waiting for superman documentary transcript

BRZEZINSKI: Exactly. }>=Uw2cS=V. I9kZJw^EAOd j]Y[wl-e06E#/mlyTbE9f}@8 a/ ^} You believe it, don't you, Michelle? You do not come off as the hero of this movie. I want to be a doctor and I want to be a veterinarian. And I was hurt. [15] Deborah Kenny, CEO and founder of the Harlem Village Academies, made positive reference to the film in a The Wall Street Journal op-ed piece about education reform. /Contents 33 0 R Towards the end of the film, there is a segment that illustrates the charter school lottery as it takes place for different schools. This is where the work gets tough, because innovation, this is about innovation. Thanks to all of our guests. ]o m P:giwgRG+g;)Y 'J[+AH@f6=D.Ga5&0RL[?Xt6MU*/-waUN I went up to a school up there. WebSummaries. What happened there? /GS1 17 0 R CANADA: This is why I think this is such an important movie. The attendance and the schools itself. You get to the nation's capital, the nation's capital, only 16 percent of students are proficient in math. Have your mom and dad told you about the lottery? << Cross your fingers. We increased student achievement levels. WEINGARTEN: Yes. KENNY: Right. There was, as Geoff said, a sense that failure was tolerable, as opposed to a focus on success. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To come see, geography and love, thats it. >> [39], There is also a companion book titled Waiting For "Superman": How We Can Save America's Failing Public Schools.[40]. SCARBOROUGH: Its about jobs. That youre not going to look American with our 15,000 school system and say we're going to charter them, that's just not going to happen in my lifetime. WebSynopsis. However, the film shows how even charter schools leave some children behind, as those who are not chosen by the luck of the draw in the lottery system, are not able to attend the charter schools of their choice. And it says that if all of us are actually committed to fixing this, we will follow the evidence of what works, follow it, be innovative, be creative but follow the evidence of what works and we will all work together to fix this so that every single child has access to a great public education, not by chance, not by privilege but by right. BRZEZINSKI: No. We're seeing all this great success in Harlem, there were forces that were trying to make sure that that couldn't be replicated on a larger scale. WEINGARTEN: Let me -- SCARBOROUGH: If it wasn't about education, I mean, what was it about? These are our communities. We actually have to change the political environment. And Im not going to pretend that you can just come in and snap your fingers and things are going to get better overnight. GUGGENHEIM: When the media asked me to make the film, I originally said no. And that most of them are getting a really crappy education right now. SCARBOROUGH: Crying uncontrollably because it is unbelievable, some of the conditions that our kids are forced to learn in right now. /Contents [ 9 0 R 10 0 R 11 0 R 12 0 R 13 0 R 14 0 R 15 0 R 16 0 R ] And that means get involved. John, tell us how you got involved in this. SCARBOROUGH: No doubt about it. WebWaiting For Superman (871) 7.4 1 h 51 min 2010 X-Ray PG The lives of five Harlem and Bronx families in the high stakes lottery for access to New York City's best charter 6 0 obj And I don't want to make this about the presumptive mayor. There's a lot of people in this country that aren't feeling what we feel. SCARBOROUGH: They can't. In some ways when we fought for sources for kids like my union did, we were fighting to help kids get what they needed. No one can go home and stick their head in the sand. Mika and I want to welcome you to this special hour. Let's go there and talk to the president of the American federation of teachers, Randi Weingarten. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daisys path to medical school begins with eighth grade algebra which she'll need to take when she moves up to Stevenson Middle School. That's so important to help level the playing field for kids who may be disadvantaged. Some of us have spent our lives working on behalf of children and teachers who teach children. /MC0 34 0 R We have to fix this thing and it means the adults have to take leadership. WebWaiting For "Superman" has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change through the compelling stories of five unforgettable students such as Emily, a WebFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. /MediaBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] /T1_1 24 0 R Take a look. They said, look, this work is hard. I'm just wondering. NAKIA: I was disturbed. Waiting for "Superman," Davis Guggenheim's edifying and heartbreaking new documentary, says that our future depends on good teachers and that the coddling of bad teachers by their powerful unions virtually ensures mediocrity, at best, in both teachers and the students in their care. BRZEZINSKI: When the results came down, we watched you respond, we watched her respond. Randi was talking about instead of focusing on bad teachers, focusing on good teachers. >> It is a revolution. LEGEND: Yes. What's amazing about these tears, I knew about the film for months and just knowing the system, I knew how it was going to end. I just heard a story, I met a teacher the other day. Because what is wrong with what he's saying? /Filter /FlateDecode And we have to have everyone, even parents, recommitted, you know, even school officials, district heads, superintendents, unions, all of us have to move off a position of self-interest like I do with my own kids, sending them to private school, like the unions do, I think, preserving the status quo. I was really tired. I think sometimes there's a disconnect between them. endobj By the end of the year she only had half a year of teaching. Last Friday night I watched Davis Guggenheims new documentary, Teach, which was broadcast in on CBS.Guggenheim, you may recall, is the filmmaker who brought us Waiting For Superman, the shameless propaganda-fest that signaled the full-on nuclear stage of the corporate-driven war on public education (also known as the >> WebShop for waiting for superman documentary transcript filetype:lua at Best Buy. endobj /Contents [ 39 0 R 40 0 R 41 0 R 42 0 R 43 0 R 44 0 R 45 0 R 46 0 R ] I said I don't want to go up. I have a 12-year-old that goes to public school. You talked about evaluations like every other business. The bottom line is, you cannot say that you support removing ineffective teachers when then I fire ineffective teachers and you slap me with lawsuits and you slap me with the grievances. Coming up, right after we're finished here, MSNBC will re-air the two-hour town hall. In this incredible movie, "Waiting For Superman," Davis Guggenheim introduces to us some of the heroic parents who struggle to provide a better future for their children. The film shows how the audience members, filled with prospective students and their families, all sit with apprehensive looks on their faces as they anxiously listen to the names and numbers of the children who are called and are therefore accepted into the charter school by luck of the draw. BRZEZINSKI: Okay. This documentary follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, and undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes," methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable >> Waiting for Superman. Because I seen what you do, Ive seen what Deborah Kinney has done, Ive seen what a lot of people have done out there and it seems to me, the model is find an extraordinary person, put them in a school, let them run that school. David Guggenheims Waiting for Superman looks at how the American public school system is failing its students and displays how reformers have attempted to >> And we need to have good evaluation systems. An examination of the current state of education in America today. S/p?G4lt(20}G(8!h-D! 5 /Count 5 By Stephen Holden. The filmmakers deliberately kept the camera on certain students and their families, like Nakia and Bianca, in order to show how those who did not get into charter schools felt extremely disappointed and emotional because they had hoped to be accepted into a schoolthat would not fail them. You cannot say we want more resources to go to kids when in fact in this city, Joel Klein is spilling $100 million a year to pay for teachers you saw it in the movie, who aren't actually teaching. BRZEZINSKI: All right. After half a year of teaching, I talked to her yesterday, she had brought her kids a year -- more than a year and a half ahead. There are really, really bad charter schools across America. I've been amazed by what's possible. The site's consensus states: "Gripping, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful, Waiting for "Superman" is an impassioned indictment of the American school system from An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim. I just think -- SCARBOROUGH: Do you really think he wants to the right thing? And we're going to figure out, we're going to get people together here. I think we all have to look in the mirror and say, what have we done wrong up until now and what do we need to do better? " YR0^hC#mlj'@]Gc2x}SVvP[sL,yD1-ut |c,{CG1 SCARBOROUGH: You guys were great. I know they are. WEINGARTEN: Theres nothing wrong with what Geoffrey just said. The issue is we have to all do this together with good contracts, with all of us on the same side, getting to help good teachers, getting supportive principals, getting a curriculum and the wrap-around services that Geoff does that cradle to college service. RHEE: Heres the thing. Why were you frightened to send her to school. SCARBOROUGH: I tell you what, that was the part of the movie where Daisy, you saw her crossing her fingers and write physically got nauseated. SCARBOROUGH: Fantastic. Ht6R*bs7n& << Feb 22, 2013. endobj Your last really big film was "Inconvenient Truth." The contract says she has to go. WebTRANSCRIPT: WAITING FOR SUPERMAN PANEL DISCUSSION WITH: NBC'S JOE SCARBOROUGH; NBC'S MIKA BRZEZINSKI;DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, DIRECTOR, Randi we'll let you get a response in here and also, Mika, what we're going to do is figure out where everybody agrees. /Properties << /MC0 37 0 R /Font << We're just saying --. And what we're finding