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Essay / Waiting for the Superman Movie: An Overview of Charter Schools
In Waiting for Superman, the movie talked about the benefits of charter schools and how they represent the future of education for America. Grades have apparently increased and the system bypasses teachers' union hassles, allowing for unhindered education through competent teachers. However, this film is extremely biased and therefore not entirely trustworthy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The documentary explains that in public schools there are dropout factories, where the majority of students have no never graduated. School dropouts make the surrounding area a “bad” place, which leads to a poor learning environment for future generations. This repeats itself and becomes a vicious circle, and neighboring places also become potential factories of abandonment. The teachers of dropouts are not doing their job either. For example, in one school in the film, the teacher refused to teach and just read his newspaper. He was fired, but a year later the school was forced to rehire him. This is because teachers are tenured, meaning that if they have taught for at least 3 years, they are guaranteed that position forever unless they do something extremely illegal. So in dropout factories, teachers don't do their best, and some don't even teach. Even in decent public schools, students' scores on standardized tests are not up to par. Overall, in the United States, only about 35% of students have proficient grades in math and English. Surprisingly, our nation's capital, Washington DC, has one of the worst educational districts in America. Charter schools can fire and hire anyone at will, ensuring that incompetent teachers are eliminated from the system. They also have power over what they teach and how long a school day is. Additionally, according to the film, several charter schools have been established in dropout factory areas and have significantly reduced dropout rates. As many people try to apply to these charter schools, the schools hold a lottery in which a few hundred people apply, and only a few dozen students are admitted. In the movie we see 4 people trying to get into these schools. schools via a lottery. What's very depressing is that if they don't enter the lottery, they have to go to a local dropout factory. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay What I found interesting is how biased the film is. This film focuses exclusively on extremely successful charter schools and notoriously failing public schools. The rate of teacher burnout was never even discussed. 25% of teachers gave up teaching to the best of their ability or dropped out of school because it was too demanding in order to help students get better grades. It also focuses way too much on how charter schools help students in dropout mill zones, but in other places, does it really help that much? During our school debate, I learned that charter schools, on average, don't actually help grades rise. In some places, charter schools are actually inferior to public schools. This movie..