WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

Kathleen and I recently saw the documentary "Waiting for Superman." While the critics have been divided on the merits of this film, we found it to be incredibly riveting. This film shines a light on the American public educational crisis, and it highlights the failures of many schools to adequately teach and inspire children and their parents alike. However, the film does offer solutions and places most of the emphasis on those who champion high standards and teacher accountability.

While there are a few highlight reels with the original Superman from the old TV series, the real heroes in this film are the educational reformers. They include Mr. Geoffrey Canada. Indeed, the title of the documentary is taken from Mr. Canada's own experience as a child growing up in New York City waiting for Superman to come to solve his neighborhood's problems. However, at an early age, his mom informs him that Superman is not coming and that the problems of his neighborhood have no easy solution.

Because of his own life experiences and his work as a teacher who battled the establishment, Mr. Canada was inspired to found the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block area in New York City in one of the poorest and toughest neighborhoods in the nation. In this zone Mr. Canada has built charter schools, public schools that receive taxpayer funds but that are not bound by teachers' union rules and other potential obstacles to achieving educational excellence. Despite the location and due to his "crib to college" approach, many of Mr. Canada's students defy the odds and go on to college.

Another person featured in the film is the former Washington, D.C. Public School Superintendent Michelle Rhee. Ms. Rhee was brought into office with a reformer's spirit, and she had one simple goal: to make D.C. public schools better. She did not let anything stand in her way, including the D.C. schools' bureaucracy and the teachers' unions. One of the saddest parts of the film is when Ms. Rhee offers the teachers and their unions a chance to have merit-based bonuses and the opportunity to earn over $100,000 per year. This would be in exchange for giving up tenure, or the right to have a job no matter how well one teaches. The unions, sadly, do not even let this come up for a vote. The mayor of D.C., Adrian Fenty, who was a big supporter of Ms. Rhee, just lost his re-election bid last month. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Rhee was forced out, too. Another "win" for those adults who think that bad is good enough for our kids.

However, the real stars of this film and, sadly, the real losers in this film are many of the children who are featured. The director follows 5 of them who live in places ranging from Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C., and the San Francisco suburbs. In all cases, their local public schools are failing. One option for all of them is, you guessed it, high-performing charter schools in the area, including Mr. Canada's Promise Academy in New York City. Every single family is eager to go to one of these schools not only because their neighborhood school options are poor and because these charters are free but also because their is hope in these schools: hope for college and hope for a better future than what these kids' parents have. Alas, these kids are not the only ones with such dreams. Hence, in every school, acceptance is left to a lottery.

I will not spoil the ending for you, but it is clear that in the greatest nation on Earth, some 56 years after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, we still have a public educational system of separate but unequal. There are many reasons for this, but chief among them are the lack of a true interest by adults to guarantee that every child in America has the best teacher and the best environment in which to learn. This is the feeling that I was left with last year when I visited public (and several private) schools in Portland, including our own neighborhood public school in an affluent part of town.

At the end of "Waiting for Superman," I could not help reflect on how lucky we are to have the means to send Nicholas to the Arbor School. Superman has not visited there. Rather, Arbor is great simply because everyone there believes that a child's education comes before anything else (period).

Before Arbor, I used to think that you could love your school, but now I know that a school can also love you back! Knowing that many kids and their families, who are just as deserving as us, are still waiting for that brought a tear to my eyes as we left the theatre that night...