in some schools we should spread throughout all the schools in this nation. I think what's happened in places like Washington and I saw it compared to New York City. "[9] Scott Bowles of USA Today lauded the film for its focus on the students: "it's hard to deny the power of Guggenheim's lingering shots on these children. When I see from my own experience as a school teach are for six years when evaluations didn't work and less than 20 percent of them think that evaluations work right now. BRZEZINSKI: Nakia, thank you. /ExtGState << It's happening in D.C. And the next morning Im driving my kids in the minivan to school and they go to a great private school in Los Angeles. At the end of the film, there is writing that states: The problem is complex but the steps are simple. /Resources << So even though we may disagree about that, what this film does, it creates a moment in time. << NAKIA: Shes 7 now. It seems to me, Davis, that you done get -- teachers don't get evaluated like every other business. First, I loved that town hall today. BRZEZINSKI: How old is she? SCARBOROUGH: It really is. SCARBOROUGH: Why would you spend a million dollars to defeat a mayor? But when I saw you after the film, and I would -- being macho, hey, Davis, how you doing, man? This scene is an important one because it highlights how the acceptance of students into charter schools is determined by the luck of the draw and how some students are not able to enter into the public school of their choice solely because luck was not on their side. "Waiting for Superman" ( Superman & Lois), an episode of Superman & Lois. /MediaBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] Like around here, I mean, I want my kids to have better than what I had. GUGGENHEIM: Those parents don't care. WEINGARTEN: We need to help them do that for all of our kids. SCARBOROUGH: Davis, let's begin with you. /ArtBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] How do you get past that? Because what's happened in so many instances, is that the evaluation system is what's broken. /Pages 1 0 R UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think she can do it? We decreased violent crimes that were happening in the schools. BRZEZINSKI: When we come back, we'll talk more about that. << Today is her graduation, and she's not allowed to go because do I owe some tuition. 1 0 obj The most influential scene during this segment is when one of the students, Bianca, and her mother, Nakia, wait for Biancas name to be called as the lottery nears the end. /Contents 36 0 R Waiting for "Superman" is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott. You don't come off well in this movie. /Properties << Davis, I want to go to you on this one. There are a couple of things leaders, in which we all are, could do. That's what our union has been trying to do for the last two years. We can't wait and talk about this another seven, eight, ten years. BRZEZINSKI: And the reaction that we saw just moments ago was the same, these are people who know. LEGEND: This is a civil rights issue. We love good teachers. One of the things we were thinking about, we were covering songs from the civil rights era, from the '60s and '70s and people who fought for justice and equality. /Kids [ 4 0 R 5 0 R 6 0 R 7 0 R 8 0 R ] Let's do this right now and let's look at the best contract in the nation in terms of eliminating ineffective teachers and let's make that the standard across America. I think he wants to do the right thing. /Type /Page /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] BRZEZINSKI: Why not inspire them with pay? It was not simply about education. "[14] Geraldo Rivera praised the film for promoting discussion of educational issues. RHEE: I don't think they are. And systems that actually help create continuous improvement. Because there is no downside to failure. SCARBOROUGH: Why is it -- [ applause ] why is it that you have an area like Washington, D.C. that is 12 percent proficient in math? /CropBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] When you hear, well, I get paid whether or not you learn or not, it sticks with you. KENNY: We catch them up to basic level and we accelerate them to proficient. It starts with teachers becoming the very best, leaders removing the barriers of change, neighbors committed to their school, you willing to act (Guggenheim 1:45:05-1:45:28). /Length 868 Waiting for "Superman" premiered in the US on September 24, 2010, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, with a rolling wider release that began on October 1, 2010. GUGGENHEIM: Those kids can't learn. >> Waiting for "Superman" is a 2010 American documentary film written and directed by Davis Guggenheim and produced by Lesley Chilcott. SCARBOROUGH: Because we've been up to Harlem, we've seen what's happening up there. Waiting For "Superman" is an inside look at the problems with education in America. I want to just ask Randi, you've been taking pot shots from everybody here on stage, including us at times. And it's just -- it changes your perspective. SCARBOROUGH: This is a civil rights issue? One of the reasons for the high test scores, writes Ravitch, is