Why do we consign our neediest kids to our worst public schools and then pin the hopes of so many for a better future on the outcome of a lottery? That’s the poignant question filmmaker David Guggenheim asks in his latest documentary, Waiting for Superman.
Guggenheim, who also produced Al Gore’s film on global warming, Inconvenient Truth manages to do what hundreds of studies and policy reports on public education have failed to do: put a human face on those trapped inside many of our worst public schools. In an insightful column in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, National Review writer, Bill McGurn said why he expected Waiting for Superman to make such a splash. McGurn also shared what he believes sets the movie apart.
For years, of course, conservatives have documented the failures that Mr. Guggenheim highlights, and in some cases have even succeeded in pushing through some good reforms. Yet that’s just what gives “Waiting for Superman” its potency – the indictment issues from an unrepentant liberal instead of the Heritage Foundation. I suggest to him that the kind of truths about public education he illustrates will be far more inconvenient for those in his circle, than say, the friends of a former Bush speechwriter.
What’s the buzz all about? View the YouTube trailer for the movie below. And when the movie comes to your neighborhood, go and see it and start a discussion on the important questions it raises.
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