Waiting for Superman

The filmmaker of "An Inconvenient Truth," Davis Guggenheim, has turned his focus away from climate change to tackling the hard issue of education. His new film, "Waiting for Superman," follows the lives of five school children: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, as they make their bid to win the charter school lottery. Unlike the problems of global warming, the problem with the education system has a unified consensus of both parties. This is American public schools are decaying and require heavy reform if we truly want to save the future generation.

Statistics show a America failing in Math and Science among a list of developed countries. While, standardized test scores are dropping, there is the question of the usefulness of standardized tests themselves. Is it a good indicator of a child's aptitude? Similarly, should teachers be measured according to test scores? Having recently been through the process of taking the glorious ACT last month, I would have to say no. While standardized tests offer an objective way to classify students and monitor the learning of every classroom, it robs everyone of the nature of learning. By this, I mean that it forces teachers to teach to the test, which strips away curiosity of non test related materials, giving students only the skeleton of a true education.

This leads to a recipe for an uninspired kid and an uninspired teacher. An uninspired kid lacking the motivation to learn, therefore not benefiting from the lessons of problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity that they should be equipped with before becoming an adult. Meanwhile, an uninspired teacher perhaps will cheat on proctoring standardized tests.  In Georgia, there are two school systems currently under investigation regarding changing answers on standardized tests.

The reality is, standardized test shouldn't have the power over the student they have today.  So I guess that's why we're all "Waiting for Superman."

Ms. Chung is an Honors Mentorship Student from Johnson High School in Hall County Georgia. She is a Senior.