'SUPERMAN' SHOWS FAILINGS OF SYSTEM
Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - Monday, October 4, 2010
Author: CAL THOMAS TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
"Waiting for Superman" is the new film by documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, director of "An Inconvenient Truth," and it should be mandatory viewing for every member of Congress.
As a synopsis on the Fandango movie site says, this film "explores the tragic ways in which the American public education system is failing our nation's children..."
Not only do we see children and their parents on the edge of their seats during a lottery that will determine who gets the educational equivalent of a "get out of jail free" card, we also watch the crestfallen faces of those who don't draw the magic numbers for decent schools, a better education and, thus, a hope for the future. Is this how a poor child's destiny should be decided, by lottery?
During a recent appearance on the "Today" show, a woman in the audience asked President Barack Obama why he selected a tony private school for his daughters - Sidwell Friends, where tuition is $31,069 a year - over D.C. public schools. He said Sasha and Malia could not receive the same level of education from D.C. public schools that they get at Sidwell Friends.
The poor do not have a choice, other than a lottery. This is immoral.
Asked for a review of the "Superman" film, the president said it is "heartbreaking" and that the educational future of children "shouldn't depend on the bounce of a ball." And yet it does and the reason is that too many politicians are in the pocket of the teachers unions, which pour gobs of money into their re-election coffers.
The president's professed concern for failing schools is not matched by his actions. According to the Washington Examiner, he and his allies in the U.S. Senate "opted to kill D.C.'s federally funded school voucher program rather than risk sinking the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year."
Government schools are a monopoly that disproportionately hurt the poor, the very group Democrats claim to defend.
I would like to sit with Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they watch "Waiting for Superman" and after witnessing what I'm sure would be tears, ask them, "How can you do this to children? How could you let their brains die from intellectual malnutrition and doom them to a life of misery all because you want to please a union?"
Of all the things that disgust voters about Washington politicians, refusing to let poor children escape from failing government schools may be the most disgusting of all.
As a synopsis on the Fandango movie site says, this film "explores the tragic ways in which the American public education system is failing our nation's children..."
Not only do we see children and their parents on the edge of their seats during a lottery that will determine who gets the educational equivalent of a "get out of jail free" card, we also watch the crestfallen faces of those who don't draw the magic numbers for decent schools, a better education and, thus, a hope for the future. Is this how a poor child's destiny should be decided, by lottery?
During a recent appearance on the "Today" show, a woman in the audience asked President Barack Obama why he selected a tony private school for his daughters - Sidwell Friends, where tuition is $31,069 a year - over D.C. public schools. He said Sasha and Malia could not receive the same level of education from D.C. public schools that they get at Sidwell Friends.
The poor do not have a choice, other than a lottery. This is immoral.
Asked for a review of the "Superman" film, the president said it is "heartbreaking" and that the educational future of children "shouldn't depend on the bounce of a ball." And yet it does and the reason is that too many politicians are in the pocket of the teachers unions, which pour gobs of money into their re-election coffers.
The president's professed concern for failing schools is not matched by his actions. According to the Washington Examiner, he and his allies in the U.S. Senate "opted to kill D.C.'s federally funded school voucher program rather than risk sinking the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year."
Government schools are a monopoly that disproportionately hurt the poor, the very group Democrats claim to defend.
I would like to sit with Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they watch "Waiting for Superman" and after witnessing what I'm sure would be tears, ask them, "How can you do this to children? How could you let their brains die from intellectual malnutrition and doom them to a life of misery all because you want to please a union?"
Of all the things that disgust voters about Washington politicians, refusing to let poor children escape from failing government schools may be the most disgusting of all.
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