The American Spectator : Waiting for Superman

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Waiting for Superman

By James Bowman on 10.28.10 @ 6:02AM

A liberal mugged by the reality of the schools Democrats and their teachers’ unions run — and too dazed to know what to do next.

Davis Guggenheim, the director of Waiting for Superman, also directed Al Gore’s Oscar- (and Nobel-) winning picture, An Inconvenient Truth back in 2006, and the new film resembles the earlier one in its attempt to stir people’s emotions about a matter of political interest without offering much in the way of a plausible course of action for dealing with it. Mr. Guggenheim is apparently used to addressing people who want to think well of themselves for their concern, their empathy, their compassion towards the less-fortunate — or, in the case of An Inconvenient Truth, towards the whole planet. But he also recognizes that the way to drum up an audience, especially among the overwhelmingly “progressive” class of those who go to the movies in America these days, is to tell them that there is really nothing, or only trivial things, that they can do about the problem he is focusing on. Fortunately, this appears to be easy for him in Superman, for it is exactly how he himself views the appalling state of vast tracts of our public education system.

He starts, for instance, by telling us that, when he sent his own children to private school, he felt at least a twinge of guilt for “betraying the ideals I thought I lived by.” But, well, essentially a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Ideals are all very well in their place, it seems, but it doesn’t do to take them too seriously. What this confession amounts to is a recognition that those ideals, which are also the ideals on which the American educational system has been constructed and which most of the film’s audience can be relied upon still to harbor, are incompatible with reality, an insight from which the rest of Waiting for Superman appears to be in headlong flight. The liberal reaction to the movie is nicely summed up by Gail Collins in her New York Times column when she writes that “by the time you leave the theater you are so sad and angry you just want to find something to burn down.” But of course, neither she nor “you” will actually burn anything down. Or do anything else to change things, apart (in her case) from asking those in charge of the coveted Charter School places to conduct their much-too-photogenic lotteries by post instead of in a public setting where they can upset her.

Certainly we may understand there is no chance that either she or, sadly, those whose misery she prefers not to witness, will ever fail to vote for the Democrats who are mostly responsible for keeping things the way they are. As Jonathan Alter (of all people) tells Mr. Guggenheim’s cameras, the Democratic Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the teachers’ unions. Of course, as Ms. Collins also laughably insists, “there’s no evidence that teachers’ unions are holding our schools back.” In this, she is probably being even more naive (or disingenuous) than Mr. Guggenheim, whom she quotes as saying that his movie is “not ‘pro’ anything or ‘anti’ anything. It’s really: ‘Why can’t we have enough great schools?’” — even where the answer is as obvious as it must be for anyone without ideological blinkers on. For he, at least, cannot avoid showing some of the social evils that the teachers’ unions are responsible for, even though he doesn’t want to. For he told Trip Gabriel, also of the New York Times, that

he was dismayed to meet so many critics of teachers’ unions while filming, who argued forcefully that the unions protect incompetent teachers. “The hardest choice I made” was to include that information, he said. “A part of me wanted to avoid the whole thing.”

It shows. The film’s most chilling moment comes when Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers speaks scornfully of the much hyped Michelle Rhee as a “change agent” in the schools of Washington, D.C., which are among the worst in the nation, by saying in matter-of-fact tones: “But it’s not going to change the schools.” And of course she appears to be right. With the recent primary defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty, who was Ms. Rhee’s hirer and protector, most people assume it’s she who will soon be gone, allowing the D.C. school system to sink back into its traditional torpor and complacency over the ruined lives of its pupils.

Ms. Rhee implies that it is only after her run-in with the unions, who refused to submit her proposal to do away with tenure in exchange for large merit pay increases, that she realized the ed. establishment cared nothing for children: “It’s all about the adults.” But who, watching this film or, indeed, with eyes in his head, can doubt it? Mr. Guggenheim can hardly ignore the central role of the unions, but he doesn’t focus on this as it needs focusing on and as The Cartel did a few months ago. Also like The Cartel, Superman can’t resist the built-in drama of the lottery for a limited number of places in an even more limited number of high-performing Charter Schools. Five potential victims of the academic sink school he calls “drop-out factories” are shown putting in their applications for these schools, two in New York, both applying for Geoffrey Canada’s remarkable Harlem Success Academy, two in L.A. and one in Washington, D.C. As in The Cartel, their families’ tears of joy at success and despair at failure in these attempts at escape tell their own, unanswerable story about the system they hope to escape from. But, unlike The Cartel, Mr. Guggenheim is not angry enough or focused enough on the real causes of this national scandal. Nor does he go very far into the legal and cultural aspects of the problem — including the things that are not the teachers’ unions’ fault, such as the litigiousness of parents and the foolishness of judges in allowing teachers who want to get serious about discipline themselves to be disciplined or even prosecuted for assault on the little thugs who will soon be the big thugs preventing inner-city schools from doing any actual education.

Though we see some of the private and charter schools that those in the bad ones are desperate to get into, we don’t get a look inside the bad ones to see what makes them bad. Instead, Mr. Guggenheim focuses on the problem of tenure and other restrictions on school systems seeking to weed out incompetent teachers and on a few other things, such as jurisdictional disputes and bureaucracy, that are really a minor part of the problem. Similarly, although there is a mention of the fact that America’s high school students test near the bottom of the international league tables in mathematics but are a solid first in the belief that they are good at math, there is no mention of the terribly destructive influence that education in “self-esteem” has been in contributing to this delusion, like so many others to which our young people are prey. Fixing what’s wrong with America’s schools, assuming it can be done at all, is a gargantuan project but Mr. Guggenheim, because he shares so many of the illusory ideals their failures are based on, doesn’t appear to know where to start.

About the Author

James Bowman, our movie and culture critic, is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of Honor: A History and Media Madness: The Corruption of Our Political Culture, both published by Encounter Books.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (101) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Stuart Koehl| 10.28.10 @ 6:50AM

In advocacy films, as in so much else, "better is the enemy of the good". Be happy this movie sheds much needed light on a problem about which too many are unaware. Be grateful that it might give some form to the inchoate rage felt by so many parents against the public education mafia. Changing attitudes is the first step towards changing policy, and Mr. Bowman (still the world's worst movie reviewer) seems to think that Guggenheim should have made not merely a movie, but a turnkey solution to the education problem.

It is characteristic of Bowman's reviews that he castigates the director for not making the film Mr. Bowman would have made. There is a simple solution to that problem: Mr. Bowman should get off his butt, take a few film courses, buy a camera, get some financial backing, and make those perfect films that come up to his exacting standards.

Then, the rest of us can poke holes in his artistic endeavors.

Doctor Right| 10.28.10 @ 8:32AM

"Mr. Bowman should get off his butt, take a few film courses, buy a camera, get some financial backing, and make those perfect films that come up to his exacting standards. - Then, the rest of us can poke holes in his artistic endeavors."

HAH-HAH!!!! I just spit coffee onto my computer screen!!!

dennis2j| 10.28.10 @ 12:00PM

Perhaps you should get off your butt and become a movie critic.

Stuart Koehl| 10.29.10 @ 4:59PM

Actually, being a movie critic requires you to get down on your butt.

Appleby| 10.28.10 @ 7:40AM

In an era when parents are so busy twiddling their binkies day and night that they proudly announce they have never read a book since leaving school, save it may be a profanity-riddled sex story rife with vampires, why is anybody surprised when these Yners respond by wishing to burn down the schools?

Those parents who do read are already teaching their children at home and taking them on field trips to a better world. The rest are rearing a generation of profoundly deaf binkie-slingers whose entire world is bounded by a two-inch screen and whose only moving part is their twiddling thumbs.

P.Smith| 10.28.10 @ 8:09AM

The best way to fix the education system is to take responsibility for your own children’s instruction by homeschooling them. My children are thriving in ways I never would have imagined.

Bruce| 10.28.10 @ 1:17PM

Unfortunately, like those who send their kids to private schools, you are forced to continue to pay double, for what you do for your kids and your taxes to support the public system. Vouchers anyone? Certainly not the complete solution to the problem. But it will create some competition and that will be a good thing.

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 4:13PM

Several observations :
1.All vouchers will do is destroy private schools.
2.Ever wonder why private & some charter schools are successful ? It's called student selection.
3.Americas majority population & asian students test near the top world wide, it is our NAMs that bring our scores down. Why ? NAM average IQ is 85.
4.Although merit pay sounds great, it would lead to massive fraud, & a massive amount of young people saying no thanks to teaching. Why ? Working with NAMs would not pay.
5.Although politics have done much damage to schools, the biggest problem with any school is it's students. Public schools have to take all comers. Does anyone doubt that any reform will fail in the inner city ?
6.Solution, hire more white & asian students.

Doctor Right| 10.28.10 @ 4:25PM

Please take your idiotic NEA-talking points elsewhere.

For example..."Although merit pay sounds great, it would lead to massive fraud"

How so, exactly???

And here's another gem:

"All vouchers will do is destroy private schools."

Again, how so?? And are you saying that the Teachers' Unions are REALLY concerned about the health of private schools???

You can't just say something, especially something REALLY stupid, and expect people to simply believe it.

If you're actually a teacher, you're exemplary of the problem facing our public schools. I pity your students.

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 7:37PM

No I am concerned about private schools. Learn a little history about what happens when tax dollars go somewhere.They always come with strings & transform the institutions they are supporting. What are you a Dr. of ? Special ed ?

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 8:55PM

What a bunch of morons ! You are nothing but Karl Rove, Republican hacks !Why don't you educate yourselves. The Teacher recommends you start with reading Steve Sailor at Vdare.com. Email him & ask that he send his article that cites a U of Penn study that shows whites & NAM U. S. students doing quite well thank you, it is our minorities that are not, & will not. The problem is culture & genetics . Now let me ask you "bright folks" where you got your education. I'm sure it was a public school, staffed by blue collar workers doing a job. How did you turn out ? Oh I'm sorry don't answer that, but let me educate you if you would like to stop embarrassing yourselves:

1.I am a conservative, you are not. You are nothing but hacks spouting off republican talking points about the enemy.I don't like a lot of things teachers unions support or do, & I certainly can't stand the typical left wing democrat spouting off his talking points like you clowns,but unions are closer to the old conservative guild organizations than are the radical liberal policies you hack out.Yes radical, what you are spouting off is what the 19th century British Liberal party stood for, not the Torys.It is what Dickens & G.K. Chesterton wrote about & condemmed. It is corporate government & business destroying the conservative ideal of a slow moving agricultural society, that does not chew up & spit out people. That is what you want. No protection, business uses you & when you get too old or make too much money they throw you away. I do hope you do get what you advocate for.
2.How have the Republicans been doing to stop the cultural decline in our land, protecting our borders & promoting the true conservative ideal ?

Not good but you go on haking for them from your ignorance. Yes I guess you are products of a corrupted education system.

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 4:37PM

Several responses:
1. How will vouchers destroy private schools? This would only happen if vouchers come with strings and conditions, which defeat the purpose of vouchers in the first place.
2. This is false. It is the parents who select the school and the school must perform if it wants to keep having parents spend money there. Private schools are successful because they are MOTIVATED to be successful. They are not job shops for incompetents and bureaucrats.
3. I have never heard of the term "NAM," and you do not define it.
4. Please explain how merit pay results in fraud. The entire world, outside of governments and unions, works on merit pay. It works.
5. The biggets problem with schools is BUREAUCRATS and politics. Bureaucrats keep incompetent teachers. Bureaucrats set the curricula of study, much of it selected for POLITICAL purposes, not educational quality. The New York Catholic Diocese offered to take the lowest-performing 5 percent of children from New York public schools, and promised that they would succeed. Of course, the government responded with total silence. Let's put it to the test.
6. Students are not hired. And this is no solution.

Teachers| 10.28.10 @ 7:34PM

I'm not defending public school, but pointing out truths:

1.Vouchers will come with strings from the gov. When does the gov. give out any money without
strings attached ? Look at student loan strings to private Us, grant money etc.
2.If private schools received vouchers they would simply raise tuition.You would still have to pay.
3.Have you visited a Catholic private school lately ? I have 4 children in one, & they are constantly being bombarded with PC green bs.
4.NAM means Non Asian Minority.
5.Now if you don't think private schools can't wait to prove they are inclusive by taking on the problems that parents send there kids to private schools to avoid, you are dumber than your name implies.

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 5:14PM

"...the biggest problem with any school is it's students."

By the way, Teacher, "it's" is a contraction of "it is." "Its" is possessive.

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 7:24PM

Dumb ass it's before students is possessive. Moron !

Roy| 10.28.10 @ 8:44PM

You're a teacher?...

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 5:18PM

Roy, what a name ! Good luck with it.

PELLIGRINO| 10.29.10 @ 12:52AM

Whoa! I recall very clearly learning the difference between "it's" and "its" in 7th grade. (several big, long decades ago)

Thank you, Albert, for pointing out what we all should have spotted on the first read.

Roy, I am asking the very same question. (Maybe a discipline in the sciences or advanced mathematics? An IT discipline where grammar and punctuation are "nice" but clearly not "necessary?")

PELLIGRINO| 10.29.10 @ 5:17PM

And if truth be told , that's not the only thing I learned in 7th grade. Oh Mr. Richter, what a wonderful world you recruited me to.

PELLIGRINO| 10.30.10 @ 4:10PM

Uh, folks, we have a problem here. Intregrity.

The "person" posting above under my Thread name "Pelligrino" was NOT me at 10.29.10@5:17PM

Are there two Pelligrinos here? In this Thread?

Who did this? I ask the moderator to check who wrote "And if truth be told, that's....(and the following 20 words of that short post) at 5:17 p.m. on 29 October.

Folks, this is indeed a problem.

And for a bit of clarification, when I briefly mention "disciplines" in my REAL post at 10.29.10@12.52 am I am referring, of course to academic disciplines. So when I refer to "IT," I refer to the abbreviation for Information Technology. That use of "IT" had nothing to do with the discussion of "its" as a possessive.

The BIG PROBLEM: I guess anyone can post as they please here. So this very moment I could post as "Albert," "MikeD," "Pat," or "Texican" and try to make them or their thinking & posts look stupid.

(I would not do so; I am only making the point that one could.)

Anyone doing this really is demented. This should be a place for discussions and, yes, spirited disagreements. BUT civil ones. BUT NEVER a place for childish mischief.

Moderator, please do some due dilligence to weed this out. Otherwise any meaningful attempt at discussion here will be meaningless.

Thank you. (The real Pelligrino)

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 1:16PM

OK. Let's be clear. "It's" is a contraction of "it is." The possesive of "it" is "its" without the apostrophe. (Look it up). Calling me a "dumb ass" while highlighting and repeating your own mistake only makes you look worse. You seriously need therapy. Perhaps even anger management? Note: Even your latest post has multiple grammatical errors. There should be a comma after "Dumb ass," and "it's" should be in quotations. Also, I simply must ask. What is it about my name that implies "dumbness?" And if you really are a teacher, then you epitomize everything that is wrong with the public school system. You are incompetent, unqualified, and no doubt you sell politics under the guise of "teaching." I think you should find a new career, one suited to your talents. Cleaning toilets, perhaps?

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 4:37PM

Albert, you are clearly the one that's angry. Is it your name or your occupation that has you down? Obviouly you know a lot about cleaning toilets. How long have you been doing that ? Many unskilled workers like trying to show they are smart, it is always a clue that they are not. Al is life that tough for you ?

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 10:03PM

You are clearly the least perceptive person I've read on these pages. YOU attacked me for my name, which is pointless. YOU called me "dumb ass." You called me "moron." And you think I'M angry? You frankly are of questionable sanity and obvious poor judgement. And you don't know basic grammar. I am doing quite well, thank you. You are the one here who is trying to "show off" as it were. Assuming you are really a teacher, if my child were in your class I would take him out of that school. Don't project on to me your personal failings and low self esteem. Thomas Sowell once wrote that graduate students in the departments of education were the "dregs" of university populations. You prove him right. When you learn to think, you may respond. Don't bother until then. Incidentally, your low self esteem is evidenced by your near violent reaction to having your improper grammar corrected. A stable person would graciously accept the correction and focus on the debate. You however, call others names like "dumb ass" and "moron." And I would bet that I have more and better skills than you do, and in a far wider range. And I have an IQ of 142 and a Bachelors degree in History. By the way, no one gave you permission to address me as "Al." And lastly, I put my child in a private school not to avoid "problem kids," but to avoid problem teachers like yourself.

The Teacher| 10.30.10 @ 12:27AM

".And I have an IQ of 142"

".And lastly"
Al are you really lecturing me on grammar ?

Albert| 10.30.10 @ 9:47AM

I am not "lecturing." I am merely correcting your mistakes. As a "teacher" (so you say) you should know proper grammar, but you not only make grammatical errors, you don't recognize them when pointed out and actually defend your errors! I know it is improper to start a sentence with "and." I do it as a shortcut when posting here. Gee, you caught me. Feel better now? Now go and tell it all to your therapist. No one gave you permission to call me "Al."

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 4:14PM

What a load of crap! I taught for 10 years, from elementary to graduate school and I got out not because the pay was terrible; but because the average teacher was loathesome and repulsive. One told me she taught for 3 reasons: June, July, and August. When I mentioned that I thought vouchers would be a good thing, her reply was: "Hah! That's easy for you! You take work home and like what you're doing. What about the rest of us? We'd have nobody in our classes if vouchers came along." And, of course, there was always the famous comment by a president of the AFT that "We'll represent the needs of kids when they start paying union dues." Teachers! Think about this: You are hated laughingstocks while your AFT and NEA leaders take home $700,000 a year! Don't YOU feel smart!

Public employees were given the right to collective bargaining by John F. Kennedy via an executive order he signed his very first day in office. And the Demoncraps have been a wholly owned subsidiary of organized labor ever since; much to the detriment of the Country. Civil Servants are neither civil nor provide service. They are broadly viewed as lazy, overpaid, and surly. There may be a few that still care, but I sure haven't seen any lately.

Unionized public employees is just one of the many disasters the demoncraps have inflicted on our Country. What is sad is that the teachers are generally so stupid that they can't pass the standardized tests they're giving to their students. How can any country survive when we have neither an educated, informed electorate or a free, unbiased press(media)? One of our biggest hopes is the internet and the fact that three networks no longer control the news. Plus, nobody reads newspapers anymore, which is another good thing. We have met the enemy and he is US. (With apologes to Pogo.)

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 4:40PM

MikeD why all the anger? Did that teacher turn you down for a date ?

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 5:13PM

It was a he, not she & no he did not !

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 5:14PM

Mike I did'nt mention gender, but thanks for the info.

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 5:52PM

There must be several people posting with the same screen name: "MikeD' since I sent one and there seem to be at least one or two 'wanna-bes" here. Regarding a teacher turning me down for a date, I suspect my wife of 41 years, a former EXCELLENT teacher who couldn't put up with her colleagues' whining either, might object.

If you are responding to my post that mentioned the "June-July-August" teachers, it isn't anger, it's FURY at what incompetent teachers, unions, and Democratic politicians have done to the most beneficial amalgamation of like-minded people ever established on this planet; the United States of America.

Our schools, and the resultant shallow society, have failed miserably in their mission of passing on knowledge and understanding of our origins and bonds that once made ous a strong, and prosperous nation that was a beacon for the truly oppressed of the world.

Don't give me any trite answers or comments. I served proudly in the military and subsequently worked in 78 countries during my career before contracting an incurable disease at age 53. I still have close friends in every one of those countries who daily correspond with me and report on what lunacies are transpiring overseas. They are universally disgusted and disappointed that the voters of America were stupid enough to elect the Democrats and Barack Obama.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 6:08PM

Mike us is spelled us not ous.

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 6:31PM

By the way government disability benefits are fantastic ! I never could have cleaned up like this if I stayed in education. Those idiots ! I'm laughing all the way to the bank baby !

The Punisher| 10.28.10 @ 8:30AM

Until the idiots who inhabit our inner cities wise-up and stop reflexively voting for Democrats, NOTHING is going to change.

And you know what? Tough crap.

They're hurting their own kids, but they're too dumb to know it. If they don't care, why should we??

Sorry to sound so callous, but I am sick-to-death of this nonsense. I'm sick-to-death of hearing the constant refrains from all of the usual suspects when it comes to failing inner city schools: "More money!", "Better teacher pay!", and of course, the inevitable cries of "Racism!"

Washington DC had a chance...a small chance, mind you, but a chance, nonetheless...to try and turn this around. But the Left and the Democrats and their allies in the Teachers' Union successfully portrayed Mayor Adrian Fenty as an ogre, so they threw him out of office an elected yet another useless, bureaucratic hack. So much for "change", huh?

You would think that the citizens of DC might have wised-up when our nation's 1st Black President just couldn't wait to stab them in the back by tossing a bone to the Teachers' Unions and ELIMINATING DC Charter School's Program, but you'd be wrong! They still love him!

Well, as Forest Gump's mama said, "Stupid is as stupid does", and until stupid doesn't, nothing will change for these kids.

It's sad. It's sick. It does make you want to "burn something down", as Gail Collins said. But unlike the witless Ms. Collins, what needs to be burned down (metaphorically speaking) is the Teachers' Union.

Bruce| 10.28.10 @ 1:20PM

Why should we care? Because WE are forced to pay for those schools, even if we home school or send them to private schools. AND, we have to pay for the results of their failure by paying for government programs to support those who cannot support themselves due to inadequate education (welfare, job training programs, prisons, etc)

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 4:22PM

Bruce to planet earth. People with an average IQ of 85 cannot be educated.

Doctor Right| 10.28.10 @ 4:27PM

Planet Earth to Teacher:

Sounds like you've given up. Typical government hack.

Do your job, or step aside.

Oh, but then you'd lose your 3-month summer vacation, wouldn't you?

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 4:50PM

"People with an average IQ of 85 cannot be educated." The schools of the Catholic Diocese of New York is ready to take those students with the "IQ of 85" and prove you wrong. Put them to the test!

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 5:16PM

Oops! That should read "...are ready...". My mistake.

PELLIGRINO| 10.29.10 @ 1:12AM

In this comment combined with the your comments previously, "Teacher" you assiduously assert that there are certain skin color K-12 aged youth that can only hit an IQ of 85.

No higher?

Really?

If someone else has already taken you to task on this evil thinking in this Thread, then bless them.

But I am going to pile on.

I know of no limits to anyone's academic abilities or reasoning capabilities inherently tied to a skin, hair, eye, or fingernail pigment. Got it?

Don't ever spew that nonsense here or elsewhere.

(And the truth is, you don't believe it. For some REALLY sick reason, you just wanted attention.)

God Almighty made us all equal.

Or are you prepared to debate Him on that?

Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 12:02PM

Pell, your head's in the sand, this issue of average IQ is documented fact, & shows up on all test results: IQ,school standardized testing & SATs.Average IQ for blacks 85, hispanics 89,whites 100, asians 104.Ever heard of the Bell Curve ? Of course there are outlayers in all groups, but heredity is heredity. Saying we are all equal is fine as long as you don't mean looks,athletic ability & brains.Can anyone play pro sports or be a rocket scientist if they work hard enough ? If you answer yes you are clearly on the left side of the bell curve. So keep your self rightous bs to yourself, at least until you become educated. The policy implications that are apparent from these facts is that inner city schools will always be behind, & wasting time if they stick with college prep curriculum. What is needed is a common sense approach to truly helping students become the best they can be & that means looking at ability through testing. IQ of 85 students need vocational education not college prep, but this will never happen because the cry of racism will go out, politians will run scared, inner city public schools(which is where public schools are failing, not suburban)will continue to fail because of ideology that morons like you buy.But if it makes you feel superior keep believing what every body else knows is false.The ones who truly get hurt by this are the ones you laughingly think your'e protecting. By the way, they would chop your n$ts off if they ever got a chance. Think about that.

Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 12:02PM

kiwikit| 10.29.10 @ 7:15PM

Well, I'd certainly agree that a child with an IQ of 85 will not learn much from a teacher with an IQ of 50, a la the commenter here. And "its" is possessive; "it's" is a contraction for "it is." The end, goodbye no variation. You're wrong.

Bruce | 10.29.10 @ 11:09AM

First - I wish to disassociate myself from the poster "Bruce" in these comments. I am not he, and he is not me. I'm the one with the URL. Anyway ...

I can only assume (yes - I know what can happen when you assume) that "Teacher" is providing an explanation what his real problem is - he has an IQ of 85. His previous comments prove the point - sentence structure, grammar, punctuation all lacking.

Yes - I would say that "Teacher" is a perfect example of why todays kids are functional illiterates upon graduation from college.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 12:59PM

Bruce, what an argument! You pretend to know grammar to make you hacks for the republican party look smart. No one here can correct an essay, including you, but you just say it & think because you wrote it people will believe your smart, when your'e really on the left side of the bell curve. Prove me wrong with facts, all the data is behind me. When you can show that what I am saying is false , with facts, then you can add some knowlegde to this discussion. Right now you are taking the talking points of the left, which seeks to bury these facts & anyone who has the guts to point them out. Of course the republicans do the same, but they know the truth, which proves them cowards. So what are you Bruce a lefty or a coward ?

Bruce | 10.29.10 @ 1:25PM

I don't "pretend" to know grammar, moron - I do know, unlike yourself. You select a moniker like "The Teacher" and demonstrate why kids leave school as functional illiterates. You need "facts" to prove my assertion? Walk up to any average college graduate these days and ask a question about American history (the real stuff - not revision 3.4 sub c). I don't even belong to the Republican party - I left long ago for many reasons, so that cute little liberal ploy is also out the window. Friends jokingly refer to me as "slightly to the right of Attila the Hun." Coward? Right. Four man to man gunfights in my cop career (obviously I was the winner), 27 medals for bravery and superior police work. Want to try again?

Come back when you learn the English language. You're a shining example of what the teaching "profession" has become (and wrought) - if indeed you are a teacher, which I doubt. Want to match IQ's next? I suggest you needn't bother. Seriously.

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 1:56PM

Wow! Great post Bruce! I think "Teacher" is a little thin skinned. His problem, besides useless name calling, is that he dumps everybody from groups identifiable by IQ into one basket as "unteachable" and thereby exempts himself from actually teaching these kids. Teaching should be focused on individuals. There is a classroom environment, yes, but passing kids along like cattle, completely without regard to them individually, does no one any god and is a disservice to the kids. Even kids with IQ's of 85 can learn to some extent and can become productive and successful. Schools need to change to address this. And "Teacher" is clearly part of the problem, not the solution.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 4:49PM

Albert "does no one any god "(nice spelling) Interesting you prove my point, you are on the left side of the bell curve & cannot understand my arguments. You just reflectively hack out talking points & don't address the point of the argument.

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 10:07PM

I am an excellent speller. Unfortunately my typing skills leave much to be desired. Nothing I wrote proves anything you said. Logic is clearly beyond you, since all your arguments are fallacious. I do not reflectively hack anything out and nothing I wrote comes from "talking points." You will have to do better than this.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 4:45PM

Bruce Lee, is that how you see yourself ? Listen everybody knows a braggert is a liar. 27 medals ? come on. I guess if your going to lie go all out, ay brucy !

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 4:52PM

Now, let's see which of you 2 meatheads can find the misspelled word. Now go call your kids to come & help.

Bruce| 10.29.10 @ 5:04PM

OK OK I give ! I did'nt earn 27 medals. I washed out during the interview. They did'nt like my weeping when I told them I wanted to end bullying. Oh the troubled memories. But I have watched over 1000 hours of Cops.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 5:06PM

OK Brucy , I knew you were a fraud,and I will not grant you forgiveness. Cops is a terrible show !

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 5:10PM

Don't feel bad Bruce, I too washed out. I mistakingly gave my ,at the time gay lover, as a reference, but by background check time we had broken up & he outed me. Do you think that was a mistake ?

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 5:11PM

Interesting Al !

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 6:14PM

That was not me, it is someone posting under my name !

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 6:19PM

Oh god, ok it was me. I got such a shock when I realized, in the heat of battle, I outed myself. I'm one of those self hating fags, but no more dam it ! I now am going to become a gay rights activist. Oh I feel free for the first time. Halaluah !

Bruce| 10.29.10 @ 6:20PM

Ally, you too. Oh I've been holding it in so long. Please help me free myself !

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 6:21PM

Bruce, I can help. Lets meet in our usual spot at 10pm, when the wives are asleep.

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 10:09PM

Another false posting.

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 10:09PM

Another false posting.

Albert| 10.29.10 @ 10:08PM

This was not my post. Whoever wrote this is an imposter and a fraud. Is that you teacher?

Albert| 10.30.10 @ 12:32AM

Ok, Ok it was me. Dam I'm doing it again. I apologize to all my friends here. Hey can I put you all on my mailing list for my new organization," Live Free and Gay" ?

Gay Hog Farmer| 10.30.10 @ 11:14AM

Sign me up Al.

