Then Be Part Of The Solution To Fix Schools

Most Americans who have seen “Waiting for Superman” have left the movie rightfully outraged at the state of America’s education system.  In many of the nation’s largest cities, fewer than half of all children graduate high school. Academic achievement and graduation rates have largely stagnated since the 1970s.  Countries around the world now outpace the America in education.

Jimmy Carter formed the Department of Education.  The federal government has funneled untold billions of dollars into education.  The education system in America has gone down each year since then with all the dollars spent.  Money isn’t the solution unless your solution is to make the teacher unions who support the elitist progressive Democrats stronger.

The movie’s producer Davis Guggenheim appropriately lays the blame squarely at the feet of organized labor. Education unions consistently stand in the way of promising education reforms such as school choice, which they view as a threat to their stranglehold on public education.

During the 2007–2008 election cycle, the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers spent more than $71 million on campaigns for issues and candidates, spending more than $100 per teacher in five states.  Much of this money is taken from teachers who don’t agree with the union but because of state laws they are forced to be in the union to keep their jobs.

What we need are the solutions.  The good news is that we know many things that work.   We can take steps today to help get American education back on track:

•Be an advocate for the school choice solution. With the successful charter schools portrayed in “Waiting for Superman”, school choice through vouchers, tax credits, and other mechanisms is an effective education reform. Find out where school choice is on the move at Choices in Education.

•Help families’ voices be heard. Most of the families in “Waiting for Superman” remained stuck in failing public schools. What kind of difference does it make when families are able to choose a safe and effective school? Visit www.VoicesOfSchoolChoice.org to meet families whose lives have been changed through school choice.

•Don’t just talk about it become involved.  Go to local PTA meetings and school board meetings.  Speak out.

•Become part of an education reform film festival. “Waiting for Superman” comes on the heels of other moving documentaries on the plight of American education, including Let Me Rise, The Lottery, The Cartel, The Street Stops Here, and Not As Good As You Think.

•Call for state leadership on education reform. Don’t look to Washington to fix America’s education problems. States should be the leaders on education reform.

•Join forces for School Choice Week. Sign up to get information on National School Choice Week, January 23–29, 2011. School choice proponents from across the country will host events and place a spotlight on the benefits of school choice for all families.

Be part of the solution to fix our schools.  Our children and grandchildren deserve better than the education they are getting now.  The government and the unions are the problem, not the solution.

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