frustrating place. I can tell that director Davis Guggenheim went in asking "how do we fix the education system in America?" and explored that without thinking he already knew the answer. This is a curious movie. Guggenheim explores everything from the importance of good teachers to charter schools to teachers’ unions to economic gaps. It's a lot and the question of education is a Gordian Knot at times. Every time Guggenheim gets into one topic, it brings up three more to untangle first.

 

I like that he doesn't try to give blanket solutions. He's not suggesting that we throw even more money at the problem or abolish teacher unions. He's puncturing some myths and explaining the history of some problems; even pointing out some ongoing policies that have outlived their usefulness, such as school structures that assume only 20% of students go to college. The movie is ultimately hopeful. He points out a number of ideas and schools that are working. He confirms that a good teacher is really worth their weight in gold without romanticizing the profession. He tries to focus on the good intentions of policies like No Child Left Behind before examining why they ultimately don't work. Most importantly, he ends with compelling evidence that kids in the wrong neighborhood don't have to be lost causes.

The fact that Guggenheim leaves so much out is a feature, not a bug of the movie. It's an intro level course in the challenges of the American public education system. The kind of thing I wish more people would watch before weighing in on the debate.

 

If I step back and try to look at Waiting for "Superman" on an entertainment level, it's nothing impressive, but it works well enough. The occasional animation is often helpful to explain issues and doesn't undercut the point by being too playful. Guggenheim's narration feels necessary rather than intrusive. This is an active lecture, not a fly on the wall examination. It's edited together as clearly as it could be to keep me interested throughout. I do think it milked the school lottery scenes a bit much. The movie balances the macro vs. the micro well, focusing on both individual families and larger systems. It's just depressing that the movie is 10 years old and it feels like nothing has changed*.

 

*I'm not an educator or parent, so I'll admit that I'm not tracking this stuff closely. Maybe there have been sweeping changes to stuff I don't know about.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend