Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Waiting for Superman: Parents of the Students
As I was watching this in class on Thursday, I thought about what I would do if I was a parent of one of these children that we saw in the documentary. What would I be willing to do if I lived in a lower class area high in crime, with a large drop-out rate? If I couldn't leave the area because of finances, I would do ANYTHING I could to get my child to have the best education possible. I found it awesome that Fransisco's Mother was willing to leave the house at five in the morning so he could be in a place where he would excel and be safe. Would you be willing to do this for your future-kids? What if you were working full time and had to wake up 4 hours early to get them to school and gas was really expensive? Or does it not matter where kids go to school, because a lot of people make it to college that have gone to public schools with sky-high drop out rates. Is it possible to just raise a child to do the right thing and stay in school, and put them in any school and expect them to be successful? I think that a school has everything to do with the success of a student. Watching this documentary really opened my eyes to what is going on all over the U.S. and made me think about the future of our schools as well.
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I found the saddest part of this video to be the lotteries.A child's whole future is based on luck and that's not how it should be. States should be doing so much more to secure their education systems. Parents shouldn't have to worry about whether their child is going to get picked or not. It's sad to see these children's lives wasting away because there is only one good school with limited seats in that area.
ReplyDeleteThe devotion the parents have to their children's education is nothing short of remarkable. All of the parents in the documentary want the best for their children, and will go through thick and thin to get the best or somewhere close. I think a very large portion of the problem with the education of children is the parents who are not as dedicated and caring as those shown in the video. Many children come from broken homes, suffer abuse and neglect, and could be dealing with an array of issues outside of the classroom. Not mentioned in the video, is the fact that children go to school a mere 8 out of the 24 hours in a day. That leaves 16 hours each day for anything to happen beyond the school's watchful eye. I feel that the documentary's argument would have been more valid, had he explored this area of the issue.
ReplyDeleteThe parents remind me alot of my own mother. My mom worked incredibly hard so that I could go to a private school instead of the public high school. My school is also a charter school so I know exactly what this story means for the children and their parents. The parents are working harder than they ever have so that their children can get the best education possible. I also know that the students won't understand just how important it is for them to have a the best education until they are older. I didn't notice until I got into the university. Now that I see what all of the hard work my mother and myself has done has rewardwed me, I will always be grateful for not only my mom but for all that charter schools set out to do.
ReplyDeleteThis documentary opened my eyes too. I felt soo bad for the kids and parents equally. You could see how badly the parents wanted to help their children and how badly the children wanted to learn. I liked how each of the kids had big dreams for their future. It sucked having to watch them get rejected from the system and get put onto a waiting list. Schools shouldn't be like that. If those Charter schools were the best to go to, I think there should be more of them with more available slots for kids. As far as my future goes, I think working 3+ jobs would be VERY tough. I want my future-kids to get a good education but if it came down to me having to work 3+ jobs, I honestly think that I would rather homeschool them so that I could teach them the way I want them to be taught. I think some of those parents in the film should consider that, especially Daisy's father who does not currently have a job.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that concerns me the most that was brought up in Waiting for Superman is the international competition. I don't know what you guys think, but seeing the videos of the students going through martial arts exercises and doing extremely advanced math with that simple wooden device almost frightens me. I'm not sure that even if we did take the steps talked about to fix our school system that we could compete with it. They have such a stronger sense of discipline they are taught. I'm not sure as Americans we can drive our students to quite that level of efficiency.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a school has everything to do with the success of a student. It is not only about the the lack of reinforcement on the education, but it is also about the environment. In most of these high drop-out rate schools, there is very poor environment. The environment of the school affects the child just as much. Once the students realize the teachers don't care, they stop caring and on top of that there is peer pressure. I would be just the same as Fransisco's mother. I would do anything to make sure that my child is getting the proper education and in the best environment for learning.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a school has everything to do with the success of a student. It is not only about the the lack of reinforcement on the education, but it is also about the environment. In most of these high drop-out rate schools, there is very poor environment. The environment of the school affects the child just as much. Once the students realize the teachers don't care, they stop caring and on top of that there is peer pressure. I would be just the same as Fransisco's mother. I would do anything to make sure that my child is getting the proper education and in the best environment for learning.
ReplyDeleteThe movie did open my eyes up to how hard it is in some urban school cities for a child to finish high school. They have bigger things to worry about sometimes than school. Their lives are always in danger due to living in the projects or ghettos. I grew up in a town with 4500 people and our class sizes in high school were 25 (at most). It was a very safe community and our drop out percentage was very very low. My sisters however had gone thorugh a year of high school in which gangs and crime were an everyday obstacle. I asked them (for the purpose of this blog) how much of a difference it was going from Romeoville high school to Dwight Township high school and the reply both gave me was along the lines of "its as big a difference as the colors black and white." I am thankful that i grew up in a small yet very safe community such as Dwight.
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