Waiting for Superman

Stats that stood out for me:

• 13% of Daisy's classmates are proficient in reading and math
• She will then go on to an under achieving high school where 57% of her classmates will not graduate
• Only 3 out of 100 of the graduating 43% will head to college prepared for a four year university
• Between 5th and 7th grade the majority of minority students in the inner city will go form a B average to a D average.
• There are over 2000 failing elementary and middle  schools in this country according to Robert Ballfan
• In a very bad case scenario, 40,000 out of 60,000 students who attended this school over a 60 year period did not graduate.
• Sending prisoners to private school for 12 years would cost less than it costs to house them in prisons. 33,000 dollars per year is spent on each inmate, most of whom dropped out of school.
• Michelle Rhee is the 7th superintendent of Washington DC in 10 years.
• There are more than 14000 school boards across our country which only make funding and reform more difficult.
• In one school year a bad teacher may only cover 50% of the curriculum, while a good teacher will cover sometimes 150%.
• The NEA and AFT are the largest contributors to the presidential campaign. Federally supporting the democratic party.
• "Rubber rooms" cost around 100 million dollars per year to house teachers for a full work day, everyday until their court cases have been judged. This can take up to one year for one single case.
• In America, we score 25th in math and 21st in science on an international level. Even the best of the best in our country still place 23 out of 29 internationally.
• America scores 1st in confidence.
• In 16 years America has opened 82 KIPP schools.
• When graduating KIPP schools, 9 out of 10 gradutaes will be prepared for a 4 year university.
 

 The problems within our education system are vast. The first problem that I notice when thinking about the movie, Waiting for Superman is the dysfunction of having so many people governing it. Instead of having one set of standards, there are many due to the lack of federal organization. It is up to the states and districts to govern and provide proficient schooling. The students featured in this movie were a variety of young kids. Most were from poor neighborhoods and had families who struggled with school and finances. Daisy's parents had both dropped out of school to help provide for their families. They did not want to see the same for Daisy, instead they tried to "win the lottery" to a local charter school. This exact theme was repeated through the whole movie. Sadness on all the families faces when they were denied, and utter happiness when accepted. The people in the movie were depending on these education opportunities.