Many years ago before I was a journalist, I was a high school teacher. At the young age of 24, I was teaching 18-year-old Seniors in the public school system in South Carolina. It sounds so ridiculous now, but back then I didn't think twice about it. I was fresh out of graduate school, and ready for my first classroom experience. Honestly, I don't think about it much these days, but I was reminded this week when I saw the new film Waiting for Superman. The film is written and directed by Davis Guggenheim, the same man who brought us An Inconvenient Truth. The title sort of throws you off until you see the film, which highlights the plight of the public school system here in the United States. An educator, featured in the film, who grew up in a poor neighborhood, says he was always secretly waiting on Superman to swoop in and save his family and community.
Looking back on my students, I bet many of them dreamed of the same Superman idea. A majority of them came from broken homes, and communities where education was not a priority, so why should they pay attention and stay in school?
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