Sodomite| 10.30.10 @ 11:15AM

Me too, al.

Fornicator from behind| 10.30.10 @ 11:16AM

Me Three ally, boy I can't wait until our first meeting.

The Teacher| 10.30.10 @ 1:42AM

Al, you idiot, no it was not me !

Albert| 10.30.10 @ 10:02AM

At least some of the false postings under the names "Albert" and "Bruce" were posted by you. You are the only one I have noticed who places a space between the last word of a paragraph and a punctuation mark such as an exclamation point or question mark. You have given yourself away. Now, go and tell it all to your therapist. Someone who throws around terms like "idiot", "moron", and "dumb ass" as freely as you do has serious psychological problems. You are not qualified to teach, either by intellect or by temperament.

Albert| 10.30.10 @ 11:13AM

By the way therapy really helped with me with my paranoia & my sexual confusion. That is until recently. I don't care ,I am free now ! You know my motto," Live Free & Gay"!

American Spectator Site Admin.| 10.30.10 @ 11:48AM

Albert, we do not take accusation of fraud lightly. We investigated your claim & found all postings by the name "Albert" have come from the same web address. This is a warning. Albert, any more false claims made by you will result in you being banned from this site. Good day sir.

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 5:57PM

Bruce: (The one with 27 medals, not the 'wanna-be') You are a man I'd be proud to know. We need roughly 100 million like you. We are all judged by very few things, among them the company we keep and the language we speak. Keep it up.

By the way, I'm the "MikeD" who's furious about "June July August" teachers.

Bruce| 10.29.10 @ 6:13PM

Thanks Mike, but it is true, I am a fraud. I always dreamed of slaying the bad guys, like the bullys slayed me, but they left me too traumatized to follow through.

P.S. Mike I understand about sexual confusion so call me anytime. 867-9309

Teacher| 10.28.10 @ 4:20PM

Education is priceless, but unfortunately a price must be placed on it.Traditionally it has been a low price. Unions have made teaching a competitive occupation. It is the courts , polititians & the products sent by the parents(if you doubt this go teach in Compton & prove me wrong.

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 4:47PM

Teaching should be a PROFESSION! Not a union job. It should come with a professional salary, and of course, professional expectations. Like it is in the rest of the world, poor performing teachers should be let go so better ones can come in. Teachers' unions do not provide for big teacher salaries since teachers do not make big salaries. Unions keep salaries low and make performance irrelevant. Teachers' unions serve only to hire MORE teachers who pay union dues so union leaders pay for more Democrat politicians so Democrat politicians can provide more money to hire more teachers so they can... And on it goes. Government schools are corrupt from top to bottom.

Ecclesiatic| 10.28.10 @ 9:18AM

There is a Teacher's Union because Teachers need protection. I challenge you to face a classroom in the inner city.(Or the outer city for that matter,children are savages) Education today is a mess! If we are to live in a decent society, problems of teaching the next generation must be confronted.

The Punisher| 10.28.10 @ 10:10AM

"There is a Teacher's Union because Teachers need protection."

Go sell crazy someplace else.

The Teachers' Union does NOT exist to provide physical protection to teachers; it exists to inflate teacher pay, and protect the steady, constant stream of cash backwards from teacher paychecks to the Union, and ultimately to leftwing "progressive" political causes.

Why do you think the Teachers' Union is against the firing of incompetent teachers?? It has nothing to do with compassion. Every incompetent teacher who is fired (and there are LOTS that need to be) is one less source of income for the Teacher's Union coffers.

I'm so damn sick of hearing about how hard a teacher's job is! In a word - bull****!

As Ann Coulter so eloquently explained, with all the constant carping and complaining in the media about how "hard" teaching is, and what a "thankless" job it is, it's amazing that ANYONE would ever choose to go into teaching!

And yet...Each and every year, thousands of recent college graduates line-up to do exactly that!

The Teachers' Unions would have us believe that the appeal of teaching has NOTHING to do with the over-generous benefits packages, the multiple holidays (state and federal) with extended weekends, the lure of a permanent job with "tenure", Summers off, or the the ability to retire in your 40's and still receive a generous pension for the rest of your life...

No, they want us to believe that teachers "endure" because they're dedicated, and they love our kids.

Bull****.

It's past time that teachers were treated like workers in the Private Sector. Reward the performers, and dump the rest. After all, teachers claim they do it all "for the children"...Don't the children deserve the best??

Steve Teagan| 10.28.10 @ 3:34PM

To understand teachers it is important to realize that Education Departments are the ghetto of higher education. A Ph.D in Education is widely acknowledged to carry as much weight as a masters in most other areas. The teaching profession attracts those who can scramble only as high as the first rung on the professional ladder. There is no lower position one can aspire to that can still be thought of as professional, like doctors, lawyers, etc. Mix in a slew of resentful minorities and Ben-and-Jerry types and you get the education establishment today. Good luck.

Maddox| 10.28.10 @ 12:17PM

Perhaps if teachers chose to shun the union for its liberal politics there would be discipline in the system and no reason for them to fear the students they are training to become good little Democrats.
Oh, I forgot, allowing ignorance to pass and delinquents to interfere with learning is now considered tolerance and expulsion is racist....silly me.

Howie Carr| 10.28.10 @ 1:01PM

Oh yeah and who protects the kids from the Teachers and their Unions?

hoppy| 10.28.10 @ 4:02PM

Well, yes, I suppose that some one who thinks "children are savages" would say teachers need protection. I'm at a loss to understand how the union protects teachers from "savage children."

Todd - Not Boeckman| 10.28.10 @ 9:41AM

Here are two reccomendations as a start....

Make all school districts right to work. In other words, joining the union is optional. Then after that, pass a law that all employees paid by taxpayers are not allowed to strike. Since its illegal already (at least here) for police and fire to strike, this would be specifically directed at teachers and the SEIU. Can you say schadenfreude?

