Waiting for Superman

Much has been said in recent weeks about the state of our country’s education system. A lot of that talk has to do with the release of a new documentary by Davis Guggenheim called “Waiting for Superman,” which releases in some cities this Friday.

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote a column on September 11th in which he presented the claims of Michael Hirsh of Newsweek, who says the United States is number 11 on Newsweek’s list of 100 best countries in the world, beside statements by Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post who says that today’s students in America are far less motivated than past generations.

Friedman argues that student apathy is a symptom of the larger problem—America is facing a values breakdown that is a result of the pervasive “get rich quick” attitude and our recent propensity as a culture to choose the gain of something for little or nothing, rather than choosing to sacrifice for the sake of our own futures. Friedman is supported by David Rothkopf, a Carnegie Endowment visiting scholar, when he says Americans do not take responsibility for these issues, but instead attempt to place blame anywhere else.

I’d like to add a point that Seth Godin makes in his newest book, Linchpin: business is no longer conducted the way it was in the recent past; management and labor no longer rule. Godin says “the death of the factory means that the entire system we have built our lives around is now upside down.” One of the biggest hurdles Americans will face in making this change is the way we have been educated within our own culture. The author goes on: “We’ve been taught to be a replaceable cog in a giant machine. We’ve been taught to consume as a shortcut to happiness. We’ve been taught not to care about our job or our customers. And we’ve been taught to fit in…We’ve bought into the model that taught us to embrace the system, to spend for pleasure, and to separate ourselves from our work. We’ve been taught that this approach works, but it doesn’t (not anymore). And this disconnect keeps us from succeeding, cripples the growth of our society, and makes us really stressed.” (Italics mine.)

I want to argue that there are many, many teachers in the public school system in America who engage their students well on a daily basis, but who are stuck in an outdated system, designed to create “factory workers” rather than develop creative minds. The film “Waiting for Superman” is accompanied by a social action campaign that is addressing this issue. The fact that the United States ranks 25th in math and 21st in science among other nations should be more than enough to tell you this isn’t just a problem for parents of current students, or teachers of current students, or even the students themselves. This is a problem for our entire nation. This is our collective future.

What do you think? Teachers, I want to hear you weigh in. What’s the biggest problem you see in your classrooms? For those of you in business, how do you see America’s collective functionality in business changing? How would new workers be best served in their education?

Help us keep this conversation going, won’t you?

And go see "Waiting for Superman." Here's the trailer: