Protesting teachers give 'Waiting for Superman' an 'F'

[proud2BlibKansan]

About 50 public-school teachers and parents of students -- some dressed in Superman costumes -- raged against "Waiting for 'Superman' " before a sold-out screening on the Upper West Side last night.

"This is a corporate movie backed by Bill Gates, and it's just complete nonsense," said Julie Woodward, 63, a public-school teacher for 23 years who is currently teaching health in a Bronx high school.

"There is no teacher voice in the film," she said outside Loews Lincoln Square. "The bottom line is that it's all about class size."

Organized under the Grassroots Education Movement, a group that advocates for student rights, the teachers had "RR," which stood for "Real Reformers," emblazoned on their capes.

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/local/protesting_teachers_give_it_an_2wHWfAa38YOjPzpdYYotJO

GEM-NYCORE SuperHeroes, The REAL REFORMERS, were a Smashing Success at opening of pro-charter propaganda film, Waiting For Superman, on Broadway.

The GEM-NYCORE protesters included a caped-hero-street-theatre troup that rapped lyrics to educate ingoing/outgoing crowds about the film's pro-privatization, pro-charter fraud.

Over 100, including parents, educators, and activists engaged by-passers in dialogue as they distributed the updated GEM brochure, the Truth About Charters.

Teachers are not the problem. The Wall Street Corporate-Government alliance to profiteer by privatizing our schools is the big menacing problem that education advocates must confront before it is too late.


http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/2010/09/ggem-real-reformerssmashing-broadway.html

[bluestateguy]

1. I will see the film and decide for myself

I have a standing policy of not criticizing films or documentaries before I have seen them.

[Hannah Bell]

2. aren't you fair-minded & even-handed and all that.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. arent' you just full of snark and venom...

heaven forbid someone should form their own opinion...

sP

[Luminous Animal]

4. Really. You never consider the source? If the Koch brothers funded an anti-Obama doc...

you'd reserve judgment until you'd seen it?

[woo me with science]

10. Davis Guggenheim also did "An Inconvenient Truth." nt

[Luminous Animal]

13. Yes. He filmed a a fully formed point of view... that is, he pointed a camera.

I watched "An Inconvenient Truth" and while it was great fun seeing Gore relaxed in his element; that is, lecturing about the environment, it was not a good documentary. It was more hagiography about the the climate change "controversy" than an in depth look at the subject.

With the Gore documentary, Guggenheim also had the luxury of Gore's research into the solid science of experts. Guggenheim didn't have to do any original research to present his point of view and, fortunately for him (and Gore), the vast majority of climate experts agree with them.


His new documentary sidesteps the experts altogether. That is, ignores educators and ignores experts in the field of education.



He had a success with his first documentary because he focused on a fabulously well connected subject that had done all the hard work of conferring with experts in the field. All he needed to do was point a camera. In his second documentary he merely pointed his camera at fabulously well-connected subjects that have no backing from experts in the field.

[woo me with science]

14. I haven't seen "Waiting for Superman" yet,

so I can't comment on its quality yet. I do know teachers, even from public schools, who speak very highly of schools such as Seed Academy, though, and I have observed first-hand the desperate clamoring each year of DC parents to get their children out of failing schools and into charter schools. As a result, I am a little wary of those who appear to want to shut down this conversation or to portray all charters as inherently malignant or ineffective.

Yes, teacher opinions are extremely important in this puzzle, and I am glad they are speaking out about the film. I would also point out that "teacher opinions" are not a monolith; there are many dedicated teachers who support and even choose to teach in charter schools. Teachers are also not the only people qualified to offer opinions on the issue of school reform. Objective measurements of student progress and the opinions of the parents and the children who actually ATTEND the schools are also critical parts of the puzzle. I intend to see the film and to read all the commentary on both sides.

You said, "consider the source." I am merely pointing out that the source of this film previously produced a documentary that impressed many people here at DU.

[bluestateguy]

23. Yes, as I matter of fact I would

I refuse to be like all of the conservatives who bashed Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 without seeing it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Cause the Koch brothers are exactly like Michael Moore

[court jester]

35. What if Koch industries funded the DLC?

and served on its exec council? What then?

Koch Industries gave funding to the DLC and served on its Executive Council
http://www.americablog.com/2010/08/koch-industries-gave-funding-to-dlc-and.html

"And for $25,000, 28 giant companies found their way onto the DLC's executive council, including Aetna, AT&T, American Airlines, AIG, BellSouth, Chevron, DuPont, Enron, IBM, Merck and Company, Microsoft, Philip Morris, Texaco, and Verizon Communications. Few, if any, of these corporations would be seen as leaning Democratic, of course, but here and there are some real surprises. One member of the DLC's executive council is none other than Koch Industries, the privately held, Kansas-based oil company whose namesake family members are avatars of the far right, having helped to found archconservative institutions like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Not only that, but two Koch executives, Richard Fink and Robert P. Hall III, are listed as members of the board of trustees and the event committee, respectively--meaning that they gave significantly more than $25,000..."

Original: How the DLC Does It
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=how_the_dlc_does_it

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. The teachers saw it at a special screening last week

Nice try. No cigar.

[bluestateguy]

11. Good for them

I was not aware that I had said that they didn't see it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. You implied it

[ProdigalJunkMail]

22. i didn't that that from the comment

just that they would rather see the movie and form their own opinion rather than trust someone else (or a group of someone elses) to form an opinion for them...

methinks you might be a little sensitive on the matter...

sP

[maryf]

30. and teachers might be a little sensitive for good reason?

we are being made pariahs.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. not to the point of jumping someone's shit

for wanting to form their own opinion of a 'documentary'...

sP

[Nye Bevan]

20. Why bother? Someone told me it was anti-union and I am *outraged*.

*Outraged* I tell you. Too outraged to actually go and see the movie.

[Norrin Radd]

3. kr

[JVS]

5. Is it corporate movie season.

This thing and then there's the FB guy's quasi-biography. I thought the plutocracy was more subtle than launching direct propaganda.

[Starry Messenger]

17. lol

That's what I was thinking too. They aren't even pretending anymore.

[DeltaLitProf]

6. I dearly hope they've actually seen it, though.

I saw the Oprah show hyping it, and it does seem like a shameless bit of propaganda, making the argument that teachers unions are responsible for the continued poverty of African-American children. Let them picket, but let them be informed enough to make a detailed critique if movie patrons should stop and engage in conversation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Yes. They have seen it.

:eyes:

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. video from Fox affiliate:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/education/teachers-protest-waiting-for-superman-20100924

[stray cat]

15. It's like expecting tea par tiers to praise dems

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Because teachers concerned about education reform are just like tea partiers

:sarcasm:

[Starry Messenger]

19. k & r

[RufusTFirefly]

24. Page One of the Privatizers Playbook: Starve the public service...

... and then yell at it for being too skinny.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Yep. A very limited government strategy.

Typical of the Norquist bunch.

[glitch]

27. I've been calling it cutting it off at the knees, then shooting it in the head when it can't run

since Reagan started it.

[maryf]

28. K&R nt

[Nikki Stone1]

29. K&R

.

[LWolf]

32. I hope teachers show up everywhere it plays. nt

[maryf]

34. That's a good idea...

might even throw some popcorn! ;)

[TheUnspeakable]

33. gee, I don't get it-why aren't these people on MSNBC today?

:sarcasm:
I went to bed to the "really fair" forum Joe and Mika were having-6 people against Randi the union rep-and now I wake up and the assault continues.

[bobburgster]

36. Is the documentary available on the net?

love a link if there is one.