I have a lot to say about this documentary so I thought I would share with you all. I have never seen a movie or documentary where it had made me feel so conflicted inside. It questioned many things I believe are inherent rights for teacher protection, as it was very biased and anti-union. On the other hand, you heart goes out to so many of the students in schools across the country who are being lost in our failing system.
In many ways, while watching this I was thanking god I live on Long Island, as competitive as the job market is, our schools (in general) are so amazing. Living here you become trapped in an education bubble, a little naive that the education system in America is truly failing, because in all our schools are so great.
While I know there are issues with the unions, and tenure because nothing is perfect, it is a necessary evil to protect teachers from a corrupt system. That's why it was created. Can it be reformed? Absolutely. The creators, however, feel they should be demolished. I can not write too deeply about matters of which I am not completely involved, but I am very lucky to have many a friend who is a teacher, mostly young , untenured ones, and believe it or not they were not too happy with the film.
I think had the creators put all the politics aside, the film would have been much more appealing to the masses. The heart and soul of the film is the education system that is failing so many students. Way too many kids are not graduating High School, and so many factors are involved as to why. This is not only happening in low socio-econmic areas either. Along with following students from the bronx, D.C. it also follows an upper middle class, primarily caucasian student in a "good" district in silicone valley.
It is a very eye opening film!
It is not easy to fix, but at least it presents an opportunity to open an important conversation about our future.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an extremely touchy subject, especially to teachers or ourselves who are training to be teachers. I will definitely have to take some time one of these days to watch the documentary.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I have come across this youtube clip from RSA Animate with Sir Ken Robinson on the changing paradigms of our education system that I thought many of us would find interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Awesome video Vanessa, thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed. First and foremost I am an artist by trade and really enjoyed the visual component, but I really liked what he was saying as well. I think we do need to start thinking different about education. His comparison to a factory made me shutter! I think the future is our hands (future teachers).
ReplyDeleteWow! What a great video! I couldn't wait to see what he was going to draw or write next. The ADHD points really made me think of the many kids I know that are or have been medicated because they can't keep still in class. My son's, Christopher, second grade teacher told me and my husband that he had ADHD. We both thought she was out of her mind and refused to agree with her. We then found that other parents of boys in that class were told the same thing. (She was not asked back the following year.) Since then, I always felt that some educators try to mold students to be their perception of a model student, stifling their creativity and uniqueness.
ReplyDeleteI agree, this was a great video, I too couldn't wait to see what would happen next, and Mary I agree,this video made me feel so conflicted inside as well.
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