I might be one of the only folks out there not excited about seeing the movie Waiting for Superman. Am I going to see it?  Absolutely.  I’m a trainer of teachers and an overseer of charter schools. This movies embodies everything that interests me and maddens me in education.  There has been a lot of hype around the movie, even more so since Oprah did a whole show about the movie and charter schools.  I won’t get too involved in that whole brouhaha.  There is another documentary, that came before Waiting for Superman called simply enough The Lottery, that deals with the exact same issues.  It actually does the same thing–it follows kids/families as they compete for “coveted” spots in charter school.  I’m guessing it didn’t garner quite the attention that Waiting for Superman has because of it’s title and famous director.

I will be seeing The Lottery at our states charter school conference in November.  I will wait to see Waiting for Superman until after that.  It isn’t that I place value on one of these movies before the other.  I admit often that our educational system is in a state of emergency and has been for a long time.  Academics and the like have been struggling about how to improve our educational system.  It isn’t as easy as opening charter schools.  I am an advocate of choice–that is why my kids are in private school.  I put them in the best school for them and one that I believe offers the best education.  Would I put them in public school?  Yes, if I felt they could get a great education, I would be happy to not pay tuition.

The problem I have with these two movies and the media in general is that charter schools are being touted as the silver bullet for our educational system woes.  Charter schools are no different than regular public schools in most ways.  For every great charter school there are 15 that are poor performing.  Charters have been lifted up and parents think that by sending their kid to a charter school the education is automatically better.  We have parents lining up to send their kids to charter schools here who are doing no better at educating students than the traditional public school they would attend.  I am for innovation (which is what charter schools are suppose to be) but I am tired of seeing charter schools open who look no different than a traditional public school.  Every kid in the US deserves to get the kind of education I am paying 5 figures to get for my kids.  I fully believe that.  But how do we make that happen?  We have to start by changing education.  Changing our view of it.  Changing the way we deliver it.  Our world has changed vastly, but students still attend schools that were build in the early 1900’s.  Buildings that don’t have computers, etc. Teachers and administrators who are ineffective and poorly trained.

One of the answers is better administrators.  I have friends who are administrators and some of them are amazing.  I have other friends who are administrators and most certainly should not be.  I have lots and lots for friends who are teachers and many of them should be and are effective or are working hard at developing the skills that will help them be effective (teaching isn’t something we learn overnight and we need better teacher prep programs that allow new teachers to develop their skills with a truly amazing mentor teacher).  We need better teacher education programs.  We need better teacher evaluation systems.  We need to re-evaluate the practice of tenure.  We need administrators who are effective and who can encourage teachers and inspire teachers.  We need measures of success that are relevant to our students lives.  The list goes on and on.  Firing all the bad teachers is one answer–but many teachers who are deemed “bad” could be good or great with some targeted and practical professional development that happens over the course of a year and not in a two hour block at the end of a school week.  There are no easy answers.

Charter schools are not the answer, they might be a part of the answer.  Trying to replicate a suburban upper-middle class school in an urban center isn’t the answer.  There is no one-size fits all approach.  We need to look at education with new eyes and redefine what it is our children need to be successful in the world.

Sorry Superman, I can’t wait for you.