"Waiting for Superman" Blog Reflection

In the blog posting by Wesley Fryer entitled “Waiting For Superman: A Good Film to Provoke Conversations We Need” he discusses his quick views on the educational system in relation to the new movie “Waiting for Superman”. He also discusses a couple major points that he believes that movie “misses”. One of the first things that Fryer brings up is the idea of accountability in schools and NCLB (No Child Left Behind), as a major proponent for more of the former and getting rid of the latter, he believes that schools should have never been thought of as businesses. We began to see our schools and the educational system as one way, as a business, and they simply are not. Therefore in order to properly run a school, we need to alter our mindset. In addition, Fryer declares that the problem is not a short supply of good teachers or good classrooms but rather a constant and unchanging educational system that is not working for our students or our teacher anymore. There are learners in our classrooms that all learn differently and as such we need to start helping them to learn differently. “The educational process is more than knowledge transfer and regurgitation”, our educational process is something that needs more attention and diversity to reflect the audience for which it is geared.

Relationships are another aspect that Fryer discusses because of how crucial they are to our education. Relationships between students, teachers, parents, administration, and community members need to be seen as a crucial and evident aspect of the classroom learning process. However, towards the end of the blog, I sensed that Fryer was a little critical of the movie, not allowing a lot of room for more interpretations. He anticipated the movie to cover more aspects of education than what he saw. Motivation in relation to education is one of the most important factors in not only students but teachers as well. In the blog, we are aware of much motivation can affect teaching, learning, staffing at the school, and also the entirety of the educational system. There needs to be, in relation to motivation, a want to do better, to do more. There needs to be more involvement in schools at every level with every person, student, teacher, administration, parents, and community. Education is a gift not for a certain group of people with a high economic status in a nice neighborhood with the “right” physical characteristics. Rather, education is for every person, of every race, at every economic level.

If nothing else, this blog, and it sounds like the movie as well, serves a greater purpose than reiterating the problems with education and schools today. They serve to help promote more action and more conversation as to the reasons behind the problems of education. I think this would be a great movie to see. I wonder if I will have the same reactions or issues with the movie as Wesley Fryer.