I watched Waiting for Superman yesterday while paying bills. A friend of mine had reminded me of the movie and it was one of those “meant to watch it,but never did” films. I thought it would make bill paying less tedious. That it did.
For those of you are don’t know the movie,it is a 2010 documentary on the dysfunction that exists in the US public school systems.
I know I’m kind of late to this party,but I felt the messages were just as significant today as they were when the film originally came out two years ago. Our schools are failing,and it’s not the kids’ fault. It’s the grown ups who are screwing everything up. But there was another message I wasn’t expecting to get out of it. Those kids who are born into the privilege of living in a neighborhood that has great schools or into a family who can afford to send them to private schools don’t know how good they have it. And just as the kids in the movie were dealt a rough hand at no fault of their own,kids who have been dealt a good hand did nothing to earn it.
I remember the impact on me when I was a kid and I’d see TV commercials asking for donations to feed starving children. I remember one in particular with a wide eyed young girl,protruding belly,and a fly crawling on her lip. That one always made me shudder. I remember thinking to myself,why was I so lucky to be born American and not in that little girl’s village? Images like that haunted me and made me appreciate my life.
So I’m going to make my kids watch Waiting for Superman. I want them to appreciate the opportunities they were born with despite any effort on their part. And I don’t plan on stopping with Waiting for Superman,because the message is important and I don’t expect one film to say it all.
We can preach to kids all we want,but nothing has an impact like allowing them to see things for themselves.
