Davis Guggenheim takes on the public education system in the United States, in much the same way he took on global warming in his 2006 An Inconvenient Truth. But the villains here are not so clear. Waiting for Superman has attracted the attention of both Time magazine and Oprah, and the education problem certainly merits the attention. This documentary has plenty of drama and shocking information, but Guggenheim grossly oversimplifies this complex problem. In spite of this, it is a film well worth seeing.

The film follows five children and their families as they strive to find a better education, pinning their last hopes on a lottery that would allow them to go to a successful charter school. At the end of the film we see these lotteries. The film alternates the stories of these children with scenes of founders (Geoffrey Canada and others) of high performing charter schools. The film also features Michelle Rhee, the controversial chancellor of the D.C. public schools, who fired thousands of teachers and principals, including the principal of her own child’s school, in an attempt to shake up the failing D.C. public school system. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, also gives her opinion of Rhee’s ideas. Guggenheim provides voiceover narration, reciting disturbing statistics and providing commentary.

The strongest parts of the film involve the drama surrounding the children trying to win the lottery.  They want to attend charter schools that have a very small number of places and a ridiculously large number of applicants. The five children all have compelling stories, and it is impossible not to root for them, and to be moved by their tears. The film also features interviews with charismatic reformers like Geoffrey Canada and others who have achieved wonderfully impressive results with their charter schools. When the film recites statistics like the one showing that of thirty developed countries, the United States is ranked 25^th in math, 21^st in science and 1^st in confidence, it is hard not to be alarmed. Guggenheim rightfully makes a convincing case for the dire need for education reform and the devastating effects for kids and adults of failing public schools.

The problem is clearly stated in this film, but I wish that the filmmakers had explored the many reasons for failing schools. Instead, Waiting for Superman lays all of the blame at the feet of teachers.  According to the film, ineffective teachers and the difficulty of firing ineffective teachers are the reason for failing schools. Guggenheim cites union rules that make it very difficult to fire teachers. It is clear that the filmmakers side with controversial Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her attempts to demonize the teachers and their union. Rhee and many others feel the solution is to evaluate teachers and reward the effective ones with higher salaries and terminate the ineffective teachers. But no mention is made of the possible problems with this kind of evaluation or how it may be detrimental to actual education. There is much talk in this film about good and bad teachers, but no clear guidelines about how to determine this.  Moreover, the children featured in the film all have at least one committed parent or guardian; no mention is made of the difficulties of teaching children who are in family situations without such a parent or guardian. The film never mentions the difficulties faced by teachers in some of the low performing schools in high crime neighborhoods, including the risk to their personal safety. No mention is made of the difficulty of teaching in a classroom where violence might erupt. In fact, someone in the film suggests that the failing schools are responsible for the failing neighborhoods.

To his credit, Guggenheim admits that he and actress wife Elizabeth Shue send their children to private school instead of the public school in their neighborhood. In the film and in the Q&A after the preview screening, he talked about the need to do what is right for his children while still caring about other people’s children. He said he has been hearing arguments to his ideas at these Q&A’s, but he is fine with that, as long as people are talking about the problem. Waiting for Superman will certainly inspire heated discussion and perhaps that is the film’s purpose.

Waiting for Superman. Directed by Davis Guggenheim .  The Black Family (Themselves), Geoffrey Canada (Himself), The Esparza Family (Themselves ),The Hill Family (Themselves), Michelle Rhee (Herself), Bill Strickland (Himself) and Randi Weingarten (Herself) Paramount Vantage, 2010.

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

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