Stan Redmond| 10.28.10 @ 9:42AM

I won't bother seeing this documentary. I am sure we will be bombarded with this documentary whenever we are asked to "think of the children" and burn even more money in our public schools.

Petronius| 10.28.10 @ 10:06AM

Schools and schooling have always been and remain a colossal racket. Every school has two molds the into which the pupil is forcefully extruded. The teachers have theirs as does the student herd. And woe to the individual teacher or student who does not come out "right".
I won't see this film myself, but I'll have the Entertainment Committee of Hell order a print before the next full moon. We're running low on sedatives down Here.

Pierce| 10.28.10 @ 1:05PM

The film we need to see is one which shows the culture in the public education system. By this, I am talking about the culture of the students and how they relate to each other. If you have children ask them about the pecking order in their schools. Chances are that the order is based upon athletic prowess and appearance. It is also based upon maintaining the approval of your peers and not your own family. As Adults we forget the horrors that we had to go through in the Hell that is public education. I will not allow my children to be corrupted by public education.

Seek| 10.28.10 @ 1:51PM

Larry Clark has made some documentaries depicting what you remember. Check him out.

Oldefarte| 10.28.10 @ 2:53PM

One of the first, secondary matters that should be dealt with [after employment, the defecit/debt,etc] is the completel overhaul of our public school system. Teachers unions should be eliminated [heck, all unions, if possible], firing of the 75% incompetent teachers, and replacing same with dedicated, competent ones. Additionally, the responsible relatives of public school students should be then charged a nominal fee [say $30/month for each of their children, for school/bus transportation/school meals, etc], and if they fail to pay same, then their government provided welfare [food, housing, medicaid,etc] should be withheld accordingly. Public education can and should be improved/fixed ASAP!!!!!!!!!

Pat| 10.28.10 @ 3:53PM

Oh c’mon, just stop it. Don’t American parents realize our educators know how the public feels about them – there’s an impatience and sense of helplessness among the taxpayers that doesn’t bode well for teachers and their financial welfare. So, we get movies like this one to relieve some of the pressure and pretend those in charge are being “sent a message”.

Face facts, teachers are in unions just like auto workers. Teacher unions support the Democratic Party with their money, time and political advocacy within the classrooms. Auto workers support the Democrats with their money, time and advocacy within the media. GM gets bailed out to save pensions and high paying unskilled jobs. The Dept. of Education dumps billions into the nation’s schools each year to provide jobs and to supplement local tax collections with taxes collected from parents in other districts.

Like the plain vanilla Chevys the auto workers crank out every day, your kid is just another Chevy within the system, nothing special and definitely not a hand built precision machine which will eventually become a classic. Your kid is special only to you, the public schools are just that – public and unconcerned. So we witness an endless progression of supposed change while nothing ever really changes within public education. Magnet schools, charter schools, headstart, No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top; a constant and never ending plethora of “new” and “innovative” programs designed to funnel money to the special interests.

And we get these “look how bad it is” movies or “tell it like it is” television specials to partially relieve the emotional turbulence and forestall the public from taking matters into their own hands. But this fear of public disgust and anger is unwarranted, nothing is about to change and certainly not change motivated through another dippy movie.

hoppy| 10.28.10 @ 4:07PM

The public schools exist to benefit teachers and administrators, in much the same way that the welfare system exists to benefit social workers. This society has grown so fat and lazy that rhetoric trumps effort every time.

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 5:33PM

There is NO provision anywhere in the Constitution for establishment of a public school system; period. Close them all down and let the current sources of funding be cut 30%, and let the money follow the child. Pay private enterprise that money to educate children to whatever standard the local citizens establish. Then get out of the way. I taught for 10 years and got out when I finally had had enough of teachers whining all the time. Within 10 more years I had WORKED my way to a group presidency in one of the world's 20 largest, and most profitable companies, with more than 12,000 people working for me. Many of them were former people I had recruited from the world of academia; where they were misfits. They are doing just fine. How about holding teachers accountable for their efforts? What a concept!

Albert| 10.28.10 @ 4:16PM

I RESCUED my child from government schools! My child went to private Christian schools. And I paid TWICE for the privilege. Once through taxes and once again through school tuition. We sacrificed a lot to do this, but we would do it all again in a heartbeat. Indeed we only had one child because of the double cost of schooling, while unmarried fools drop kids like bad habits, and expect my tax money to pay their housing, their food, their Cable TV, and of course, their kids' schooling. I paid twice for my one child's education. They pay nothing for multiple kids from multiple sperm donors. And every one of these leeches who actually bothers to vote, votes DEMOCRAT! (which is the true reason government schools are the way they are, they are Democrat Voter Factories). The government school system is far more than broken. It is corrupt from top to bottom. And the Teachers' Unions deserve the blame along with their clients, the Democrat Party.

Ms. Ma'am| 10.28.10 @ 7:24PM

Albert,

You are singing my life with your words!

I too rescued my only child from the swamp that is public schooling. When your teenager comes to you and asks to be sent to private school because "it just seems that nobody cares, not the kids, not the teachers, not the administrators", you know it's time to act.

I did this as a single parent and it took every extra dime to make it happen, it was well worth the effort.

It is quite infuriating to pay the freight twice when choosing private over public school while the breeders, whose ill begotten litters flood the classrooms, contribute little or nothing beyond foisting their malcontented problem children on society.

Funny (not funny ha-ha), that these same "parents" that cannot seem to figure out how to teach their children to act like civilized human beings are quite adept at lawyering up.

Elle| 10.29.10 @ 2:41AM

Albert & Mrs Ma'am, I agree with you both in frustration at these parents, but you speak as though children, who are far more victims than you are, are to blame. The parents, yes, definitely, without a doubt, but don't talk about kids who've been raised in bad environments and stuffed into public schools as though they've done it to themselves.

Ms. Ma'am| 10.29.10 @ 2:48PM

Elle,

First, you'll have to point out to me where I blamed the children for the current state of affairs. You can't - I didn't.

