Waiting for Superman (2010)
There are certain documentaries that take a completely neutral approach to their subject matter. Most nature documentaries are like that. Then, there are other documentaries with a very clear political message. Waiting for Superman is one such example, but it doesn’t go quite as far as Michael Moore’s films.
While you may hope for a documentary on Clark Kent, Waiting for Superman
One of the biggest take home messages? Despite an increasingly common belief that “poor kids can’t learn,” they really can and they can outperform their wealthier counterparts in some cases; they just have to be given the right environment. I cannot stress enough the importance of education, so I’m really curious to hear the reaction of people who are in the American education system, like Damien Riley and Ray Ebersole. What’s your take on charter schools?
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Strictly speaking, Paranormal Activity makes use of Stephen King’s third type of terror. It’s when you think you hear something go bump in the night, but when you turn around to check on it, there doesn’t appear to be anything there. As the audience, we find ourselves staring at the screen, scanning for anything that might seem out of place.
Yes, Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
Given that I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the first movie, I didn’t exactly have the highest of hopes for Paranormal Activity 2
If all you’re after are some cheap thrills, I suppose this movie will do. If you’re looking for anything more than that, you might be disappointed.
My take on charter schools is mixed. Charter schools cost money, and the poor children don’t have the money to go to a charter school. There are some really good charter schools, one in Atlanta that gets it’s money from private funding so that it can cater to the lower income families to help them. It is one of the better charter schools in the country. Unfortunately, I can’t remember it’s name. But, most charter schools have an upper class population, so I don’t think that you can take their grades and student progress as the norm.
There are 2 real problems with the school system. One is that we have to teach to a test and the flawed Federal No Child Left Behind law. Second is that the lower income students on a whole really have a disadvantage in not having the proper tools to learn. The parents are working multiple jobs, they are turnkey children that don’t the home influence that middle to upper income children can get from parents that can either spend more time with them or get the people or tutors that can.
The middle to upper income children also have the no home involvement too. I have heard students at a school that I know has a more upper income demographic say that their parents tell them to study, and look it up if they have a question.
The whole thing comes down to parents being involved. A prefect example is my daughter, who is in Kindergarten and in the top reading group of her class. She has been started on a computer program that we use in the district called “Reading Counts”. The object is to read a Reading Counts book at home, then take a computer 10 question quiz at school about the book.
My daughter read her first book and took the quiz without me explaining how it works to my wife (I have intimate knowledge of the program from administrating it at an Elementary school. She got 6 out of 10 correct, which gets zero points and isn’t real good. My wife was not happy that this wasn’t a good experience for Camille, but I explained that she didn’t understand the nature of Reading Counts and understand the book. She read it perfectly, but didn’t understand it. I told my wife what she needed to ask Camille as she read the book and told her to have Camille get another book.
The next book came home, they sat on the couch, Camille read the book two times to my wife. After the first reading my wife asked Camille questions about the book that made Camille stop to think about the book as she read it the next time. She went to school the next day and took the quiz. I was not surprised when my daughter proudly announced to me when I got home that she got 10 out of 10 correct.
The key to education? Understanding what needs to learned, and spending the time to relate that to our children as parents. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to the schools, they are our children, we are responsible for them and are part of their learning.
Those are my views 🙂 Hope I wasn’t too long winded…I could make this into a post of my own, couldn’t I?
Long winded, yes, but that’s exactly what I was trying to get. I’m obviously on the outside looking in and the documentary only provides one real point of view. Thanks Ray.
And I took my own advice and used it as a blog post 😉
Thanks for letting me express my views!