that many charter schools expel low-performing students to bring up their average scores. /GS0 47 0 R >> The principal wants her to stay. The union leaderships could take this on as a platform and say this is something we're going to commit to and give our membership behind this so we can show progress in taking on these issues. When you have kids from Harlem going there with first grade reading proficiency and science proficiency and they leave three years later with 100 percent proficiency, it just -- at some point it becomes a moral issue. I think they put the money into this mayoral campaign because it was a symbol of reform in this country. I'm feeling it. So it's important to understand how this is locked down here in D.C. and in New York. Come on out. Will they give him a million dollars for re-election if he keeps you in your position? If Anthony goes to Souza, odds are he'll enter high school three to five grade levels behind. /Type /Pages I went up there, Jeff Zucker pushed me to go up there one day. SCARBOROUGH: Thank you so much. /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] [8], Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "What struck me most of all was Geoffrey Canada's confidence that a charter school run on his model can make virtually any first-grader a high school graduate who's accepted to college. A lot of times, the unions, for instance, were fighting to -- fighting the right to have more charters in New York. That's not the case with all charter schools across America. What were the results of the kids who came in and were about to graduate this June, late May, what is the change that has happened with these children? But that isn't something that can't be, you know, worked out. /TrimBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] You don't have all sorts of external rules. Randi said something that was fascinating. She was a teacher in Indianapolis. BRZEZINSKI: You can hear the distrust here. Only 3 out of 100 students at Roosevelt will graduate with the necessary classes for admission to a four year university. You said OK we're not going to penalize bad teachers. Why is that such a frightening concept? And she thought I was crying because it's like Santa Claus is not real and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us. /GS0 18 0 R BRZEZINSKI: Randi, really quickly. >> Ravitch also writes that many charter schools are involved in "unsavory real estate deals" [31], In 2011, many news media reported on a testing score "cheating scandal" at Rhee's schools, because the test answer sheets contained a suspiciously high number of erasures that changed wrong answers to right answers. endobj If you look at what the Kipp schools have done or the uncommon schools, they've been able to replicate this model over and over. Many of them. I don't care what I have to do, I don't care how many jobs I have to obtain but she will go to college. stream But can we really get Geoffrey Canadas in every public high school across America? LEGEND: Who your state senator is. It's a random selection. /Font << "[30] Lastly, Ayers writes that "schools are more segregated today than before Brown v. Board of Education in 1954," and thus criticized the film for not mentioning that "black and brown students are being suspended, expelled, searched, and criminalized. We've been talking about the teacher town hall hosted by Brian Williams earlier today. No one wants lousy teachers. Theres a lot of schools that I want to take you to Davis, great public schools where we are breaking the sound barrier, too. John leads the show me campaign which is dedicated to raising awareness and highlighting successful schools. [32][33][34][35][36], A teacher-backed group called the Grassroots Education Movement produced a rebuttal documentary titled The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, which was released in 2011. We have to go to break. Even during the MSNBC town hall today, there were teachers who say I don't care about tenure. /T1_0 52 0 R Ultimately they want the tools and conditions in order to do that. WEINGARTEN: The issue in terms of education is there's no turning back on reform in education in Washington, D.C. Our union is committed to it. Though money doubled, reading and math scores have flat-lined. WEINGARTEN: Let me get to both of these issues, let me see if I can conflate them. We have to take ownership. I get why that's good for the adults. But we need to have real evaluation systems, which is what the union has been focused on, so that teachers are really judged fairly. I think that we've all I mean Davis said it when he said he passed three public schools. Didn't get an answer on that. This is a transcript of "Waiting for Superman". /ArtBox [ 0 0 595.27600 841.89000 ] It's not about charter schools. SCARBOROUGH: OK. You talked about it. GUGGENHEIM: And fight for these kids. They clearly illustrate that no matter the area, teachers are failing America's youth at an alarming rate.. The union itself has instead of focusing on good teachers and how we need to help them, give them the tools and conditions, we have always focused on, you know, the due process protections.