Film Review: Waiting for Superman

Chelsea Tijerina
SOC 302
Extra Credit
Waiting for Superman
The movie Waiting for Superman is a documentary produced by Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott. The documentary sheds light on our public education system and its complexity, particularly its effect on parents and children. The documentary follows the lives of 4 children and their struggles, as well as their parent’s struggle, to enter them into a charter school. The overall message is that much like many other institutions, public education has its flaws but these flaws have massive effects on families and children.
One of the things that stood out to me from the very beginning was when the narrator stated “But I’m lucky. I have a choice. Other families pin their hopes to a bouncing ball…. because when there is a great public school, there aren’t enough spaces…” This statement carries a heavy message about the truth of our country and the harsh realities people don’t see. My mother was a public school teacher. She taught special education at an elementary school and helped students who had trouble learning. The struggles of being a teacher were no surprise to me because I watched my mother and sometimes helped her in the classroom. Since my mother had knowledge of the system, she did her best to steer me in the right direction. I never saw or learned about the internal workings of public education. All I ever saw was the tip of the iceberg, which is what many other Americans see. This statement also reflects the concept of the achievement gap, not just in education, but in employment and income as well. The families who don’t have the choice to send their child to a good school are the ones who suffer the most in the future. These are the people who are left literally putting a child’s future on a lottery number.
In the context of this class, I was able to expand my knowledge of the Achievement gap, tracking, and the theories this documentary proposes compared to other sociological theories discussed. The studies from both Coleman and Kozol can be compared and contrasted to the message this documentary gives. On one hand the movie proposes is that insufficiency in the public education system is caused by a series of factors. These factors include the union’s policies, tracking, “The Dance of The Lemons”, and its ability to get funding. This perspective would be aligned with Jonathan Kozol and his study called “Savage Inequalities”. Jonathan believed from his research that the economic and social backdrop of the school were the main factors that effected student achievement.
On the other hand, the movie also showed how difficult it was for children to receive a good education considering limitations on the family. Some of these limitations were, the neighborhood they lived in and income level of parents. Parents who had the means, were able to make better decisions for their children’s education. Families who lived in better districts had better educational opportunities for their children. This perspective leans more toward James Coleman’s Study in 1966. He found from his studies that academic achievement depended on the condition of home, neighborhood, and peer environment.