Waiting For "Superman" (2010)

If you've ever listened to any sort of political ad or debate over the last 20+ years, then you know that politicians and voters believe something is wrong with our education system. This movie takes a look at how much/little people are doing about the problem.

The movie follows five families, 4 of them in the lower class homes but all of them struggling in school. Some are single parents, others are newly laid off, and some just want the best help they can get for their children to be better educated. However, the problem doesn't seem to lie with the parents or the schools, but with the teachers and, more specifically, the teachers unions (dum dum DUMMMMM). While some of the students act like nothing is wrong, all of them are aware that money is the issue that's keeping them from the best education they can have, in one way or another. An ambitious superintendent in the Washington DC school system and a Harlem-based educator are some of the people trying to spearhead particular issues in their respective cities. The movie culminates with all 5 kids having to go in a lottery for their education.

That last sequence, with the lottery drawings, is exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. These kids clearly want to learn and only a certain few are going to be able to based on a bingo ball, index card, raffle ticket, etc. The movie is nothing new about how bad the schools are, but it does show it in a different way. This movie shows the problems and offers solutions, but I'm not quite sure if anything said in this movie will be treated as demonstrated. It was a great documentary and I strongly recommend it to all.