Waiting for Superman

I think that the issues about American public education that Davis Guggenheim raised in this documentary have been discussed consistently for years. It is true that no education system will be as perfect as educators, parents, legislators and even students expect, however many schools are failing the students who sit in their classrooms. With so much focus on passing tests, teachers are "short changing" their students in various fundamentals of education.

In fact, from conducting fieldwork observations and student teaching as a Childhood Education major I would say that may of the theories and concepts that I learned in my courses are not being used in some NYC classrooms. Teachers that I observed appeared ill-prepared to competently teach mathematics, science, social studies and literacy. Thus, it was not a surprise that many of the 5th grade students that I observed at one school wrote and read below the level of most of the 3rd grade students that I taught previously in St. Kitts.

In terms of the issue of teachers failing students in Literacy, two authors/educators who have spoken and published texts that highlight this problem are Jonathon Kozol and Lisa Del Pit. Both authors investigate and criticize the way children (especially in minority and urban areas) are taught and how the education given to them affect their ability to progress as learners.

Lisa Williams

October 5, 2010 1:30 PM