In the city of Chicago, only 46 percent of students graduate from Chicago Public Schools.
New York’s eighth grade is 30 percent proficient in math. In California, this statistic drops to 24 percent. And in the nation’s capital? A mere 12 percent of eighth graders are proficient in math.
Davis Guggenheim highlights these numbers in his new documentary, Waiting for Superman, which he says is a call to action about education.
“It’s a figurative Superman,” Guggenheim, the film’s director known for his work in An Inconvenient Truth, said in a conference call. “I like the titles in my movie to be mysterious. Superman might just be real, but not in the place you’d expect.”
In the movie, Guggenheim follows the lives of five children across America: Anthony, Daisy, Emily, Francisco and Bianca, complimenting their narratives with efforts by educators pushing for reform.
“The inspiration from the movie came 11 years ago,” Guggenheim said. “I was supposed to direct Training Day with Denzel Washington… I got fired from the movie. I was so angry that I bought my own camera and followed five teachers who never taught before. Spending time in schools in rough neighborhoods, I see the stakes involved. I remember thinking, ‘there’s another film here about the system.’”
The movie calls out the problems in America’s public school education, singles out more than 2,000 schools called “drop-out factories” across the country — schools where at least 40 percent of the students do not graduate. Guggenheim weaves stories of educators and children into national education statistics, crafting narratives to provide a glimpse into America’s educational crisis.
“[Waiting for Superman] is about the system and the kids it lets down,” Guggenheim said. “I just believe education is the most important issue of our time… It’s morally wrong that we’re failing so many kids; it’s economically unsustainable.”
The film’s narrator takes a parental point of view, illustrating the lengths children and their parents go to for a decent education. Bianca, a kindergartener in Harlem, N.Y., attends a Catholic school instead of her nearby public school. Nakia, Bianca’s mother, works two jobs in order to foot the monthly $500 tuition bill. After applying to Harlem Success Academy as an alternative, Nakia discovers her daughter’s chance of getting into the free charter school is five percent.
By law, if charter schools receive more applications than they are able to accommodate, they must hold a lottery to determine who gets the seats. A central theme of the movie is luck, personified by images of lottery balls rolling in cages. Superman’s five children have all applied to better charter alternatives to their local schools, many of which are drop-out factories. But the odds of Anthony, Daisy, Bianca, Francisco and Emily getting into their desired charter schools ranges from five to less than 50 percent.
The film strikes a balance between the pure innocence of children and convoluted ambitions of adults. Guggenheim makes the point that much of educational efforts are centered on “grown-up” politics. Political games and agendas distract from the true task at hand: it’s about the children.
Anthony, a fifth grader in Washington, D.C., attends elementary school in one of the country’s worst performing districts. After losing his father to drugs, he fell behind in school and had to repeat second grade. Yet the adorable Anthony now has a different attitude.
“I want my kids to have better than what I had,” he tells an interviewer in the film. “I want to go to school.”
Guggenheim crafts his film in an effective and engaging manner, creating a balanced mix between seriousness and humor — poking fun at George W. Bush’s assertion: “Childrens do learn.”
The movie’s plot suggests a solution in the form of charter schools, which are funded by taxes, but not subject to union bureaucracy. Yet approximately one fifth of America’s charter schools produce “amazing” results.
For current college students, Waiting for Superman provides a wake-up call to the nation’s dire educational landscape and underlines just how lucky we are. College students have won the lottery, in stark opposition to the children in the film.
“Those in college will identify with the film,” Guggenheim said. “Millions don’t have access to a great education, and it’s a civil rights issue. I think when college students see these kids just like us, who just want to get an education and succeed in life when they see their fate is determined by luck. That isn’t fair.”
The nation’s schools have remained static, but the surrounding world has changed. Our education rankings have fallen behind those of other comparable nations. But American students do rank first in one category, the film ironically points out. Confidence.