News

Movie Review – Waiting for Superman

Students Caught in the School Squeeze

***

For each ticket purchased http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/ , receive a $15 gift code to give to a classroom of your choice on http://www.donorschoose.org

***

“On"e of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me ‘Superman’ did not exist," the educational reformer Geoffrey Canada recalls in the opening moments of "Waiting for ‘Superman,’ " a powerful and alarming documentary about America’s failing public school system. "She thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real. I was crying because no one was coming with enough power to save us."

If Mr. Canada, who was born in the South Bronx and grew up to be one of the country’s most charismatic and inspiring educators, is not Superman, he must be a close relative. Those who have read Paul Tough’s book, "Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America," will know that the 97-block Harlem Children’s Zone, which he founded and runs, is no miracle. The zone is astoundingly successful at getting children through high school and into college. But that success, largely dependent on private money, is a costly product of laborious trial and error.

Mr. Canada and Michelle A. Rhee, the chancellor of the Washington, D.C., public school system since 2007 (she is the seventh superintendent in 10 years), are the principal heroes of the film, directed and narrated by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"), who wrote it with Billy Kimball.

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Full Story: http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/movies/24waiting.html?hpw

Posted in:

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.