"After all of the hype this movie received, I hoped for so much more. I left the theater frustrated and disappointed. As a teacher, I felt Guggenheim missed so many arguments that should have been addressed by any critical thinker; namely, if the system is broken, which we all agree it is, then what is the solution? Most of the information in this film was obvious to me, but what I hoped to get out of it was some sort of understanding as to how he proposes to fix it."
I hate you didn't like it. As a former public school teacher, I thought that it did give solutions. They were subtle solutions. Such as, get rid of the teacher unions. In this day and age, one can't really come out and say that directly. Give parents options. Get parents involved. "After arguing that Nordic countries such as Finland had better school systems, he made no attempt to explain what made them better. Most frustrating was his depiction of American parents as caring supporters of brilliant children. At a Title I school, few parents ever show up for conferences despite the ridiculous hours I spend waiting for them." I don't think the movie at all argued that all parents are caring supporters of brilliant children. It showed that SOME parents want more than what a broken public system offers and are basically shit out of luck if things continue as the are. Some parents don't give a damn. These can be watched on the next MTV reality TV series. "He failed to show how schools are viewed as babysitters instead of breeding grounds for young scholars. He jumped on the bandwagon to blame teachers/unions for the failure of the system instead of recognizing the MASSIVE shift in morality and parenting that existed in those successful years of our education system. " I think you are failing to consider the audience. Most people who took time to see a documentary about education already know that many schools are babysitting. Unions are part of the problem and so is parenting. The shift to the parenting that we have now was not addressed, but parenting was. The KIPP Academies and other charter schools require parents to volunteer and take a stake in the school. Not so at your Title I schools. Also, remember the time constraint. A two hour documentary can't touch on everything. "I'm impressed by Michelle Rhee's attempt to reform the system, as well as Gates's attempt to throw large sums of money at the problem, however I don't see either of them becoming successful without the support of communities that helped to create failing schools by disallowing their students to be personally responsible, and holding middle/high-schoolers accountable for their own education." Throwing large sums of money at the problem will definitely not fix it. Community support would help, but you can't guarantee it. It's up to the parents. If parents who are trying are given the opportunity to get their kids out of schools that don't work, it can only help the community and the schools in the long run. "Guggenheim never filmed any child above the 5th Grade! How can he begin to criticize the 'dropout factories' that he never entered?" Because they exist. Maybe he can make a sequel. "I left the theater frustrated and disappointed,' feeling that Guggenheim had coasted through this film on the acclaim he received for "Inconvenient Truth" and not on any real merit as an investigative filmmaker. I agree the system is broken, but Guggenheim failed to do any good with the opportunity he had to help fix it." Well, to each his own. I am glad that you at least watched it and are truly concerned about the state of education instead of blithely following some political party line. Especially meaningful from someone who teaches or has taught. J - Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. - Henry Kissinger Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. - John Quinton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:340538 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
