Heroes & Education: A Rebuttal to Waiting for Superman

In late October a group of educators will release a documentary called “An Inconvenient Truth about Waiting for Superman.” I’m really interested to see this film. I found that “Waiting for Superman,” had some deeply problematic moments, including, a cartoon graphic of a white teacher, attempting to pour knowledge in the lifted off heads of students. All of the students are white-skinned – until the last student, who is darker-skinned. All of the other students’ heads lifted to “accept” the knowledge of the teacher – except the darker-skinned child’s head. I found this, intended or not, to be a racially biased depiction.

I think “Waiting for Superman” inappropriately demonized teachers, without tallking about the root inequities of how we do public education in this country. I also think it provided a simplistic view of the challenges facing education – that would sway folks unfamiliar with education.

Check out the clips from each documentary below.