Second, I am not a victim, don't claim to be one.

Third, I wholeheartedly agree that the parents of these children are to blame, however, that being said I'm looking out for me and mine. I myself had a less than desireable childhood, but I have not used this as my perpetual excuse to perfrom poorly throughout the course of my life.

Again, I have never considered myself a victim therefore I didn't expect anyone to come to my aid. I did/do however believe that my destiny is in my own hands regardless of the hurdles that life places in my way. Your quick to place the victim label on these kids. Do you really think that you're doing them a favor by convincing them of such? I would posit that you are in fact doing them a great disservice.

Myself, I shun pity. Don't want it, don't need it. I'm a healthy, moderately intelligent person with a very strong work ethic, who was fortunate enough to be born in the USA. In short, there is nothing that I cannot accomplish if I so choose. This is the message I delivered to my own child, who always knew that the worst crime he could commit in my household was self pity.

Self pity is a cancer.

David| 10.28.10 @ 4:57PM

To Teacher, please explain the absolute success of the 2,ooo or so inner city kids in D.C. who performed so well for several years. Thanks to Bam Bam's administration and the dems in congress that program no longer exists. But where did Bam Bam put his kids?

Further, why do most public school teachers put their own kids in private schools?

Right on, Albert.

The Teacher| 10.29.10 @ 1:06PM

They were selected because they were above average, compared to there peers. This is my whole point. Yes kids can learn,but they have to be placed in the right place. Teachers are just people doing a job, some great, most good, some terrible. But even the greatest can't work miricles with kids who just don't have the brain power to raise to college level work.

Bruce | 10.29.10 @ 1:33PM

Wow. Just ... wow. What a grasp of the English language. The most elementary grasp of the language completely escapes you. A REAL teacher would return your paper covered in red corrections.

Keep working on your skills, moron - maybe someday you will be "smarter than a fifth grader."

MikeD| 10.29.10 @ 5:35PM

"The Teacher": Please learn to spell and use the language correctly if you want to sway ANYBODY to your point of view.

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PELLIGRINO| 10.29.10 @ 1:49AM

Folks, I'll share a little good news...
(we all need it)

But first, hat's off once more to Albert's post (particularly the last one) and fine parents like "Ms. Ma'am" and David. Kudos to Pat's very fine post.

Now, the good news:

Well, the "okay" news: We still have choices for our kids in this country, the USA.

I have spent a lot of time abroad in countries that seem to have standardized test scores higher than those our teens achieve (I always wonder about this being the skeptic and pragmatic empricial thinker that I am) but these nations and national school systems are also fully dysfunctional factory systems.

Secular to the core, with the full smorgasboard of diversity, tolerance, and pseudo Marxist-Leninist underpinnings. In short: Anything goes, moral relativism cesspools.

We do still have private schools. (Odd that so many of the successful private schools tend toward Christian faith, huh?) We can still home school, although this is attacked in multiple ways annually. Every family attempting to home school knows this.

And we are a haven in the world tempest for caring, loving families abroad who face penalties, fines, and even imprisonment for wanting to home school. Very decent organizations in our country help 'sponsor' these families and work to bring them here. (They are rescuing these families.) Homeschooling is a crime in many nations.

And we have private colleges removed from the garbage of our state (taxpayers plundered) schools.

Try finding a private high school or college abroad. Very difficult to do in Europe. (usually so exclusive as to be solely for the super-elite) Almost impossible in Europe if you are seeking a faith-based private school.

The European public universities are sink holes.

*Even if you did find a suitable private school, it would be nowhere near where you live. So you'd be sending your young teen off to a distant boarding school -- yes, at great cost.

I now live not so far from two (yes, 2!) very successful, Christian faith-based junior military academies for teens. The have earned their prestige through turning out young people who are eager to embrace challenges and work for bright futures. And these schools are, all things considered, affordable. They are not elite; they are open to all.

Try sellling the idea of a faith-based teen military academy to a European. The academic establishment in Europe would be howling and bowled over in fits of both laughter and rage.

Student| 10.29.10 @ 2:33AM

Sadly the school system isn't going to get better because it would take a radical, major change society's perception of education. Private schools force-feed their pupils so that none but the brightest are able to achieve anything on their own. In Australia at least, private school students make up the majority of university drop-outs. Public schools have nowhere near enough money to function properly and the methods by which teachers advance in school placements and wages- that is, mostly ass-kissing as opposed to merit- mean that the best paid, most influential teachers are usually terrible at inspiring children and teenagers to learn.
Then there's the no child left behind initiative, which strips away any form of learning that children might enjoy, benefit from, and remember in years to come- after all, don't forget that the original point of school was.. well, to babysit, but eventually it became a place to learn skills and knowledge that would be of use and benefit later on. Now the majority of people have forgotten most of what they learned in school, and these aren't stupid people, these are articulate, intelligent people who simply never used the information they learned and thus lost it.
At the end of the day, the school system is a joke, little more than glorified babysitting that does far more damage than good.

But hey, I'm a student myself, so if life is anything like the school system, this comment will be ignored because I'm young, I'm foolish, I'm immature, and I don't know what I really want or need. All I can say is if I ever have children, I'll sacrifice everything to ensure they don't go to a conventional school. The lose is simply too great.

Sojourner| 10.30.10 @ 10:56PM

I'm sure that teaching is an extremely difficult job. However, it's important to remember that teaching is more than a job, because it has enormous impact in the lives of the kids that they teach. This was made very evident in the fine movie, "Waiting for Superman".

It's sad that The Teacher has already given up on those minority kids who he deems to be dumb. The Teacher ought to consider a career change, or to try to shuffle some of those kids that he considers too stupid to learn to someone who at least has a little hope. The Teacher is negatively impacting many people by continuing to babysit those he considers too dumb to learn.

Written by a 55 year old NAM who graduated in the bottom third of his class at an under achieving public high school.

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