Waiting for Superman

There are no stars in Waiting for Superman, but plenty of real people. And they have one problem: the U.S. Education system sucks! It’s so bad that not even the Man of Steel (who appears via stock footage of the George Reeves TV show) can just fix everything in a single bound.

So, what can we do to save the day?

Davis Guggenheim, who won the Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, dedicates his newest documentary opus to the decline of American education. If you feel outraged, disappointed, and even a bit hopeful after watching this, chances are Guggenheim has done his job.

The stars, for lack of a better word, are just five ordinary kids and their families all across America. All five of them are of very-working class families. Because of this, they’re stuck with public schools that fail them five days a week. Their only hope is their local KIPP Private Schools, but space is limited.

Director Guggenheim's case is a very well argued one. According to him, many fools in the system, including teachers unions, are to blame here. With the help of stock footage, Guggenheim greatly mocks those teachers who use tenure as an excuse for incompetence. Lousy teachers may be bad enough, but they're not the worse fools in the system. Consequently, it’s hard not to feel shocked at these findings.

It’s hard to feel shocked at the revelation that so much of the educational crisis is easily solvable. That’s the impression I got from Waiting for Superman, and it’s a film that’s certainly one of the best of the year.