The movie, Waiting for Superman by director, Davis Guggenheim won an Oscar for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. In exploring the deplorables of the public school system, Waiting for Superman follows five school children and their families, who are trying to get their child into Charter schools through lotteries. Four of the kids are from inner cities and one from the suburbs. The subject matter tackles the very fundamentals on our approach in education, funding and leadership. The concept of the documentary falls under the precept that the United States laws of parens patriae concerning the public school system.
I have yet to see the film but I wonder if the subject of the various States' lotteries are discussed. I find more people interested in the possible return of the State's lotteries than the educational system of this country. The mindset being living on a pipe dreams with an instantaneous solution to what ails us - which is lack of empowerment. The money dividends within lottery winnings is more freedom, security and the ability for unyielding generosity or perhaps power. In the public school system, often teachers cite lack of funding as a main source of restriction for their teaching skills. Sadly, the funds of a multi-state lottery can reach excesses to over half a billion dollars.
In recent research, the questioning of our children's abilities to compete with the global world has led to more serious consideration for today's youths. Globalization gives people evidence of the disparities of the world. In many statistics, children in the U.S. fall far behind those in China and India in I.Q.'s and China will become the number one English speaking country with the highest population in the world. The video Did You Know: Shift Happens gives statistics on the U.S. and where in the world we stand. While one Youtube user said, "Finally, a G-rated video I can use to scare my grandma!" is a true assessment of today's times.
Educator, Charles Sykes also deals with the issue of public schools and American children in his books, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add. His previous book, A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character explores a culture of victims that's filtered down to the essence of society from minorities to the middle class, to the working class and to the academias. The main message is apathy and not so much sympathy for the political entities that placed society into its unwritten roles. Sykes addresses the issue of helplessness and grandiosity that seem to go hand in hand and is being passed down to our children. In order for children to rise above, they must attend higher education.
Although, much of higher ed specializes on specific learning, the basic core classes are often the same subjects taught in high school but elaborated on in college. Why do something twice when it can be done right in the first place? The statistics for Waiting for Superman states that 1.2 million U.S. students drop out of high school each year and American teenagers rank toward the bottom in math and science among 30 developed nations. While statistics are staggering for the high school dropout, their fates are not set in stone and the negative media often perpetuates a myth in learning aptitudes of the average student. The education of other global countries were quick to jump on the band wagon for industrialization of their countries and knew what to teach their students which is the reason for their rapid rise in education. In addition strong study skills without American cultural influences, like television, computers, cell phones, video games, etc., is essentially about time management and dependent on age, supervision. These things are within a parent's control not a child's. The adult culture of the U.S. is a bi-product of technological numbing through consumerism. Which eventually led to these chains of events.
Bill Gates is a strong advocate of the film, Waiting for Superman but it must be asked then why are we waiting? As it is according to Learningpartnership.org, the three richest people in the world own assets that exceed the combined gross national product of all least developed countries and its 600 million people, one of these people being Bill Gates. Though, his increase in world affairs and knowledge of today's times has also made Gates a major proponent of social change, increasing awareness and development of organizations aimed to filter equality across the board. His efforts should be applauded. Each of us can learn to earn to work for change to build a better future, if not for ourselves but for the younger generations, it's now rather a matter of choice.
In the most successful kids of today, they are pulling in double overtime as a child contrasting the childhoods of their parents generation. These kids who have multiple extracurricular activities and honor students are pushing that bar even higher for the "average" student. Parents often are making it full time work just to keep up with their children's lifestyles. The type of child I refer to is the one who goes to afterschool sports, participates during the off season in a community sports groups and attends some other artistic hobbies, like band, drama or dance. They are children whose grades are rarely in question and often pushing to be in advance placement or taking college courses while still in high school. Some might question and label them as over-achievers. However, they are often harried and it begs to question their future in the massive rush to get ahead but often parent's give their children these choices. The parents are also trying to keep up with the times. Children must be superheroes not waiting on Superman.
Often the "average" child is overlooked in the grand scheme of things and one thing that can be credited to certain children is the ideas of emotional intelligence. It is a communication term reflecting on the unsaid of our very nature. It is the warmth or apathy of others that can be derived by what's said, how its said or rather what is not said. In the emergence of this new realm of communication enhanced by the global reach of the internet, U.S. children are still learning but not in the rigid format of systematized education. The evidence can be seen with shows, like MTV's If You Really Knew Me. The message is that their hidden secrets need to be revealed and that often children of today are in a world of pain. Young and old, the ideas of victimization sits in the corner of their minds. The pains of yesterday and those of parens patriae with the sins of the Father often sit there too. The release is the beginnings of healing. U.S. history in its entirety requires national healing.
Others are emerging with the ideas of partnership, communal solidarity and empathy rather than apathy and one organization in its infancy is Howtosavealife.com inspired by The Frays' song dealing with loss as a motivational catalyst. The group was formed after the song, when a young man who's gift to give was taken suddenly in an auto accident. The last song he downloaded was the song, "How to Save a Life." The lead singer of The Frays wrote the song after his encounter with another young musician he met as a mentor at a camp for troubled teens. Isaac Slade said, "he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him." In music, a generation grows and learns. For today's children, we must learn to heal. Hans Christian Andersen wrote "When words fail, music speaks."
While the movie brings the public school system to light, I truly wonder if policies and rectification of bad policies, like the No Child Left Behind Act will be acknowledged, along with the political figureheads who misguided this whole nation. Child abuse issues are so broad that the whole scope relies on redefining the American child, while adults also need to redefine their own social identities and priorities. Savealifecampaign.com requests moral courage for today's youth. Growth becomes potential and survival skills become essential. Education is key and teaching children more math and science might propel us to compete but when do we heal?
Children are learning but not what we learned in school with the standard subjects. They are learning about life along with past, present and future ways of living. Everyone is saying we are living in exponential times. While children are acting like victims and heros on television, they have the capacity to distinguish acting versus real situations. The cognition of these children have the capabilities to understand their environment at a much younger age. Any child dealing with or dealt with severe child abuse already understands warfare. Their lives hung in-between life and death and their survival was the test.
The mental capabilities to rationalize internal struggles and predict another's abusive behaviors have given them incredible insight to the errors of humanity but when pushed into a society that lacks sincerity or formulates other hostile environments, young adults have the ultimate choice in what, who and how they are going to determine their personal history. Stories world wide are coming and informing U.S. children of a worse world outside their own and hopefully its building empathy. Mother Teresa wrote, "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of not belonging."
One thing to combat those negative forces is within creativity. That's innate in children isn't it? The cognition of our littlest population is often very underrated and that frustrates the youth. It's been a generational thing in the past but today its a global thing with mass media. The future requires it to be a thinking thing for all people to be a parent to our children and help be a parent to the nation.
Hey did you know that secret agencies, like the CIA and NRO (National Reconnaissance Offices) have kids games and informational activities for school age kids. Did you know that the CIA has been accused of some atrocious and malicious behaviors throughout its history? Did you know that the NRO was shrouded in a cloak of secrecy and only recently recognized as a legitimate entity of the U.S. government? Did you realize that both agencies are aiming at encouraging sciences for the possibilities of the future, perhaps to gain pre-eminence for space. Live, learn, love, like, lend and listen.
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